Why you’re not getting better and what you can do about it

Blog, Fungal Nails, General Podiatry, Growing pains, Heel Pain, Ingrown Nails, Kids Feet, Shockwave

Why You're Not Getting Better and what you can do about it

Have you ever wondered why you're not getting better after seeing a therapist, and what you can do about it? Dr Brenden Brown, the Leading Podiatrist at A Step Ahead Foot and Ankle Care, Penrith, explains that it could be you, not the therapist.

It's Father's Day. I love my dad, and I'm sitting in the entertainment area of my childhood home after cooking my dad his Father's Day breakfast. My brothers are here with their children as well, and we are discussing my parents impending trip to Europe, but more concerning in the discussion is the Back Pain that has my Mum currently in a wheelchair.

Mum has been to see a therapist. She's been given exercises and a treatment plan that she needs to undertake. My dad says, "Oh well. I think from here it's all up to Peter." I look at him, and I ask, "Who is Peter." My dad replies, "Your Mum's therapist. It's up to him whether or not your Mum will get to Europe. Let's hope he can get her better in time." Pardon?

My head twirled, my eyes roll, and I'm quite sure I probably became the colour of an orange. I reply with all the love I can muster, "This has very little to do with Peter and a whole stack to do with Mum."

That's right; It's not Peter's responsibility to get my Mum better! Peter has developed a treatment plan, and the biggest participant in that plan is Mum. Peter can show her what to do, tell her when to do it, but in the end, who is the person that is responsible - MUM!

I have no idea who Peter is as I've never met the guy. Still, I know from experience that this is a common expectation of patients that somehow it is the practitioners' responsibility to get patients better. I've got to tell you that while Peter and I have our patients’ best interest in mind and as therapists work hard to help out our patients reach their goals. I think there is very little further from the truth than it's "up to us" to get patients better. Dad... Mum... listening?

If I were to make a list of the most common reason that I see for people not getting better, at least half would be the laid at the feet of the patient themselves. Yes, I know this is a bitter pill to swallow if you are a patient and reading this blog is not going to make me at all popular, but them's the breaks, so to speak.

So what is the on "The list":

Not following your treatment plan - broadly speaking
Not completing your exercise program as instructed
Not Completing exercises as often as required
Not wearing the footwear your practitioner suggests
Picking and choosing the best bits of your treatment plan
Holding your practitioner responsible for your success

Now, of course, other reasons can contribute to your lack of recovery and yes, at times they relate to therapy or perhaps the diagnosis. Yes, practitioners get it wrong but so do patients! As humans, we seem pretty programmed to point the finger at others than recognize that we may be a contributor to our problems.

If you find following your therapist's instructions difficult, let them know, SPEAK UP! Sometimes 13 different stretches in a day is too much. But equally, if they tell you that you need to do this to get better, you've two choices - 1. Get to it or 2. Get a second opinion. But that's it! Choosing not to follow the plan and then blame a therapist for your lack of progress is like not taking your medication the doctor prescribes and returning to them complaining that you're not getting any better.

Why you’re not getting better - Its not ME its YOU

To the therapist who is reading this: Stop being walked over! If your patient isn't following their plan and you know it or they are negotiating not completing vital parts of the program, fricken speak up! Tell them straight! You are in no way helping either of you by following that course. The patient doesn't improve, you look stupid and incapable, and that is a lose-lose for you all! That patient will see someone else and will bad mouth you to their friends, loved ones and the next therapist they see! I know because they see me!

Why You're Not Getting Better - Its not me its you

Well, after my head stopped twirling like the cast of the Exorcist, I had to make sure my Mum had a clear understanding that Europe was not only physically thousands of kilometres away, but the same distance metaphorically. Unless she stuck to HER part of HER treatment plan, she was not going anywhere.

The result? My Mum is, as I write, jumping on and off buses in Europe enjoying her holiday!

Shockwave for Treating Heel Pain

Blog, General Podiatry, Heel Pain

Shockwave therapy for heel pain - Western Sydney

Heel pain is one of the most debilitating conditions that our doctors see every single day. Pain in the morning is common for people, first step and OUCH! Only to be relieved or Plateau and return later in the day! This is where Shockwave for Treating Heel Pain comes in.

Is Shockwave for Treating Heel Pain for Me?

Shockwave has become one of the gold standard treatments for heel pain. As one of the first clinics to adopt shockwave, we have seen a rise in its use across other clinics and sadly not always successfully. The reason is that often well-meaning practitioners who use this, use it as a stand-alone treatment and NOT as part of a treatment plan to beat painful heels!

