Well I Just Saved About $6,000 In Five Minutes...Always Get A Second Opinion...

[SteyrAUG]

So in the last month, the bottom of my left heel has been killing me. At times it felt like I had a thumb tack in my shoe. Talked to a few people and was immediately told "Oh heel spurs probably...really bad."

So I looked it up and read some "bad stuff" the consensus being that as a result of having flat feet, being fat or a result of injury calcium builds up and forms a spur which irritates the plantar fascia which causes pain. Or in other words, according to many websites, you end up with a sharp pointy bone which stabs nerves and tendons. Sounds like exactly what I was experiencing. Really scary part, it gets worse unless corrected.

Having used my feet in all kinds of abusive ways it seemed like "heel spur" was a likely candidate for what I was experiencing.

Read a few other things about how stretches might relive the pain and that didn't make sense. Also read a lot about protective shoes that have an opening so the spur doesn't put pressure on anything and that sounded like a very unrealistic solution. The last resort is surgery where they partial detach the plantar fascia, which really made no sense to me or they actually go in and remove the spur itself which to me sounded like the only real solution.

I knew I was on my own with this one as my insurance deductible is pretty much the cost of any procedure known to man. So I found a affordable orthopedic surgeon who even offered a free consultation, etc. Took an x ray that looked something like this one.



Yep, heel spur. It was right there on the x ray. Big pointed bone stabbing into nerves causing pain. So we discussed options which started with Endoscopic plantar fasciotomy where they detach or cut the plantar fascia ligament from the heel bone, relieving stress and pain and allowing new fascia tissue to develop in the space that was created. With this procedure, the tension that created plantar fasciitis or heel spurs is eliminated.

To me this didn't seem practical because wouldn't the new tissue simply be stabbed by the same heel spur?

So the discussion turned to removing the spur itself even with the risk of nerve tissue damage from the procedure. This was also the most expensive option. But I didn't want to wait for it to get worse.

Sounded like expensive, scary stuff and I was cataloging which firearms I might have to sell to come up with the necessary funds.

Then I decided to do a more detailed search staying away from website that offer procedures and found this.

http://heelspurs.com/index.html

Turns out the sharp bone stabbing my nerves is nothing of the sort. Heel spurs are soft, bendable deposits of calcium that are the result of tension and inflammation in the plantar fascia attachment to the heel.

What is actually causing my pain is tight calf muscles pulling the plantar fascia (also known as connective tissue) tight across the bottom of my foot like a bow string and causing pain at anchor points. It has absolutely nothing to do with the calcium deposit I saw on the x ray. The calcium deposit is actually more of a symptom than a cause.

So I put the balls of my feet on top of a 3" ledge and did a calf stretch for 5 minutes and magically the pain went away. Completely went away.

I then also realized in the last couple months I've been drilling the crap out of hook kicks with a new student and one of the side effects of sharp, fast, snappy, devastating hook kicks is the calf muscles tend to get a bit taught and I really neglected stretching them out like I should have.

But without having second guessed the Foot Doctor I could have been spending big money on risky procedures that I didn't need that wouldn't have resolved anything and might have actually created a few genuine problems.

I've probably got a few months of a dedicated stretching regime ahead of me before I completely eliminate the problem. I can do that for free.

Thankfully I didn't have to pay for the consultation, the X ray evidence or the scary prognosis. Turns out the bullshit was free. I knew there was something wrong when he wanted to attempt the first procedure to see if that would solve the problem and then if there was any pain (which I'm sure is what happens in 90% of the cases) we could move onto the actual removal of the spur. I wonder how many people have paid for both procedures, he did seem to have a pretty nice office.

So anyway, if your feet hurt. If you have serious shooting pains in your heels, instep or balls of your feet, before you spend money on a procedure or even go for a free consultation, do a simple calf stretch and see if it disappears. If that worked, my fee is $10 and you can paypal me directly for services rendered.



Seriously, middle age pains can be scary stuff. Be careful out there, critical thinking is free. Second opinions are worth it if you get to that point.

I think I'll go back and offer the good doctor martial arts instruction in exchange for non invasive treatment. I have some hook kicks I want to work on.

[Tzook]

No, the doctor was right. Get a surgery you can't afford, and because I'm such a good guy I'll buy all your cool toys for pennies on the dollar to "help" out a fellow M4C'er.

[Outlander Systems]

If the only tool you have is a scalpel...

[Hmac]

"Heel spurs" is one of several myths, misconceptions, and areas of ignorance that permeate medicine among doctors, even among specialists. Certainly not the most glaring example either.

I was pretty sure how SteyrAUG's post was going to go the moment I saw the X-ray he posted.




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[chuckman]

"Heel spurs" is one of several myths, misconceptions, and areas of ignorance that permeate medicine among doctors, even among specialists. Certainly not the most glaring example either.

I was pretty sure how SteyrAUG's post was going to go the moment I saw the X-ray he posted.




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Another huge area of ignorance among medical professionals is headache related to CSF leak, but that's an entirely different thread.

[Hmac]

Another huge area of ignorance among medical professionals is headache related to CSF leak, but that's an entirely different thread.

"Spinal headache" as a consequence of CSF leak after lumbar puncture is well-recognized and fairly common. Where does the "ignorance" come into play here?

[chuckman]

"Spinal headache" as a consequence of CSF leak after lumbar puncture is well-recognized and fairly common. Where does the "ignorance" come into play here?

Undiagnosed/spontaneous CSF leaks of unknown origin. Only one hospital in the country has neuroradiologists that diagnose and treat. I can take this to PM, but we see patients who say that docs send them to shrinks because their headaches are not of physiological origin, headaches and neuro symptoms have have gone on for sometimes decades. See Linda Gray, MD at Duke.

[Hmac]

Ah. No disagreement, although the incidence of heel spurs is about 15%, and heel pain like SteyrAUG's represents about 30% of all heel-related sports injuries. I am less dismayed by delayed or mis-diagnosis of spontaneous CSF leak with an incidence of about 1 in 50,000 than I am about ignorance of how to treat something as extraordinarily common as heel pain, or interpret the significance of an X-ray like the one he presented.

[chuckman]

Ah. No disagreement, although the incidence of heel spurs is about 15%, and heel pain like SteyrAUG's represents about 30% of all heel-related sports injuries. I am less dismayed by delayed or mis-diagnosis of spontaneous CSF leak with an incidence of about 1 in 50,000 than I am about ignorance of how to treat something as extraordinarily common as heel pain, or interpret the significance of an X-ray like the one he presented.

Truth. I just happen to work with that other population at Duke (Nurse Coordinator for the practice), so get to hear about the anomalies and whatnot.

[SteyrAUG]

"Heel spurs" is one of several myths, misconceptions, and areas of ignorance that permeate medicine among doctors, even among specialists. Certainly not the most glaring example either.

I was pretty sure how SteyrAUG's post was going to go the moment I saw the X-ray he posted.




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What's worse, the doctor really didn't actually lie so much as he failed to correct my obvious misconceptions. He used lots of phrasing like "we could do that procedure and hope we get a good outcome." I have a feeling he is using "the customer is always right" approach to diagnosis and treatment.

Also for the record, that is not my x ray, but it's something I pulled off the internet that demonstrates something close to what I saw in my x ray. My x ray was retained by the doctor in his office because technically he paid for it.