Orthotics Video for Ledderhose

So today I am finally getting round to posting a video of me in the Orthotics. The key things that I am trying to show in this video is the angle of my foot landing, the Orthotics are of course trying to stop me from walking on the side of my foot as although this does divert weight away from the lump it causes many other problems and hopefully the Orthotics can also channel the pain away from the lump but in a more regulated fashion.

I hope that the video is as clear as this is in real life, certainly I think that the best comparison is between the running trainers (which were my main trainer as the other trainers shown are too painful to wear without the orthotics) and the trainers with the orthotics.

One thing that I am happy to see at the moment is not the number of hits on this blog but rather the length of time that some people visiting it are spending on here. I hope this doesn't put people off but I get a report from Google telling me roughly how long people are spending on this blog and the country where they are from so really it is not that much info. Yesterday however was a day where basically all the hits were under a second except one, one person spent over an hour looking at my blog, I am hoping this person is someone who has or someone who knows someone who has Ledderhose and they were on here for so long because they were finding information that was useful to them. The only thing that I have to say to people like that is please please please get in touch, e-mail me or leave a comment on any post you like (or those you don't with why not) or just the forum so that we can get as many people with as much information as possible together talking about this.

Wednesday with Ledderhose

Today was a tough day and not particularly because my foot hurt, which it did and not because of money which is at a bit of a stretch at the moment with the wedding and a leak and my partner changing jobs but because my partner wasn’t feeling great, she looked a bit down which is probably because of the money thing and because of being ill and I hate to see her like that. What can I do though, I managed to insist on her not going out and teaching a lesson this evening even though because due to admin stupidity of the company she is with she has had to cancel tomorrow’s lessons because she needs to have some training. Well I love her and hope that we can get away from it for 2 weeks over the wedding.  

Still on the interesting side of things I got an interesting comment on one of my blog posts today (comment on the top ten blog and forum in google post):

Pete said “Hi, thanks to your site, I came across the new site "itsinyourhands" through the link above. I've had Dupuytrens for a good few years now but didn't do anything about it (I didn't even know there was a name for it!) until it became obvious it was gradually getting worse. To be honest, I'm really not a pill-taker & always look for a natural alternative for an ailment. The thing is, a lady I know who works with herbs/oils etc, recommended I take a look at an enzyme called Serrapeptase. I did & have been taking it for 5 months now with great results. The rope-like build-up on my left palm has broken up into pieces & getting softer! I reckon at the 12 month stage I might be rid of it. I'm trying to spread the word - it's working for me, so why not other folks? Many thanks Pete  “

I have tried to look a little bit into Serratiopeptidase and as far as I can tell there is no hard evidence that is does anything much in medical terms. I have seen a few little things here and there suggesting that it may be able to help with Ledderhose as it is an enzyme that breaks down proteins and the bulk of the lumps that form are proteins therefore it can break them down. However there is no evidence to suggest that this is the case and therefore at the moment I for one am not going to give it a try but if you have found it has helped you then please comment here as so far I only have one persons word to go.

I think that it is great that the right kind of people, those who can help and might need help are finding this blog. 

To be honest I guess if things got to the point where I was considering surgery then I would first consider the options above. Today my foot was bad again and this is starting to annoy me as that is two days in a row, have the orthotics worn themselves out already or am I just going through a bad patch before the wedding which will of course finish in time for my stag do. 

The relevance of things:

I don't think that I have all that much to add on the foot front today, I am hoping tomorrow to finally get round to doing the post of me in different footwear to see how they affect my walking but I can't make any guarentees as I have a lot to do over the weekend including painting a wall, cooking some meals to freeze (even though we already have enough to last until the wedding) I am hoping to cook a nice and healthy risotto which is actually what I was given by my mum when visiting today.

Things with the foot are still good at the moment and and the Orthotics I think are doing their job and long may it stay that way. I think it is fair to say that over the coming weeks I am going to find it hard to not post on here about the wedding and whilst I want to try to keep to things that are relevant I think that how I live my life with the disease is relevant and the fact that I am in the process of getting married is a huge part of my life and my partner is such a huge support to me that it would be silly to think that it is not part of how I cope with it and is not relevant.

