Pain in the top right ankle/hinge area of the right foot. Any sock or shoe that I put on the rt. foot feels alot tighter than on the left.

5 years ago, intense pain started in the heels of both feet. The usual modalities were tried, cortisone injections, taping, stretching exercises, rolling of the heels on a frozen water bottle and stretching exercises. None of these worked! X-Rays were taken to rule out bone spurs and unfortunately the podiatrists at the time were not wise enough to insist on MRI'S of the feet because if they had I wouldn't be writing this now;( because 3 years later I insisted that MRI's be done and the MRI'S SHOWED NOTHING WRONG WITH THE FEET (FASCIIA)! But at that time the VA podiatrists said that surgery was my last option. They wanted to go in and with minimal invasivness release the fasciia to try and correct my condition, again, that I had on both feet. So surgery was done on the left foot ( without MRI'S); I was hopping around for a month on an already painful right foot using crutches and the surgery did not help the pain in the left foot! What did happen though as a result, is I now have a definitely higher arch on my right foot than on my left! PAIN, soon set in, in the top right front hinge/ankle area!! Any shoe or even most socks that I wear cause the pain in that area ( the top rt. front hinge/arch/ankle area) to become more and more painful the longer I have them on. Another thing that resulted is that ANY SOCK OR SHOE that I have worn since that time feels ALOT TIGHTER on my right foot than on my left!! Now all this, (besides the heel pain), was not around before the surgery; so my question is this. Can walking around with one foot having a definite higher arch than the other causing me to feel off balance, cause the pain I feel, in the ( top rt. front hinge/arch/ankle area AND be the cause of ANY SHOE OR SOCK that I wear to feel definitely tighter on my right foot than on my left? Or could it have been the hopping around I did on an already painfully heeled right foot? Or even both? Because all I know is that these problems were not there before the surgery and started 2-3 months afterwards!! This caused me to lead a very, very sedentary lifestyle

and that has since caused alot of other problems! Since it was, and still is, MUCH more painful to stand or walk then when I just had the heel pain, and that was improving somewhat through pool and physical therapy before the surgery. But the podiatrists told me that they had a really good cure rate so I went for it, again, (without them insisting on MRI'S beforehand)! Thank You Very Much, Gus


RESPONSE

Hi Gus,

I am confused in one area of your narrative in that you state that you never had an MRI before the surgery, but then you state "" because 3 years later I insisted that MRI's be done and the MRI'S SHOWED NOTHING WRONG WITH THE FEET (FASCIIA)"", so I am not sure if you ever actually did or did not have an MRI.
I will say this, I would never operate on someone for heel pain without doing an MRI because there are a multitude of other conditions that can cause heel pain, plus one does need to know the condition of the plantar fascial ligament before releasing it.
So, that is problem number one. Problem number two is that one of the complications of plantar fascial release surgery is that it allows the arch to flatten because the ligament is no longer holding up the arch. Therefore, I think your right arch appears higher not so much because it has enlarged, but rather because your left arch has shortened.
I agree with you that hobbling around on a painful right foot, while waiting for the left foot to heal, which it did not, could cause injury to your right foot and ankle.
I cannot really help you from here, but I would suggest you find yourself another podiatrist who is not affilitated with the VA and get yourself a second opinion.
I would think MRI's would be appropriate at this point, plus I would recommend you have your gait analyzed in an effort to spot any abnormalities in the way you walk, which could also be a contributing factor to the pain you are having. This is going to take some "outside the box" thinking on the part of your doctors because both feet hurt and that factor has to be addressed as well in any treatment offered to you.

Marc Mitnick DPM
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