The foot problems you describe sound very much like mine. Before I was
diagnosed, I was continually having to have the heel on my left shoe
repaired. (PD first noticed on left side.) At one point, the (very) young
man at the shoe repaid place said to me and my husband that this was very
unusual and that I should see my doctor about it. As we were leaving the
mall, my husband said that maybe I SHOULD see a doctor about it. I was
annoyed and replied that I didn't need to get medical advice from a kid
in a shoe repair place. Fortunately, my husband does not seem to
remember the incident (and I prefer to keep it that way). :)
By 1994, I was having a lot of trouble with foot/ankle/knee pain on the
left side. Along with physiotherapy, an AFO (ankle/foot orthotic) was
prescribed and the use of a cane. This worked quite well until early in
1998 when I began having pain in my right knee and also problems with the
AFO. I saw another doctor who said the AFO was EXACTLY the wrong thing
for me unless I had 'foot-drop' which I didn't (at least, not all the
time). He prescribed orthotics for inside my shoes and they seem to have
worked quite well. They made a plaster cast of my foot and then built the
orthotic up on the outside which keeps me from putting the outside of my
foot down first which was causing the problems.
It certainly won't work for everyone but it might be worth a
try...anything to keep us mobile.
Barb
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Barbara Patterson [log in to unmask]
HSC 2J22 905-525-9140, ext. 22403
School of Nursing
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