Plantar Fasciotomy

It’s been one year since I could walk again after my partial release plantar fasciotomy. There have been many times that I regretted having the surgery and wondered if I did the right thing. The last year has been a roller coaster of emotions!

I am glad that I had the surgery. It was the right thing for me to do. I can do much more than I could a year and a half ago. Am I pain free? Not at all. Can I walk better? Yep.

I have days where it’s bad. I’ll have sharp pains and will begin walking with a limp. I try not to walk much when that happens.

There are good times too. I was able to stand almost an hour on hard cement floor on Wednesday evening and I did okay. Did my feet hurt later? Yep, but not like they have before.

What I’ve learned is that foot stretches and exercises continue to be an important part of recovery – even a year later. It seems they’ll be a part of my life forever.

I’ve been faithful in doing the stretches morning and night. It doesn’t take too long, but not only are the foot stretches important, but stretching the calf and achilles as well.

I’ve also started going to the chiropractor. I still have pain in my back from the years of walking incorrectly due to the foot pain. The chiropractor won’t be able to whip me into as good as shape as he could someone without my continued foot pain, but he can and has helped me feel better.

On Tuesday I went for a walk at 8am at a local park. Because I’ve been doing my stretches I was able to walk two miles! When I got home I did my stretches. Earlier this summer I walked at Muir Woods and went two miles. At the end of it I could not wait to get off of my feet. This time my foot pain was much less than that!

One thing I can work on now is strengthening my entire body. My muscles have lost a lot of strength from not being able to walk much, especially my legs. A few months ago I went to a music festival – for one day. I wanted to cut my legs off the pain was so bad. My hips and joints really hurt. Everything is weak. My goal is to go for at least a 25 minute walk twice a week. I did it this week and have my days picked for next week. Gotta regain my strength.

I’m glad I had the surgery. I’m learning to be patient with the recovery. It’s still ongoing. At least I hope it is! LOL

Bookmark To:

A couple of years ago I went to Muir Woods with my friends, Heather and Tomoko. We walked the path through Muir Woods (maybe a mile and a half) and we had to keep stopping because of the pain in my feet from plantar fasciitis. A couple of years ago it took us about two, two and a half hours to walk that mile/mile and a half.

A couple of weeks ago I was ready to try that same walk again. To me this was to be a victory walk. My goal was to prove that I could do it in better time. I made sure I stretched VERY well the two days before, the day of and a couple of days after. I didn’t want any tightening up of my muscles.

So my friend Heather and I (Tomoko couldn’t make it) took off on a Monday afternoon for the victory trek at Muir Woods. That’s us over to the left.

I was feeling pretty confident that I was going to be able to do this. We paid our entrance fee and headed down the path. We had a fun time taking pictures and walking. Pretty soon we came to some benches that I clearly remember having to sit on the last time we did this walk. Nope! Not this time. We just kept walking.

We made it to the fourth bridge, went across and, wow, it felt like a real mini hike going back because we were on a real hiking trail that was NOT level! How exciting! I still hadn’t had to sit down and we kept walking and taking pictures. Heather’s a great friend and she was just as excited as I was at what I was able to do.

We kept going up and down, up and down and eventually just down to the Visitor’s Center. I was ready to sit in the car at this point. My feet were hurting, but that didn’t matter. It wasn’t so bad that I had to stop and when we got back to the car we high-fived and were very happy. We had just walked two miles without stopping to sit! I was victorious at Muir Woods!

I was so excited and happy at what I just accomplished. I’m so glad that Heather was there to share it with me! Muir Woods is just north of San Francisco, CA and it is a beautiful place. Perfect for my Victory Walk!

My Victory Walk was about six months after surgery on my right foot and nine after surgery on my left foot. At first I said it wasn’t a real hike, but you know what? It was a real hike! It was just short in duration.

Bookmark To:

Okay, that my not seem like a big deal, but it is. I haven’t ridden a regular bike (non-recumbent) for that past 3.5 years. My lower back started having problems due to walking incorrectly from the foot pain (from the plantar fasciitis). When I would ride a bike every turn of the wheel felt like someone was pulling on my back. Ouch!

Last week I rode almost a mile and a half around my sister’s neighborhood and felt pretty good afterward. Yesterday I decided to give it another shot and rode my mom’s mountain bike around the neighborhood. I rode for about 15 minutes. I was sure to stretch before and after.

When I got back home I got in my car, after stretching, and drove the route I had just ridden on the bike. It was 2.8 miles! WOO HOOO! I feel good today so it wasn’t too much for me to do. It’s so nice to be getting back into normal activities again.

Bookmark To: