Plantar Fasciotomy

Okay, I found the photos from my plantar fasciitis surgery. I promised to post them so here they are. You can click the images to view them larger. These photos are from my November 2008 surgery.

First, I thought it would only be appropriate to begin with a photo of my surgeon, Dr. Marino (on the left).

Dr. Marino - Surgeon

This is where you may get a little queasy. These are pictures from the surgery.

The image below shows the plantar fascia (it’s white).

Plantar Fascia

This image shows the stitching up.

Stitching Up

This photo is post plantar fasciotomy – all stitched up. Nice big stitches.

Stitches

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I had physical therapy today and I’m pretty happy about my progress. My legs and feet are getting stronger. I can drive longer distance as well as walk more without having increased pain. Today at physical therapy I walked on the treadmill for 10 minutes – worked up to a speed of 2.2 which is fast for me right now. I was really happy about that.

I can’t say enough about the importance of having a great surgeon whom you trust and a great physical therapist as well. I wouldn’t be progressing if it weren’t for them. Some of the exercises the physical therapist have given me aren’t exactly fun, but they work! I feel so much better after I do them even if it feels like torture at the time. LOL

Stretch, stretch, stretch. I can’t say that enough. Stretch the toes, stretch the feet and stretch the legs. Stretching, strengthening and keeping proper alignment make a WORLD of difference. Do it as soon as possible to help prevent leg pain. The deep leg pain I had is still there, but nowhere near like it was. I had to stretch the IT Band. It’s something that runs the length of the leg down the side. Anatomy is not my strong suite. Not even sure I wrote that right. Oh well, feel free to correct me.

I feel good about my progress and the prospect of going hiking this summer. That’s the goal!!

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It’s been over a month since my last update. I’ve been having pain up the side of my leg and it started with my right leg (right foot surgery was in November 2008 – left foot surgery was in August 2008) and now my left leg is hurting as well.

I noticed that my knee area had become very tender and I couldn’t kneel on the floor or even onto a chair because it really hurt. It was as if I had a terrible deep bruise that was tender to the touch. But then I noticed that it wasn’t just my knee, the pain ran down the side of my leg to the area above my ankle.

I told my physical therapist and she said it was the fibula head (I think I’m saying that right) and apparently it’s from tweaking my foot. Whether walking, standing or sitting I tend to roll my foot. I noticed that after my surgeries I was rolling my foot, not on purpose, to get away from the pain. Natural right? Maybe, but it’s not a good thing to do.

Now both of my legs hurt and it’s all the way up the sides of my legs. It is sore and feels bruised. Alignment is very important and with plantar fasciitis we tend to walk incorrectly because we’re in pain. I wish that I had been told to be very aware of how I was walking and to be sure my feet stayed flat on the ground at ALL times. Then perhaps my current pain wouldn’t be so bad or maybe I could have avoided it altogether.

It’s easy to forget this stuff unless someone reminds you time and time again.

PLEASE keep this tip in mind: be aware of your alignment at all times and keep your feet flat on the floor even when wearing shoes.

It could save you the pain and discomfort I am going through. Now I have about 13 different exercises to do and I have to ice my feet and fibula head (knee area) five times a day.

So what I do is make an “ice bath” by putting ice + water in a plastic tub. Then I put my foot in it for about 20 seconds, remove it for about 5 seconds and repeat five times. My foot is pretty numb at that point. Then I do the other foot. While that’s going on I put an ice wrap around each knee.

That’s a lot of ice and whole lotta cold considering it’s winter time! But it really is the only thing that helps me feel better. I took 2300mg of ibuprofen a day for nearly two weeks and it didn’t do much.

My surgeon “ordered” six additional physical therapy visits. Sure am glad it went through okay. I have physical therapy just about through the end of the month.

I’ll be sure to post an update on how I do after being on my icing routine and 13 exercises.

My body needs to hurry up and get strong. I have some hiking and traveling to catch up on!!

Have a great weekend!

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