I'm stumped. I'm not so sure what is the answer. I'll do some poking around and get back to you if I bump into an answer. You should email the people at Nutrisystem as they probably could give you an answer..

Http://www.protherapysupplies.com/pd_prostretch.cfm.

This will stretch the fascia (connective tissue of your foot arch)..

Thanks for the links gals! I bookmarked them just in case. In case of what you say? He wants me back in there on Monday for an Xray, then he will order me some ortho-inserts on the VA's dime, but I'll hold on to those links just in case. The VA is a lot like Christmas with a secret Santa from work, you never know what you have till you open the box and try it on...

Customs would be good. I had a pretty bad case of PF. The foot doctor shot me weekly with cortisone in the heel and taped the foot up. It took quite a while to get better, a few months IIRC. He made arch supports and told me to switch shoes to New Balance walkers. I was 60-70 pounds lighter then and that was a few years ago..

More recently, I had a lot of similar foot pain and was able to fix that on my own by moving up to a more expensive ($100) new balance walker and replaced those original orthodics with a Spenco arch support off the rack...

Oh yea, I forgot to mention he did look at my shoes. I wear K-Swiss with an arch insert for my high arch, he said he thinks it is the treadmill 4 days a week as a major contributing factor. So I'm back to the stationary bike for the time being...

Ah. There you go..

Now that my feet are back up to speed I guess I can't use them for an excuse anymore...

When I was a young pup in the Army I was diagnosed with PF. Of course the response was, "Drink water, take some motrin and man up soldier!" A year later I had a full blown heel spur. Thanks Army..

Point is, PF CAN turn into a much more painful heel spur, so take it easy. The orthodics help tremendously, and the Army did give me a no run profile AFTER the screwed me up. Take care of it, use a bike until the pain gets better. When it hurts is when your making it worse...

You might consider finding a good reflexologist for that PF..

I had a bout with it many years ago. Had to go down the stairs by sliding down on my butt because of the pain, specially first thing in the morning..

I'm not one for pharmaceuticals or shots, but gave in to a cortisone shot which was no help what-so-ever. Turned to reflexology. Within two sessions I was good to go like it never was an issue at all..

It might be worth looking into for relief..

I'm still laughing at Plain ole fatass itis..

I think you are right about the "Plain Ole Fatass-itis", Damon. I had some problem with it when I was up at 265. Since I have lost 50 lbs it is almost completely gone. No shots, not orthotics, no nothin...

Fascism of any sort is undesirable. Good work on the progress...

I agree with tedvo. As your weight goes down so too should your pain. Mine did. I haven't had any foot pain in a while now...

Good cushioned shoes will help but in the end with care and more loss it will resolve in 6 to 12 months. Congratulations on the great stats. I'm sure the glucose will get into line as you get closer to goal!..

Great numbers Damon! Keep up the good work my friend!!!..

Great numbers there Big Fella. To quote Bill "I feel your pain" I had the same thing with the plain-ole-fat- ass-itis and it hurt like hell at times. I remember after driving home from work (I walk a lot on concrete at work)I would get out of the car and it would have stiffened up, did it hurt? WOW!. Eventually It just kinda went away in about a 6 months or so with no meds, just did some stretching and drank a lot of water..

Mojo..

Damon, you don't need inserts. This is something that I see quite a bit and will get better without having to buy a bunch of orthotics..

This is a really common condition that waxes and wanes. One of the biggest risk factors is being overweight. The typical patient is heavy and works on their feet all day. The spur you will find on your x-ray is caused by the inflammation at the insertion of the plantar on your calcaneus (heel bone). The real problem is the small tears in the plantar fascia every time you get back up on your feet. This is why it hurts first step out of bed in the morning and after you have been sitting for a while..

The research on this condition has been sparse, with only a few recent studies really being worth a darn. The thing that works the best is stretching. Stand with the balls of your feet on the edge of a step, and stretch for 10 seconds. Repeat this for a set of 10, and do it 4 times a day. I usually add an anti-inflammatory ( as it is an inflammatory condition). If you want to cushion your heels, go down to the Dr.



