u/helpmyhousethx

I saw a pedorthist to make my orthotics. She is also an athletic trainer/PT in the foot/ankle center I go to. She saw the shoes I brought and said, "absolutely not. You need zero or very low drop for this issue. The Bondi is too squishy and is pushing you out to the outside of your ankles and the Ghost Max is too high drop." And she fitted me for Altra Torins and they fit well. She also helped me adjust a gel dancer pad and said she has better success with those than the felt ones. She also makes her orthotics in house. They will be ready in a couple weeks.

I was so excited that a person seemed interested in helping me come up with practical solutions that I didn't think about the fact that the Altra Torin does NOT have a rocker sole.

Since my pain is in a unique spot (right off the lateral sesamoid bone, though it's unclear if it's just referred pain from the lateral sesamoid), I don't really have much pain WHILE walking. It tends to be a later thing, more of a pinpoint touch pain than a walking pain. I do have a carbon plate in the Torin.

So the TL;DR:

• Pedorthist/foot and ankle specialist PT recommended moving me from Hoka Bondi wide/Brooks Ghost Max 3 wide and into Altra Torin wide (she isn't just a Hoka hater - she was wearing Hokas)
• Suggested I wear one full size bigger than I was wearing (so wants at least one full thumbs width between my toes and the shoe front edge)
• Moved me from felt dancer pad to gel dancer pad
• Was worried I was in too acute a healing phase for the orthotics fitting to be really accurate, but I really want orthotics so I did walk a few steps on the floor barefoot and she said she can make it work and I just may need new ones sooner than usual because once I return to more normal walking may not find them entirely comfortable for that

Worried about continuing in the Torins if they don't have a rocker!! I don't want to try them for a few days and go weeks backward. Not sure what to do. Since my bone marrow edema got worse between MRIs, I'm just feeling like healing is really vulnerable and don't know what to do.

Title says it all ;)

I have some cartilage wear at the 1ST MTP but also chronic, longstanding sesamoid stress and arthritis at the sesamoid articulation. Both sesamoids have severe, unchanging bone marrow edema and damage.

Hope everyone is doing well or improving today!

I’ve got bilateral sesamoiditis and have found I can do very short (10-25 min) low resistance stationary bike workouts with carbon fiber inserts and cushioning using a midfoot/heel stance. However, it’s really not enough to make me feel less crappy about laying/sitting 90% of the day.

I know how to swim, but I’ve never learning different swimming techniques etc. I imagine swimming could be better than biking, but I can also envision that the water resistance could aggravate the foot.

Can anyone share some swimming tips? Especially ways to help maintain some lower body fitness with swimming?

Other exercise I have tried includes floor mat Pilates and chair cardio. These are ok, but I still find I have to modify them a bit and they use the same moves over and over, which creates their own overuse issues (lower back, elbows and shoulders)

I’m going to a show (Deathcab for Cutie!) at Merriweather later in July.

I have a serious foot injury but don’t have a handicap sticker and don’t want to rely on assuming handicap parking will be available.

Any tips on the shortest walking distance if driver is able to drop me off somewhere before they park? Or if the venue is cool about drop off at handicap spots without parking there?

Also trying to not trap driver in horrible parking traffic while balancing my need to walk as few steps as possible.

Thanks!

Edit: wow, I can’t believe I didn’t think to call the venue instead of just reading their accessibility info on the website, so thanks for the tip to the commenters who suggested it.

They said if I have a boot or crutches (I do), I can get dropped off in the handicap parking area and they can shuttle me to the entrance. And I wasn’t sure if I’m allowed to bring my crutches in because I wasn’t sure about space but they assured me that of course I can. Problem solved! Thanks, all.

I couldn’t figure out a way to get my foot comfortable in a shoe or boot so I have been non-weightbearing for two weeks now. Planning to do 4 weeks if I can make it that far

For those who did non weight bearing, did your pain get more diffuse when you were off if? Before, I had one pinpoint spot and no pain when wiggling toe gently now it feels tighter, firmer, more swollen, and more diffusely painful like an ache if I rest it on a soft surface. Pain does not increase and almost settles after leaving it sitting there for a while. Also easier to feel pain when lightly touching the area. It’s not painful to light touch of blankets etc. That foot is also often colorful when dangling or something but returns to normal when elevating.

Basically is it normal for it to feel worse at rest when non-weight bearing than it did before when you were walking on it? At least the random super hot / intense and extra swollen moments stopped which led me to go non weight bearing in the first place.

Seeking orthopedic/sports med doctor for an obscure-ish foot issue in the area.

Looking specifically for doctors with experience with sesamoids, sesamoiditis, turf toe, 1st MTP issues, etc.

I have already obtained MRI and diagnosis - looking for knowledgeable doctor to help me navigate the diagnosis, access good PT, orthotics, etc.

Would also help to hear experiences with local or virtual PT for these issues or those familiar with rehab for climbers, dancers, etc, not general PT.

Seeking orthopedic/sports med doctor for an obscure-ish foot sports injury. Any Terps athletes had experience with this and any local help with it?

Looking specifically for doctors with experience with sesamoids, sesamoiditis, turf toe, 1st MTP issues, etc. Football players, dancers, basketball players.. any experience?

I have already obtained MRI and diagnosis - looking for knowledgeable doctor to help me navigate the diagnosis, access good PT, orthotics, etc.

