Saturday, April 3, 2010

Topaz treatment information

After over 8 months of struggling with my plantar fascia I've decided to move to the next step.  I've done physical therapy, ultrasound, cortisone shots, stretching, icing, medrol dose packs, lowered mileage, time off, etc....  Nothing has seemed to get rid of the pain.  Over the last few months I've had other problems with my foot which may or may not be related to the PF.  Last week I went in for a follow-up appointment and decided that it was time to get a more aggressive treatment.  This means 4-6 weeks off which is (to put it mildly) difficult for me.  It also means hardly any alternative excercise, especially for the first three weeks.  I'm pretty bummed about this, but 2010 has been a bust anyway and I just want to be able to run and enjoy it rather than hobble through a run and be miserable.

The "minimally invasive surgical treatment" is called Topaz (which sounds pretty lame).  Here is a little info for thos interested.
http://www.podiatryinfo.com/topaz.pdf

http://www.google.com/search?q=topaz+treatment+for+plantar+fasciitis&hl=en&rlz=1R2ADBR_enUS364&tbs=vid:1&tbo=u&ei=rcqzS9yfNYGB8ga4n4jtCg&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCgQqwQwAw&cts=1270074555093

I hope to be back out there by mid-May and maybe even racing by mid-July.  I've adjusted my goals and now hope to be in decent shape to do the Baystate marathon and the US trail marathon championships in November.

I head in for surgery on Monday...fingers crossed.

5 comments:

Dan said...

Good luck Dave. I hope this is the cure.

Jason Bui said...

Good luck, Dave! I have a few running buddies that would be interested in knowing how it goes for you.

Alison Bryant said...

Good luck with your surgery. I have been there, you can get through it. Two words for those 1st 2 weeks: arm bike :) See you at Mount Washington!

Anonymous said...

DD

Brother, Keep on keepin' on!

See you on Monday morning!

Peterman

s p running said...

Here's to full success & speedy recovery