My foot an update

I am having mixed feelings about my foot at the moment. Sometimes it hurts a LOT and other times it is not too bad and I think what is all the fuss about. I am not sure to what extent this is due to the orthotics as I know that they require an adjustment and maybe this is just the process that I am going through.

I have to say though that overall the orthotics are more comfortable than I was first experiencing, they seemed odd and they seemed really really hard and I was wondering if they were going to do the job or not. Now I am starting to think that maybe they can and that maybe they are going to help. I am still in a great deal of pain when I am standing on the spot which has always been a big problem for me however when I am walking things don't seem quite so bad as they were before.

I am still trying to use the foot spa as I really like it and it feels quite good and it is a really nice way to sit back and relax in an evening, thank you very much for the nice Christmas present those who got it for me. See here for details Foot Spaaaah.

It may only be 7:50am but I am hoping that today is going to be a good day and with 19days to go I can't wait to the wedding. I will probably be taking a break from here during the 2 weeks of the wedding and especially when on honeymoon as data will cost a lot. See my twitter at the time though as that might be maintained a little bit better over that time.

Plantar Fibroma support forum

Orthotics to treat plantar fibroma

Orthotics to treat plantar fibroma


I thought that it was time for my second post of the different types of treatment that are available for those with Plantar Fibromas. For simplicity I will try to stick to the same layout as I used last time and will try to cover this in as much detail as I can find. Note that I am not a doctor or a specialist and that everything on here is just my experience with the disease and some information from on-line resources and that you should trust what your doctor tells you. I am not responsible for what you chose to do so please don't make your choice based on what you see here and blame me.    

How and why do orthotics help a plantar fibroma / ledderhose disease?: 

So the idea behind orthotics is that they help to reduce the amount of pain caused by the plantar fibroma by decreasing the stresses and strain on the fibroma. This is achieved in 2 different ways:


1) Taking the strain away from the plantar fascia in general. 



copied from (1) http://www.footankle.com/Plantar_fibroma.htm


The above diagram is present to try to show the location of the fibroma in relation to the plantar fascia. As you can see in many cases the plantar fibroma will be located in the middle of the plantar fascia so that any stretching or stress on the fascia will increase in stress and therefore pain being caused by the fibroma so that taking away this strain should help to decrease pain.


2) Taking direct pressure off of the lump. 


I don't know about other people with this but I find that direct pressure on the lump causes me immense pain and any way that I can avoid this is great. So of course on thing is to try to wear trainers that have a gap below that lump so that there is no direct pressure. Annoying I can't find any pictures of exactly what I think that would do but I will try and explain it by basically saying that if you imagine that you have a lump sticking out of the bottom of your foot well the insoles then have a gap in them to accommodate the lump. I honestly don't know if this is right or not perhaps a specialist out there would like to correct me if I am wrong? As Mine don't really have any obvious sign that this is what they do. 

Results?: 

Well to be honest as with most things about this disease there is not a lot of information out there and I have very little to go on. From what I have seen these may be useful early on and can help stop progression of the disease a to point where it is causing lots of serious problems. (2)

Side Effects: 

If the things are fitted properly then there should be no problem at all but the wrong ones can increase the two things that they are trying to eliminate and thereby exacerbate the problem that is trying to be solved. 

My Experience: 

Orthotics are one of the things that I have tried, well actually I am in the process of trying them now. I only got them last week but I am optimistic that they are going to be able to help decrease the signs of the disease for a little while. What actually happened with me is that I went to the doctors and they referred me to this awesome guy (see here Helpful Orthotics man) who stuck my foot into a box and said I was going to have several different types of support in them to try and help my feet and stop them from twisting and aching and well pretty much try to solve every problem that I have with my feet. Fingers crossed as at the moment I do think that I am in less pain at the end of the day than I was last week when I was not using the orthotics quite so much. 


Below I have reposted some pictures of my orthotics (the black ones). 

Plantar Fibroma Orthotics (the black ones)

Plantar Fibroma Orthotics (the black ones)

Conclusions:

Although orthotics are a promising approach for some to help manage the disease they are just that a management device as they do not stop the lump from being there and ultimately it is still there and you can't have these insoles stuck to the bottom of your feet all the time so in slipper or bare foot the situation hasn't change. We need a cure that works...

References: 

(1) http://www.footankle.com/Plantar_fibroma.htm

(2) http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1061903-treatment

Blog is posted in association with Plantar Fibroma Forum