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Steven Tyler's Aching Feet

by Jacob Fassman
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Tuesday, 10 April 2012 Category Social Awareness
According to Dr. M on January 9, 2012 in Entertainment:

In 2008, Tyler underwent surgery on his feet ”to correct long-time foot injuries resulting from his trademark athletic performance onstage.” He had been diagnosed with a condition called Morton’s Neuroma, and was told by his orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Brian McKeon, that it would require a number of surgeries to repair.

As Steven put it in his book Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Memoir:

What they had to do was to cut some bone and take two knuckles out of my feet. They also took out a ganglion of nerves. The nerves that are in your feet are small as a dime, but mine were the size of a quarter, big and bulbous and traumatized to the point where they had to be taken out…so now there’s just phantom pain there, like a guy who gets his arm cut off and still feels his fingers.

The post-surgical pain was so bad, the he found himself back in rehab. As he told People magazine:

The ‘foot repair’ pain was intense, greater than I’d anticipated. The months of rehabilitative care and the painful strain of physical therapy were traumatic. I really needed a safe environment to recuperate where I could shut off my phone and get back on my feet.

During interview with Oprah, Tyler actually showed her his foot (left), with which he still has issues.

Looking at it, we can see why!

Tyler also intimated that he took his current gig on American Idol partially as a way to slow down, get off the road, and rest his chronically painful feet.

So, what is this condition that can hobble a rock star of the magnitude of Steven Tyler?
Morton’s neuroma is an injury to the nerve between the toes, which causes thickening and pain. It commonly affects the nerve that travels between the third and fourth toes.

Morton’s neuroma is more common in women than men.

The exact cause is unknown. However, some experts believe the following may play a role in the development of this condition:

Abnormal positioning of toes
Flat feet
Forefoot problems, including bunions and hammer toes
High foot arches
Tight shoes and high heels
Symptoms of Morton’s neuroma include:

Tingling in the space between the third and fourth toes
Toe cramping
Sharp, shooting, or burning pains in the ball of your foot (and sometimes toes)
Pain that increases when wearing shoes or pressing on the area
Pain that gets worse over time
In rare cases, nerve pain occurs in the space between the second and third toes.

Treatment

Nonsurgical treatment is usually tried first. Your doctor may recommend any of the following:

Padding and taping the toe area
Shoe inserts
Changes to footwear (for example, shoes with wider toe boxes)
Anti-inflammatory medicines taken by mouth or injected into the toe area
Nerve blocking medicines injected into the toe area
Physical therapy
In some cases, surgery may be needed to remove the thickened tissue. This can help relieve pain and improve foot function. Numbness after surgery is permanent, but should not be painful. Surgery is successful in about 85% of cases.

>I must respectfully disagree with Mr. Tyler's self diagnosis. Neuroma's in the feet can cause pain and a splaying of toes, however, looking at his clinical photos of his feet, it looks more like dislocated 2nd and 3rd toes with overlapping deformity from trauma over the years/plantar plate tears. Tags: Foot Pain, neuroma, Aerosmith, Steven Tyler
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Can High Heels Cause Headaches?

by Dr. Diana Tsombaris
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Monday, 07 November 2011 Category Shoes

Over the summer Congresswoman Michele Bachmann made a correlation between migraine headaches and wearing high-heeled shoes.  Her son, Dr. Lucas Bachmann, a medical resident at the University of Connecticut, confirmed that his mother in fact noticed a connection between days she wears heels and the onset of migraines.

Medical experts commented and the general consensus was that a direct link between the two is unlikely.

Running a presidential campaign is certainly stressful and a possible source of migraines.  Also, if she suffers from neck and back pain, this could be exacerbated by wearing high heels.

Typical side effects of wearing high-heeled shoes include bunion and hammertoe deformities, and nerve entrapment in the ball of the foot called Neuroma.

 

Tags: neuroma, hammertoe, bunion, migraines, high heels, Michelle Bachmann
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Taping/Strapping

by Jacob Fassman
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Tuesday, 25 October 2011 Category Sports
After reading recent material in a Podiatry magazine, I discovered that many Podiatrists are not strapping/taping feet. In our practice, this is an effective way to add support to painful feet. Furthermore, this method acts adjunctively with treatments for conditions such as plantar fasciitis, achilles/peroneal/posterior tibial tendonitis. When padding is incorporated to a strapping, this is effective for reducing pain associated with neuromas and metatarsalgia as well. Tags: neuroma, achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis
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