Orthotics MISERY!! :(

tk123

Firstly apologies if this is in the wrong place!!
I could really use some advice here.
I've been seeing a physical therapist for the last year or so. Originally I went to him with neck stiffness and other times for ankle/knee/lower back/neck pain - from walking about 5k per day. After going back to him a few times I realized that my runners were worn on the outside of the heel and that if I wore a new pair it'd solve all my problems - for 2 months until they were worn again. I asked him would I need orthotics, he did a gait scan and I have them since sept. They had to be sent back in Nov when the top started to come off and now the bottom is cracked on one of them. I am still only getting 2 months out of the shoes walking 20-30k a week. He says the problem is leg length/hip muscles being loose and that the orthotics are fine - he's sent back further gain analysis to the company and they've come back saying the orths are fine too.
2 months on now and my shoes are worn and pain in my ankle and knee. I had started couch to 5k and while my fitness level can handle it the pain at the front of my ankle got so bad the last 3 sessions that I had to stop and wait for it to go before I could carry on. I want to run!!

My question is do I go back to this guy or see somebody else? I'm out of work now so I can't afford to be giving him €50 every few months for the foreseeable future!? I don't see the point in the orthotics and think I was ripped off!

GKiraly

I reckon its time to see someone else. If you keep going to the same physio and gettin same results then its time to change. I spent years going to several physios, some a few times, constantly gettin niggles, then I went to some other guy and within 2 mins he spotted the problem. So the moral of the story is, try someone else, you'd be surprised (probably not at this stage!) at how they could hit the common denominator of your problem straight away. For all you know (as I found out too late) some are just out for your money so keep you coming back. Thats not to say your physio is but a different pair of eyes and hands on the problem could make all the difference.

tk123

I actually went to a different place yesterday and was glad I did. They explained everything a lot better and gave me different stretches/exercises to do. Where the first guy was more treating my symptoms eg straightening me out/getting everything realigned/relying on the orthotics to align me etc he never really treated what was causing the problems (really tight calves) so I was in a constant cycle.
When I questioned the orthotics in the first place he was adamant they were fine and doing their job, the physio yesterday was more of a sceptic - which is what I wanted tbh.

Raighne

tk123 wrote: »

Firstly apologies if this is in the wrong place!!
I could really use some advice here.
I've been seeing a physical therapist for the last year or so. Originally I went to him with neck stiffness and other times for ankle/knee/lower back/neck pain - from walking about 5k per day. After going back to him a few times I realized that my runners were worn on the outside of the heel and that if I wore a new pair it'd solve all my problems - for 2 months until they were worn again. I asked him would I need orthotics, he did a gait scan and I have them since sept. They had to be sent back in Nov when the top started to come off and now the bottom is cracked on one of them. I am still only getting 2 months out of the shoes walking 20-30k a week. He says the problem is leg length/hip muscles being loose and that the orthotics are fine - he's sent back further gain analysis to the company and they've come back saying the orths are fine too.
2 months on now and my shoes are worn and pain in my ankle and knee. I had started couch to 5k and while my fitness level can handle it the pain at the front of my ankle got so bad the last 3 sessions that I had to stop and wait for it to go before I could carry on. I want to run!!

My question is do I go back to this guy or see somebody else? I'm out of work now so I can't afford to be giving him €50 every few months for the foreseeable future!? I don't see the point in the orthotics and think I was ripped off!

Orthotics correct shoes not feet. The rotational forces they are meant to stabilise are caused by how you land, not how you are built. It's a functional problem, not a structural one. Leg length is often misdiagnosed, it is very rare for actual major discrepancies to exist between legs except were you are grow up with an actual shortened bone. In most cases, this again is a functional problem arising from excessive pulling on a joint and poor or imbalanced posture.

Hip muscles being loose just means they are underactive, this again is a functional problem which is easily addressed and is very common problem in runners today.

I'd like to give you more specific advice but it would probably constitute medical advice and be against forum rules. I would recommend attending a free talk I am doing with my partners on injury free running at 53 Degrees North in Dublin (11th July) or Cork (12th July). We discuss all the questions you have above and as you can see from the gist of my post disagree with the conventional treatment paradigm for injuries which we consider as resting on false assumptions and being reductionist (e.g. like focusing all energy on repairing a crack in a foundation rather than figuring out why it cracked). So if you want a different view, I hope to see you there and you can assess for yourself.