Hello,

I was just looking for hope I guess. I am having foot pain ~ had some orthotics made. They helped pretty good for a while, but here lately, the foot pain has been increasing. Used to be that when I got off them for a while they got better. They would hurt when I worked (I am a nurse) but would be better on my days off. Now a days, they hurt on my days off ~ they hurt all the time. By the time I get rested up and it is time to go back to work they start feeling better. I have read here that people have had their feet get better after losing weight, but with them hurting so much, I am afraid that I have messed them up so bad that even losing weight won't help.

How long have you been using your orthotics? Perhaps you need new ones?

I had plantar fascitis, which was helped immensely by losing weight. I haven't had any foot pain at all for quite a while now. I wore my orthotics, never went barefoot (or wore anything without the orthotics) and did the foot exercises, too, but I think the main thing was losing weight. I haven't worn the orthotics in quite a while, and I wear slippers in the house now with no problem.

I think there's hope!

Don't lose hope! Weight loss will definitely help no matter what the pain is caused by. Do some non-weight bearing exercise until it improves ie. swimming, stationary biking etc. My story is exactly like sheila 53's. See your doctor to see if there's anything else that can be done. Good luck!

Me, me I've had plantar fasciitis in both feet, thankfully not at the same time. I don't know if that's the type of problem you're having but I would definitely recommend new orthotics for your shoes, plus wearing a night splint at night, to keep your foot from flexing. Never go shoeless if you can help it. I even wear those Dearfoam house slippers (thong type) while at home, they help a lot. My physical therapist told me to take ibuprofen to help with the inflammation and to just get a small plastic water bottle (like a 16(?) oz size), freeze it, and just roll your foot over it when you're resting. That helped with pain too. Losing weight has definitely helped. I know it's tough, if not next to impossible in your line of work to stay off your feet as much as possible, but hang in there til you can get those orthotics.

My foot pain was entirely relieved by losing weight and it was really severe. Like most of the above folks, my problem was heal spurs. Don't give up on your feet, if mine got better there's hope for anybody

It sounds to me like you need new orthotics, since they were helping you at first. I went through two pair before I lost weight. Cortisone shots also were helpful for a while.

I have had exactly the same problem (I am a nurse too!). when I have had a few days where I was running like crazy then my feet would start really hurting especially my left foot. Then I changed schedules so that I worked 4 days in a row and then had 5 days off. I had enough time to rest in those 5 days so that my feet stopped hurting altogether. Now I am back in a schedule where I only have 2 or 3 days off in between working and my foot is starting to hurt again. I am getting a night brace which is supposed to really help. You should be able to get it wherever you get orthotics.

I have heel spurs as well and orthotics didn't help me much. However, the injection into my heel did! Really, it is not painful at all and relief is almost immediate. I know how people cringe at the thought of a needle in the foot, and believe me, when she mentioned it, my palms were sweating and a nurse had to come in and hold my hand! But after it was done, I was like "Is that it?" Not bad at all and maybe something to consider.

I was battling foot pain for the past few years. Whenever I did any kind of high impact excercise (even with good running shoes) I found could not walk for the next few days. I have now noticed that it is much improved after losing some weight.

My feet were horrible as well. I got orthodics, custom shoes, ultrasound therapy - nothing seemed to help. I lost a good chunk of weight and the problems seemed to have vanished.

Don't lose hope, I agree that you may want to go back and get some new orthodics.

~Dee

PAIN AND TORTURE (aka Physical Therapy).

I'm a HUGE proponent for PT. I have plantars and bone spurs. I got cortizone injections (which is fine, unless the pain comes back - which mine did). And the only thing that really helped was PT. They'll teach you what stretchs you need to do and teach you the dreaded ice massage (freeze a dixie cup full of water, rub it on your foot for like a 30 minutes - or until you cry. It's like natural ibprofen). I still do my stretches in the morning before I get out of bed (and I don't even know that I'm doing them) and I only get pain after wearing heels.

my plantar fascitis improved with better shoes and especially with weight loss! I do have problems when I walk a lot and/or wear less supportive shoes, but it used to be so much worse!

Thankfully the plantar fasciaitis is not bothering me at this time. My pain is in my ankle joints and the top and side of my feet ~ kind of burning waves of pain.

I saw the foot dr today ~ he will make me a new pair of orthotics (my present ones are 2 1/2 years old), but he didn't think that would help. His recomendation was to quit doing the 12 hour shifts and/or find a different position where I didn't have to be on my feet so much. In my dreams.......