Similarly, looking for PT for these issues or PTs familiar with rehab for climbers, dancers, etc, not general PT.

Seeking orthopedic/sports med doctor for an obscure-ish foot issue in the immediate DMV area. I like in PGCo - not having any luck.

Looking specifically for doctors with experience with sesamoids, sesamoiditis, chronic turf toe, 1st MTP issues, etc.

I have already obtained MRI and diagnosis - looking for knowledgeable doctor to help me navigate the diagnosis, access good PT, orthotics, etc.

Would also help to hear experiences with local or virtual PT for these issues or those familiar with rehab for climbers, dancers, etc, not general PT.

Seeking orthopedic/sports med doctor for an obscure-ish foot issue in the NOVA/DC/MA area.

Looking specifically for doctors with experience with sesamoids, sesamoiditis, turf toe, 1st MTP issues, etc.

I have already obtained MRI and diagnosis - looking for knowledgeable doctor to help me navigate the diagnosis, access good PT, orthotics, etc.

Would also help to hear experiences with local or virtual PT for these issues or those familiar with rehab for climbers, dancers, etc, not general PT.

Seeking orthopedic/sports med doctor for an obscure-ish foot issue in the Annapolis/MD area.

Looking specifically for doctors with experience with sesamoids, sesamoiditis, turf toe, 1st MTP issues, etc.

I have already obtained MRI and diagnosis - looking for knowledgeable doctor to help me navigate the diagnosis, access good PT, orthotics, etc.

Would also help to hear experiences with local or virtual PT for these issues or those familiar with rehab for climbers, dancers, etc, not general PT.

Hi everyone,

STRUGGLING. Feeling extreme despair. Etc etc.

Dancer pad is not working for me. I'm using 1/4" pads and can't figure out why it's not working.

I have FIBULAR/LATERAL sesamoid pain and pain on the lateral edge of the met head. I have a very prominent met head, even without swelling or the sesamoid sticking out from being inflammed.

Can anyone share with me some specific tips for dancer pad placement, or even better.. show me a pic. Especially if it's for fibular but if you think you have a setup that offloads them both, please share.

I've seen various placements in videos.

Also, please give me some textual details too, like how close is it to the edge of the big joint etc

Hi everyone,

Last late spring, I got what was first diagnosed as "slightly atypical but very likely" sesamoiditis but was later confirmed via imaging as a low grade partial plantar plate tear (turf toe) instead. During the time it was misdiagnosed as sesamoiditis, I consumed basically every post every written here and those tips helped me a lot with plantar plate since they are so similar. Healing was a journey, but it was linear and I had no real setbacks.

For the first 6-8 weeks, I only walked at the house. Picked up groceries, did some mild bike riding on stationary bike. Wore Birkenstock EVAs around the house from week 2. Wore rocker shoes, carbon fiber plates, and did spica/turf toe taping for anytime I left the house. Dancer pads never helped as much (prob because my pain was so far to the fibular sesamoid region and slightly more diffuse). The aggressive stabilization meant I had virtually no pain after week 3 or so, with some mild swelling/heat at night through week 7 or so. By 2-3 months, I was doing some light walking (10-25 mins), by 4 months, I was starting a return to run plan where I jogged for 30 seconds at a time, and this pace felt really conservative. I think I could have been more aggressive, but I felt more comfortable there.

Since mid-Fall, I've been back to full workouts, adding in jumping in the past 2 months (cocky, I know, but it really seemed I was 100% healed and that i dodged a bullet), and walking barefoot almost all the time inside.

Flash forward to two days ago: I feel a similar but also different sensation. The pain is in the same area (far fibular region; almost off the pad of the ball of the big toe but not quite). Except this time, the pain it evokes is different. First time, the pain was a definitive sharp stab that made me limp. This time, it's a much more mild tug/pinch that doesn't necessarily change my gait (except when I overthink it), and I can eliminate or substantially reduce it with Birkenstock EVAs and Hoka Bondi. Yesterday I was able to do a back lunge with no pain, a few heel raises with no pain, then a few seated heel raises with partial weight that caused a very brief 3/10 pinch right at lift off (like in the transition) but that was not painful at the height of the heel raise or on return. Can poke near fibular area and get some diffuse, bruise like pain but it isn't consistent and sometimes pressing it makes it resolve (again, very inconsistent so I don't know what to make of the pressure pain when I can recreateit). No increase in symptoms after all this "testing," but I've decided to stop testing to not anger the bear.

All other things considered, I'd assume this was a re-tear or aggravation of the plantar plate tear. However, the slightly different pain presentation has me concerned it's sesamoiditis. That said, all signs pointed to sesamoiditis the first time, too...

Anyway, how aggressive would ya'll be for the next week or so to see how this does? My worry is too aggressive may make things worse (wearing a post-surgery shoe for only 1.5-2 weeks last time really messed up other parts of my foot and causes issues in the other foot). I'm on Day 3.5 and have been able to eliminate or keep pain to a 0-2 all day using Birkenstock EVAs and a somewhat loose taping the toe down. I even walked out in the grass and no pain.

How immobilized would you get? How much offloading?
How much would you limit movement vs. do pain free movement?

I can go full Hoka + plate + tape, but I don't know how much that would help vs. immobilize unnecessarily.

I want to give this 7-10 days before I go to a doctor because my experience with doctors last time around was really... traumatic. (Lots of dismissiveness)