Lots of people suffer with agonising heel pain or plantarfasciitis, some of them get better in 2-3 weeks or so by following the general advice available on the internet, or by just stopping doing the thing that triggered it in the first place.
But what about those that dont get better on their own? What do they do? How do they know where to turn or who to ask?
Back in 2018, Specialist Musculo-Skeletal Podiatrists : Ben Lumley, Andrew Ayres and Ian Sadler collaborated on a training goal: to gather together a group of Podiatrists aiming to empower them to help these people more. They delivered a comprehensive a training package to ensure the groups diagnostic and treatment skills were first rate.
120 Podiatrists across the UK took part and returned to their practices with all the latest evidenced based diagnostic knowledge and rehabilitation strategies in their treatment armory: confident to be able to help more people suffering from plantarfasciitis and heel pain.
A bunch of them got an awareness campaign together: they were on a mission to change the 'suffering in silence' experience of so many patients. Communicating a consistent message that, being specialists in the disorders of the foot, "Podiatrists can heal heels" they stepped forth into a collaborative marketing campaign. Using the hashtag #podshealheels they put out free resources with hints, tips, blogs, videos, talks to community groups, articles and even free assessment appointments over a three week period in February 2019. Considering they had zero budget and only their time to invest, it had a great impact and even drew attention from outside the UK.
Well, they are doing it all again in 2020, so I decided to gather the thoughts of the 3 key Podiatrists involved in delivering that training, Ben Lumley, Andrew Ayres and Ian Sadler, so they can help you understand a bit more about what can be done to help people.
In this episode Ben explains his perspective on Plantarfasciitis and heel pain. He holds an Advanced Practitioner diagnostic and treatment planning role in the Cumbrian NHS Musculo-Skeletal team, where he has access to sophisticated imaging and testing options. He hates to be described as an 'expert', but to me thats exactly what he is because when I get stuck with a case, he usually has the answer!
If you or anyone you know is currently suffering from plantarfasciitis or enduring heel pain, make sure to give it a listen.
Thank you Dianne #pottypurplepodAndrew Ayres
