Foot Pain

In 1976, with Bruce Jenner on the way to winning the Olympic Gold in the Decathlon, he entered the stadium with a red sweatshirt that said, ‘Feet, don’t fail me now’.  This is not a surprising thought since the last and defining event was the grueling 1500 meters. His feet did not fail him and he won gold.

Too often though, our feet do fail us.  Forget the 1500 or even the 100 meters, for many the pain is measured in every step taken.

The foot is a complicated marvel.  Depending on whether the sesamoid bones are counted,  there are 26 to 28 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles and tendons as well and the nerves and vascular components in each foot. These are all wound and bound together by fascia.

When feet are good, they are very, very good and we don’t even think about our feet except when buying shoes, putting them on or happily taking them off at the end of the day.

But when they are bad, they are very, very bad and we think about them all the time!

Two major causes of most foot pain are fascia and bone spurs.  So when we address foot pain we always trace back to the WHY.  Don’t get me wrong, there are many minor but vicious causes of foot pain but we do not have the space or time to cover them all, although during evaluations all possibilities are reviewed.

An example of a bone spur is a calcium buildup on the calcaneous bone (heel).  When tracing back to the why, we find that the calf muscles (Soleus and Gastronemius) are too tight.  They apply a pulling pressure on the Achilles Tendon which pulls against the calcaneous (your heel which is the bony attachment for the Achilles Tendon).  Your internal systems are constantly monitoring all aspects of what is going on in your body and they know that this attachment must stay secure, so it sends calcium to that spot to act as a glue to keep the attachment strong.

A spur is formed and they are very painful to walk on.  This is a simplification of a complexity but I think you get the picture.  With our ReCAPS™ treatment this can be resolved and the body will detect the change and stop depositing calcium.  Slowly the body will reabsorb the calcium as it is no longer needed.

With fascia: the nerves, blood vessels, bones and muscles are all affected.  The effect on you is now the burning pain of impinged nerves, changes in color and condition of the skin and foot from the vascular factor, the spasms from the muscles and even the shifting of the bones (as when the foot appears to split apart with very intense pain).  When fascia seizes into adhesions the pain is quite severe.  This problem will not resolve with time.  It must be addressed with a fascia release technique.

With the ReCAPS System™, walking without pain is now an option.