This program results in significant improvement and a resolution of most people's symptoms in 6 weeks. Orthotics are not usually required, and neither is PT. Most podiatrists will make you orthotics, but you understand why when you find out that their mark up on them is >100% in most cases..

Here is a link to the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society web site on this condition. Good luck..

Http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00149..

Freeze a bottle of water and roll it on the floor with the injured foot. It helps exercise the ligaments as well as ice/numb the soreness. Also take out stock in Motrin because I live on it..

I had 3 cortisone shots which did bupkus and hurt like nothing I have ever experienced before. This week I will be having electrocorporeal shock wave therapy for 3 weeks at $300/pop (not covered by insurance). Shock wave therapy has about an 80% success rate. If that fails, surgery...

The lithotripsy is not covered by insurance because it is widely regarded as experimental. The data shows that it is as effective as a placebo..

See below..

Ultrasound-guided extracorporeal shock wave therapy for plantar fasciitis: a randomized controlled trial..

Buchbinder R, Ptasznik R, Gordon J, Buchanan J, Prabaharan V, Forbes A..

Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Cabrini Hospital and Cabrini Medical Centre, Malvern, Victoria, Australia 3144..

Rachelle.buchbinder@med.monash.edu.au.

CONTEXT: Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) is increasingly used for plantar fasciitis, but limited evidence supports it's use. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether ultrasound-guided ESWT reduces pain and improves function in patients with plantar fasciitis. DESIGN: Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial conducted between April 1999 and June 2001. SETTING: Participants were recruited from the community-based referring physicians (primary care physicians, rheumatologists, orthopedic surgeons, and sports physicians) of a radiology group in Melbourne, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: We screened 178 patients and enrolled 166; 160 completed the 15-week protocol. Entry criteria included age at least 18 years with plantar fasciitis, defined as heel pain maximal over the plantar aspect of the foot of at least 6 weeks' duration, and an ultrasound-confirmed lesion, defined as thickening of the origin of the plantar fascia of at least 4 mm, hypoechogenicity, and alterations in the normal fibrillary pattern.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Overall, morning, and activity pain, measured on a visual analog scale; Maryland Foot Score; walking ability; Short-Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36) score; and Problem Elicitation Technique score, measured at 6 and 12 weeks after treatment completion. RESULTS: At 6 and 12 weeks, there were significant improvements in overall pain in both the active group and placebo group (mean [SD] improvement, 18.1 [30.6] and 19.8 [33.7] at 6 weeks [P =.74 for between-group difference], and 26.3 [34.8] and 25.7 [34.9] at 12 weeks [P =.99], respectively). Similar improvements in both groups were also observed for morning and activity pain, walking ability, Maryland Foot Score, Problem Elicitation Technique, and SF-36. There were no statistically significant differences in the degree of improvement between treatment groups for any measured outcomes. CONCLUSION: We found no evidence to support a beneficial effect on pain, function, and quality of life of ultrasound-guided ESWT over placebo in patients with ultrasound-proven plantar fasciitis 6 and 12 weeks following treatment..

Publication Types:.

Clinical Trial.

Randomized Controlled Trial.

J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2006 Aug;88(8):1775-81. Links.

Plantar fascia-specific stretching exercise improves outcomes in patients with chronic plantar fasciitis. A prospective clinical trial with two-year follow-up..

Digiovanni BF, Nawoczenski DA, Malay DP, Graci PA, Williams TT, Wilding GE, Baumhauer JF..

Department of Orthopaedics, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 665, Rochester, NY 14620, USA..

Benedict_digiovanni@urmc.rochester.edu.