Plantar Fasciitis, Heel Spurs and Achilles tendinitis will all respond well to shockwave however alone as a therapy shockwave will only provide part of a solution.

Heel pain requires a treatment plan that incorporates multiple areas to be addressed from Footwear to foot posture. Then to also treat both the soft tissue pain and the tissue strength to balance its recovery and get patients back to happy, healthy and active.

Sadly treating heel pain with shockwave alone will rarely see patient recover leading to more pain and frequently frustration!

Can we help?

Our doctors are all qualified and registered Podiatrists. That’s right, foot doctors! Unlike other clinics who look after toenails and callous or dry hard skin. Our team sees sports injuries like heel pain, multiple times a day!

If you’d like to beat heel Pain, we would love to help.

Our clinic is located in Western Sydney just off the M4 in Penrith. Our Doctors are registered with all major health funds. Health fund referrals are not necessary, please contact us for details.

Appointments are NOT BULK BILLED; however, you may be able to claim some money through Medicare if your GP refers you to our team.

If you’re ready to get back to happy healthy and active, our team would love to help please call us on 96732987

How to cure heel pain at home

Blog, Heel Pain

Yes, it’s true! By making a few simple changes, many people can reduce heel pain at home! 😀 Yay!

Heel pain can be horrible! From the first step of bed and the excruciating pain that can be associated with those first painful steps, to sitting down after lunch and rising again and your old nemesis PAIN is back. Some may find their pain increases with the amount of activity or exercise that they do. Heel Pain can look different for everyone

If you’ve read any of our my other blogs, you will realise that unlike many others in the field of foot doctoring or Podiatry, I will reveal that there are numerous types of heel pain! While both heel spurs and plantar fasciitis are the most spoken about, they are also the most commonly misdiagnosed and over-diagnosed conditions. If you have not read my other blogs on this topic, there will be a link below.

I am a Penrith Podiatrist, with a smidge over 20 years experience who sees anywhere between eight and 10 patients every day with varying types of heel pain. Yup, it’s a lot of feet!

At these appointments, we go into great detail on how to relieve heel pain. However, in this blog, I will list some very quick points to start your journey to relief.

How to prevent heel pain at home?

Wear good quality, lace-up runners
I prefer quality brands like Asics and New Balance. If you are making a choice, I would look for Shoes in the neutral range, from these brands.
Over the counter orthotics or insoles
People with flat feet, fallen Arches or those who have ankles that are “rolled in”. Will benefit greatly from using simple over-the-counter insoles or arch supports.

If you have very high archers or your ankles roll out, you can try these arch supports, but on most occasions, your feet generally require more cushioning rather than support so arch “supports” can often become an irritant. (Sorry, I can’t tell you over the Internet what foot type you have or where you fit.)

Brands I like;

ReAlign – now available at most Rebel sports stores and some camping stores and other good quality running footwear outlets and podiatrists.
Orthaheel – These orthotic inserts are available from most pharmacists, some department stores and some podiatrists.
Formthotics – These are over the counter insoles, they often passed off by practitioners as custom made or customised devices. This is, in my humble opinion, nonsense. Let’s call them what they are, that is, “over the counter orthotics”. They have their place. These are mostly available at some podiatrists physiotherapist and chiropractor

We need to acknowledge The fact that over the counter insoles available from sports stores, chemists or even the ones available at physiotherapists or some podiatry clinics, are in no way the same as custom-made, prescription orthotics available from a qualified podiatrist.

There would be no way anyone would suggest that the reading glasses you can buy from the pharmacy or now some department stores are in any way the same as the prescription glasses prescribed by an optometrist. The same is true for prescription orthotics made by a podiatrist. They have very similar distinctions as prescription glasses. Please don’t send me messages about this, in my opinion, and it’s just silly to try to compare the two as similar.

Gel insoles or heel raises are not the same as over-the-counter orthotics and will in my experience create more problems in the long run, so stay away.

How to cure heel pain at home

Rolling Frozen Water Bottle or a Tennis Ball GENTLY under your foot

Rolling a frozen plastic ice bottle in your arch
Try softly rolling a frozen bottle of water in your arch. Make sure this bottle is plastic. You are best to place a towel over the frozen bottle as. A piece of advice I highly recommend is not pressing to firmly on this bottle as I have come across patients who have increased their pain to the area by doing so. This process works well if you gently roll the bottle in your arch for around 10 to 15 minutes – two or three times an afternoon or morning.
Rolling soft tennis ball
Use a SOFT tennis ball! I regularly see patients who have again increased or irritated their heel pain by using Hard or Rigid balls in their arch, all on the suggestions of social media health guru. Lacrosse balls, golf balls, cricket balls should be left for the sport they were designed for originally. Again roll the bottle in your arch GENTLY! There is a great risk of irritating an already irritated area by doing this too firmly.
Immobilise your foot
Many practitioners will tell you to wear an Aircast boot of some type or other. This is generally a bad idea as it completely reduces the movement in your foot. (Note BAD for you). You are much better using some type of laced up running shoe as advised above. You will need to wear these the majority of the time. Wearing these for two or three hours, of a fifteen-hour day, will virtually get you nowhere. It’s like wearing your reading glasses for three hours taking them off and wondering why your eyes get sore after another five hours of reading

What happens if this doesn’t work?

