Dr visit report, will do another personal and workout post:
Hey, well here's the lowdown on the podiatrist visit. I really do like this dr, he took time to explain everything to me, very personable as we both giggled about "feeling better" about my progress as we talked.
He asked how much progress I felt I've made, I said 30%, he said he wished for more (50-60) but let's keep with the PT since I have more strength and then in 4 weeks if we haven't made more progress we'll look at PRP (more on that later). Then once I reminded that I only started PT 3 weeks ago that is when he said he felt better about my progress (it has been 5 week since I initially saw him)--that's when we both giggled because later he answered some question (about walking on outside of foot) where I said, whew I feel better now. LOL
So, right now the plan is to continue with PT. He tested the strength in my ankle and I do have some strength there now. I'm amazed as I've only done the band work 2x a week for the 3 weeks. PT was surprised I wasn't doing the band at home, I explained how that caused more pain that first week when I did it 2x at home so I'm slowly adding days in (I'm learning to do things VERY slowly). They were happy about that.
Anyway, back to the dr. If in 4 weeks I don't feel I'm at the improvement I should be at (ie. maybe 90% is good enough, but maybe I'll only be at 60%), anyway, then we need to look at PRP (protein rich plasma), they take your blood and inject the tendon which causes the body to send lots of fighters to heal that area. That would require me to stay off any anti-inflammatories 2 weeks before, then in a boot for a week, then no anti-inflammatories or ice for 2 weeks so the body sends it's fighters in. It's the exact opposite of what we are doing now, but it has some great results. OOP is $650 as insurance doesn't cover. I'd be happy to spring for that, but I feel I can get there on my own with the course I'm on. I'm not thrilled about the whole boot, limited movement for a week, etc. If I need it I'll do it, but I'm going to try (very carefully) to heal with PT. I expect 10% improvement a week, and hope for more...at minimum I should be at 70% in 4 weeks --I secretly hope for 90%.
He explained how my tendon is split and more than likely the split will never mend together but heal with a split. That's ok as long as it heals and I get strength back.
He explained why I walk on the outside of my foot which predisposes me to overuse of the peroneal tendon. It's the way my foot comes out of my ankle (has nothing to do with the arch). An example would be to invert your foot in, that's how my foot comes out of the ankle--just not at that major degree (it's just how I'm made). So it turns in and therefore I walk on the outside of my foot. Ah, good, now I can stop focusing on the fact I don't walk right! Shoes/insoles I'm using are fine too. For people whose foot comes out at a really bad inversion they actually do surgery to move the ankle over (ouch, so glad this isn't the case!). So this all happened over time and the peroneal just got overused. Now that I know I'm predisposed to that, I'll work on keeping it strengthened and I'll stretch my @#$#@$@ calf muscles more as my tight (though they don't feel tight to me) calf muscles are adding to the strain on the peroneal tendon.
I think that's it. So keeping with the slow and steady progress, but if in the next 2-3 weeks I don't feel I'm making progress, I'll stop anti-inflammatories in preparation for the PRP instead of waiting until week 4, wait 2 weeks to cleanse body of anti-inflammatories, then do PRP. Hope that makes sense. Concentrating on stay on this slow and steady course because Turtle will get there, just like on those 14ers! LOL