BACKGROUND: In a previous investigation, eighty-two patients with chronic proximal plantar fasciitis for a duration of more than ten months completed a randomized, prospective clinical trial. The patients received instructions for either a plantar fascia-stretching protocol or an Achilles tendon-stretching protocol and were evaluated after eight weeks. Substantial differences were noted in favor of the group managed with the plantar fascia-stretching program. The goal of this two-year follow-up study was to evaluate the long-term outcomes of the plantar fascia-stretching protocol in patients with chronic plantar fasciitis. METHODS: Phase one of the clinical trial concluded at eight weeks. At the eight-week follow-up evaluation, all patients were instructed in the plantar fascia-stretching protocol.

Data were analyzed with use of a mixed-model analysis of covariance for each outcome of interest. RESULTS: Complete data sets were obtained from sixty-six patients. The two-year follow-up results showed marked improvement for all patients after implementation of the plantar fascia-stretching exercises, with an especially high rate of improvement for those in the original group treated with the Achilles tendon-stretching program. In contrast to the eight-week results, the two-year results showed no significant differences between the groups with regard to the worst pain or pain with first steps in the morning. Descriptive analysis of the data showed that 92% (sixty-one) of the sixty-six patients reported total satisfaction or satisfaction with minor reservations.

Only sixteen of the sixty-six patients reported the need to seek treatment by a clinician. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the use of the tissue-specific plantar fascia-stretching protocol as the key component of treatment for chronic plantar fasciitis. Long-term benefits of the stretch include a marked decrease in pain and functional limitations and a high rate of satisfaction. This approach can provide the health-care practitioner with an effective, inexpensive, and straightforward treatment protocol...

$10.00 gel things didn't work for me - none of the Dr Scholl-type things did, and I tried a lot. Nothing did till I tried those Barefoot Science things (about $80.00). I'd heard orthotics can be worse because they're rigid and keep your foot from bending properly - I don't know if that's true or not. I've heard cortisone shots reallllly hurt. But with Barefoot Science and stretching before I stood on the floor in the morning, I was good to go pretty fast!..

I think it takes about six months no matter what you do or don't. The stretching helped and good fitting cushioned shoes also helped. Sounds like FixBones knows what he's talking about!..

Thanx everyone, great info! Lots of food for thought, which IS an allowed food...

In my 40s I tried the expensive orthotic and stopped running. A mere 2 years later my heel was OK again and I had gained about 30 pounds...

I had this back in high school for a few years, 9th and 10th grade. This was the time frame when I started getting fat, was growing taller like a weed and was in marching band. The marching was pure hell. I had orthotics for me shoes and also taped my feet to keep swelling down. In 11th grade I played football. By the end of two a days, I was able to stop taping my feet as I was in a little better shape and wasn't marching anymore.

Haven't had any issues in years with it..

Damon, one thing that I remember them doing was wax treatments in physical therapy. They'd dip my feet in melted wax from my heel to about the ball of my foot a few times then wrap them for about a half hr. Talk about heaven! I've seen these types of things in the stores before, might be a good non drug way to relieve some of the pain...

Damon, dude congrats on those fabulous lab numbers! I'm sure when you first started on Nutrisystem you had no idea it would work so well for you. I know you've had ups and downs with the plan, plateaus and backwards steps, but just keep working it. You're seeing results every day, and you're inspiring a lot of other people in the process...

Just an update: I saw my Podiatrist today, I have a broke bone in my heel and I have a new shoe.....

I don't know how long I'm suppose to wear this contraption, but I'll make the most of it, just like I do everything else. It came with a pump that I have to use to inflate it to make it immobilize my foot. The other appt I had today was a Surgical consult but I'll discuss that in another thread I'm gonna call "Loose Skin, Lose Skin"...

Two words for you: night splints. Ask for them from your orthopaedist or podiatrist. Wear them religiously and it will be tons better in a month...

Great results Damon!.

From the photo of the boot, it looks like you need to go down a couple of sizes in jeans. But that's a good thing...

I had PF a couple of years back and what worked for me were exercises that stretched the calf muscles and ligaments (as recommended by my podiatrist)...