If your heel pain has persisted for longer than one month and you have tried all of the above measures, it’s time to visit someone like me (a Podiatrist). Heel pain can last for many many years; in fact, I had a patient who presented for the first time with me after suffering for heel pain for nine years. Yes, I know you’ve been told it will only last a few months and it will go away by its self. Someone needs to tell this lady because it most certainly did not.

It’s important to note that on many occasions as I said above this condition is misdiagnosed, and it’s essential to see a podiatrist like my good self who sees heel pain all the time! Not all Podiatrists do!

Yes, it’s time for the shameless plug here. I’ve been practising podiatry for over 20 years. In that time, I’ve literally seen thousands of patients with heel pain. These are patients from professional athletes competing at an international level, to young kids who are in excruciating pain. I seemed to have developed quite a knack at helping those with painful, ongoing heel pain.

I also work with a terrific team of highly qualified Foot Doctors. Yes, all qualified Podiatrists who, like me, regularly see the tricky bits of podiatry that most podiatrists don’t get to treat or don’t have as much experience in seeing.

Our team of Western Sydney podiatrists have patients who travel from all over New South Wales to be assisted. From Griffith, Dubbo, Mudge and up to Port Macquarie in the north or near Batemans Bay in the South! We even get people from the North Shore or Eastern suburbs of Sydney!

If you’re interested, please contact our uber helpful, front desk team who will run through what you have tried and what is going on for you right now. We’ll be able to advise you on what is the best appointment or package for you to get you the best relief. Our team can be contacted on 9673 2987, or you can use one of the contact us forms on our website.

Choosing the Right School Shoe Size 2020

Blog, Heel Pain

Choosing the Right School Shoe Size 2020

Dr Brenden Brown, Podiatrist. That guy who knows truckloads about feet and stuff talks about how to size your child’s school shoes correctly.

Making sure you get the right size to fit your child’s foot is important to keep them active and pain-free.

Dr Brenden Brown a leading Sydney Podiatrist with 25 years experience helps you identify the correct way to size school shoes; something a parent should know.

Do you have have questions? Ask below!

Check out our series on Kids feet and foot problems – stacks of tips and tricks to keep you kids happy healthy and active.

If you haven’t booked your appointment time for your gap-free heel pain assessment yet, please call our friendly reception team on (02) 9673 2987 to secure your appointment today.

Video Transcript

So how do you make sure you get the right size for your kids’ school shoes this year? Most shoe shops are all self-serve, so you’ve got to make sure you know exactly what you’re doing. Now, there’s a big myth out there that kids grow oodles of school shoe sizes in a year when the truth is, most kids only grow between one and two school shoe sizes.

So don’t go crazy. I’ve actually had patients come in, and they’ve got their kids in shoes that are that much too long for them. These aren’t clown shoes. This isn’t Ronald McDonald.

These kids need to run and be active in these shoes. So make sure that when you’re choosing them, you through these following tips. First of all, get your child to sit and push their heel in the shoe right to the back of the heel.

Then, choose the thickness of their thumb. When I’m talking about thickness, can we see in there? We’re talking about this bit here. Make sure it’s between the end of their longest toe and the end of the shoe. There should be that much room in there to make sure that your little one has enough room for growth and has enough room to do activity.

In fact, you really should be doing it for yourself.

Finally, what I want you to do is, some shoes are really narrow. I want you to flip the shoe over like this and put it on the bottom of your child’s foot. If you can see their toes hanging out or the sides of their foot, then guess what? That school shoe is way, too narrow and you need to give it a flick and choose another one.

They’re really simple tips that you can use at home. Always make sure that your child is standing up when they do these measurements because they’re going to do this standing up and running. So that’s why it’s important.

Now, when you’re choosing your shoe, you should look at features. There are five essential features you should look at, and I’ve got that, guess what? In another video.

So you’re going to have to come back and check it out then. Look for five features that every parent should know about choosing a school shoe.

See you then.

