One of the biggest issues in my life these days (aside from being overweight) is my restricted mobility due to bad feet and ankles, and an aching back. Those structural impairments have caused a definite restriction on the activities I can pursue, and at 54 I don’t like being limited by what (in my mind) is an “old person’s” problem.
My feet and ankles are the most problematic. I had a very badly broken right ankle in my mid-20s, which has limited its range of motion. The foot is fine, but the ankle is very stiff. I suppose I should count myself lucky to have whatever function I do have, since it was pretty much shattered. I appreciate the skill of the surgeon who put it back together, and it hasn’t bothered me too much throughout my life, except I have to be careful where I place my foot when walking on rough terrain, so I won’t turn my ankle or fall.
My left foot is completely flat – no arch at all. It was flat from birth, as shown on my baby footprints. Even then, it was obviously different from my right foot, which showed a clear arch. My parents tried to make me wear orthopedic shoes around the age of four, but being the rebellious child I was, I often refused to wear them. I remember hiding them in the back of my closet because I hated them so much! If I had worn the shoes then, perhaps I’d be better off now.
My flat foot actually didn’t cause any major issues until I went to London in 2003. During that trip, my wallet was stolen, along with my credit card, debit card, cash and (most distressingly) my passport. This happened in the afternoon before I was to return home, and of course I couldn’t get on the plane without my passport!
After walking half a mile or so to the local police station to report the theft that afternoon, it was another long walk to the Underground station. The only thing I had left with me was my travel pass to get on the train and subway. Thank goodness – without that, I would have been stuck in central London, quite a few miles from where I was staying and with no available means (short of begging the gate-tenders on the subway to let me on the train) to get there. That was an extremely stressful and exhausting afternoon!
So the next day started early and was spent walking – from where I was staying to the Underground station, and then on to the Western Union depot to retrieve money wired to me by a friend in the US. From there to the US Embassy to get a temporary passport (which was quite a distance), where I was told that I had to get passport photos elsewhere, several blocks away. So to the photo place I went, then back to the Embassy. After finally getting my new passport, it was another long hike back to the Underground station, and finally back “home” in the early evening hours.
The tasks had taken from early that morning until about six o’clock in the evening. I figure I must have walked nearly five miles that day – and I’m not a regular walker, by any means! There were times that I just sat down on a bench along the street and cried – not because I was upset, but because my feet hurt so much. You should see my passport photo from that day – I was a red-nosed, bloodshot-eyed mess! I could hardly stop the tears long enough to take the picture.
I didn’t have arch supports in my shoes, except for what was built into them from the factory. If I had, maybe my feet would be in better shape now. I believe it was that trip that totally collapsed the arch in my left foot, because even with the custom arch supports I bought immediately after my return, it has been very painful most of the time since then.
I finally went to a podiatrist to see if there was any hope of improving the situation. He X-rayed my feet and prescribed new arch supports. He said that if those didn’t give me sufficient relief, that the next step was surgery. In looking at my X-rays, it was apparent that my foot was pronated (rolled inward) so much that one joint of my foot was almost out of its socket, and that was a big reason it was so painful. But after his description of the surgery (“we’ll cut this bone here, that bone there, and insert new bone wedges in those areas…”) I was terrified of any surgery. And what if the surgery didn’t help? I would have gone through pain and recovery for nothing – and perhaps it would even make things worse! So I wore the arch supports for two years, until I couldn’t stand it anymore and went to another podiatrist.
Sure enough, this one said I was a “hard case” and that surgery was the only choice. However, he didn’t do that extensive type of surgery, so he referred me to someone who did. I still dreaded surgery, and my online research into the procedure the first doctor recommended scared me to death – three months with no weight-bearing on the foot, and up to a year for total recovery, IF everything fused together properly. I was in quite a state of dread by the time my appointment with the second doctor arrived.
I’m so glad I got a second opinion, because this doctor wanted to avoid surgery if at all possible, and devised a plan to support my foot and ankle with braces instead. After taking new X-rays, he informed me that I had two completely different feet – on the right, my foot structure was normal, but the ankle was messed up from being broken. On the left, my ankle was fine, but the foot bones had completely collapsed. So, counting both of my legs, I had one good one.
I left his office with my left foot sporting a rigid foot and ankle brace. It made my foot feel better immediately! The brace has a pivot joint at the ankle, so it allows me to walk fairly normally. The only problem is that it’s too bulky to get my regular shoe on over it, so I’m wearing a “surgical boot” on that foot. The doctor says he may make me a thinner, custom foot and ankle brace that I can wear with a regular shoe. Hopefully, I’ll find that out later this week when I return for my next visit.
Now I’m hoping he can improve the comfort level of my other foot and ankle with a brace of some sort. Since my feet are so different, it may require a different approach to achieve good results.
I’m so tired of being limited in my mobility! I can’t go to arts festivals or museums because I’d have to park too far away, and they require walking a great deal to see everything. I avoid going to the mall, or even shopping in a big store like Walmart, for the same reason. Even when working around my tiny house, I consciously combine tasks to minimize the number of steps necessary. I think my feet being out of balance have also contributed to my lower back pain, and recently my left hip has started to hurt if I walk too much. My foundation isn’t strong, and it’s causing problems further up the line. It’s like a game of Jenga – collapse the foundation, and the whole stack comes tumbling down.
Hopefully, sufficient help is on the way, so that I can regain some of what I lost and enjoy a few of the things I’ve avoided in recent years. I swear I’ll wear braces on both feet for the rest of my life if necessary, if I can avoid that awful surgery!
