Hello everyone. I intended to update you when I had reached some sort of conclusion, but in the meantime a few of you have kindly enquired about my progress.
I purchased the book Older Yet Faster. After two months of carrying out their prescribed exercises for PF recovery and going shoeless around the house I did see some improvement. The essence of their strategy is to strengthen the muscles in the foot that will benefit PF recovery. In terms of number of bad days for PF I think I had about 25% less occurrences following this regime.
I use the foot roller after any long walk or activity that's likely to aggravate my PF. And this does seem to mean the next day I now wake up fine. I had been overdoing the roller and actually caused my foot to permanently feel sore.
Using my very thin soled minimalist shoes I found things neither better nor worse for day to day use. But when I did a more than say 4 mile walk I found my padded running shoes left me feeling better.
I finally got a referral from the GP to the see a Consultant at the local hospital's Biomechanics Department. Having been through all of the usual treatments, albeit self administered, he asked
me what I wanted to try next! Based on this thread I asked for shock wave therapy or ultrasound therapy. I was told the NHS didn't offer ultrasound, but had just taken delivery of a new focused extracorporeal shock wave therapy machine, but they hadn't really used it much and where a little unsure how to progress. However they had been given some guidelines by others on how to set it up etc and asked if I was okay to give it a try. I agreed to be their guinea pig.
I was asked how intense I wanted the shock waves to be. They were cautious as some patients said it was painful and so they wanted to give me a gentle introduction and allow me to gauge my tolerance. However they confirmed that maximum benefit came from maximum power. So I told them to go for maximum power. It wasn't too bad, a score of 6 out 10 where 10 is my most painful experience of my life. I think they liked me as there was an audience of trainees in to watch my subsequent sessions (sadistic so and so's). I had four sessions spaced a week apart. Then the treatment was stopped as they said the treatment effectively kickstarted a stalled healing process and nature now had to be allowed to take its course.
Even after the first session it was better. Now about three months after the last session its much better, not gone, but the best its been.
I've been back in touch for more sessions but they said no for now. They'll be in touch in the summer to see how I am.
Apparently you can get shock wave therapy privately for about £40 a session. This might be something I do if the NHS won't play ball and the PF doesn't clear up.
Thank you all, once again, for your support and kindness in this matter