Kids Growing Pain Calculator

Would you like a quick idea of what treatments could be best for your child? Are you worried about Growing Pains? Curious if its time to look at an assessment for you child? Curious about what treatment may be worth looking at? Try our online Calculator!

Enter your responses and our online calculator will provide you with Personalised Treatment Recommendations* you can consider. You can also download your personalised results* and recommendations for you to keep – completely free!

TRY OUR GROWING PAIN CALCULATOR

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Want more information? That’s fantastic. There are stacks of videos that we’ve made. Look down below. There’s most likely a link there, or check us out on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc., all the normal socials because we’ve got stacks of educational videos on heel pain and all the other conditions that we look after. Thanks and stay happy, healthy and active.

Run – Walk – PLAY with a big smile is the name of the game!

by Peter Kelly | 09/06/2020 | Blog, General Podiatry, Growing pains, Kids Feet | 0 Comments

Run - Walk - PLAY with a big smile is the name of the game! That's exactly what Kyra can do now! Thanks to a correct diagnosis of her Tibialis posterior pain. Did you know that there is...

Why you’re not getting better and what you can do about it

by Peter Kelly | 24/05/2020 | Blog, Fungal Nails, General Podiatry, Growing pains, Heel Pain, Ingrown Nails, Kids Feet, Shockwave | 0 Comments

Have you ever wondered why you're not getting better after seeing a therapist, and what you can do about it? Dr Brenden Brown, the Leading Podiatrist at A Step Ahead Foot and Ankle...

Growing Pains and Questions Parents Should Ask

by Peter Kelly | 11/05/2020 | Blog, General Podiatry, Growing pains, Kids Feet | 0 Comments

"Growing pains" is a common description but is it really a diagnosis? Let's talk about a few questions parents can ponder, that may help you decide "Growing pains" is often a description...

Kids come in all shapes and sizes and so do their feet!

by Peter Kelly | 27/12/2019 | Blog, Growing pains | 0 Comments

Kid’s come in all shapes and sizes and so do their feet! It stands to reason that not all kids' foot pain is...

Kids and Foot Pain

by Peter Kelly | 20/12/2019 | Blog, Growing pains | 0 Comments

Kids DO NOT have to put up with pain! They do not have to wait to grow out of it! It’s a fact and if you’ve...

Happy, Healthy and Active Kids

by Peter Kelly | 21/11/2019 | Blog, Growing pains | 0 Comments

Parents want their children to be Happy, Healthy and Active Kids. It’s common for parents who take their...

ABOUT DR BRENDEN BROWN

Founder of A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care in Sydney, and former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Dr Brenden Brown (A.K.A Dr Foot) is a wealth of knowledge on how to take care of your feet, including how to find the best shoes.

Follow him on social media:
instagram.com/askdrfoot
facebook.com/podiatristsydney
twitter.com/AStepAheadFAC

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* No medical treatment can guarantee 100% success. Registered medical and health professions in Australia are by law not allowed to guarantee success. This comes as a result of all human bodies reacting differently to treatments. Patients should thoroughly consider all treatment options available to them.

Sore Feet? We’ll Fix You!

Blog, Heel Pain

Sore Feet? We'll Fix You!

How are we different ? Great question! Our team doesn’t rely on

Endless stretching routines
A wait and see process
Try this and come back in 6 weeks

Our team

Uses hands on therapies
Develop treatments plans to work with and for you
Use the latest research based technologies

If you’re serious about beating your pain and you’d like a small team with real passion? We’d love to help 😃

While other Podiatrists are cutting your grandmas toenails 😊 If you’d like our help, the first step is to call our awesome front desk team on 96732987

Shockwave and Heel Pain

Blog, Heel Pain

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Why you’re not getting better

and what you can do about it - Its you not me

ABOUT DR BRENDEN BROWN

Free Report “10 things to know before choosing a Podiatrist”

Shameless Plug or where to get real help!

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Shockwave for Treating Heel Pain

Is Shockwave for Treating Heel Pain for Me?

Can we help?

Free Report “10 things to know before choosing a Podiatrist”

Shameless Plug or where to get real help!

More from Our Blog

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How to cure heel pain at home

How to prevent heel pain at home?

How to cure heel pain at home

What happens if this doesn’t work?

Our Heel Pain Blogs

ABOUT DR BRENDEN BROWN

Recent Posts

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Choosing the Right School Shoe Size 2020

Video Transcript

Kids Growing Pain Calculator

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

ABOUT DR BRENDEN BROWN

Recent Posts

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Sore Feet? We'll Fix You!

ABOUT DR BRENDEN BROWN

Recent Posts

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Shockwave and Heel Pain

ABOUT DR BRENDEN BROWN

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