I decided to join the forum as I have found that many times real answers come from those who through experience share common experiences. Sometimes there are hidden answers that can come forth with enough people sharing their experiences. I am not a big computer person but I am very proactive in my health care. I was diagnosed with LD about a year ago after trying to convince myself I had stepped on a hair and developed a painful mass in my arch. I began to also have plantar faciatis and really thought that was all that was going on. When my doctor told me this I had no idea what he was talking about but when he mentioned it was in the Dupuytrens disease category a light went on. My dad had that disease in both hand and as long as I can remember both Of his hands were contracted shut so that he only had use of his thumb and index finger. Anyway as far as I know no one in my family has LD and I really didn't know what to expect. In the last few weeks I almost feel like I am being swallowed into a black hole of hopelessness as the pain is indescribable. The closest thing I can share with my family is that it feels like the bottoms of both feet have been beaten with a baseball bat and then when walking with those sore feet throw some hard marbles on a hard floor to walk over. I am a very active person and I guess I was just somehow hoping that it would just stop its progression. I have two nodules in my right foot. One that has gone from pea size to about walnut size and the other is about the same size since diagnosed very small. Right before seeing the doctor a nodule showed up on the other foot in the exact same spot on the arch as the original one. At that point I knew something more was going on than a hair stuck in my foot.
My doctor told me about all the therapies and basically told me nothing works! Very discouraging! I have done some reading and listened to personal stories. What amazes me is how one thing can help one person and then the same therapy seems to make another worse. This makes therapy choices difficult. My doctor just said to stop doing what ever makes the pain worse. I just can't seem to come to grips with this since I love to walk and garden and do so many activities on my feet. I want to know if I should be trying to rest my feet Or stay off of them or if I should just keep doing what I want to do. I don't want to make it worse. Do the nodules ever go away on their own? And besides the genetic factor do they know what turn this monster on? Is it chemicals in our water and foods? Stress? Mechanical stress on the feet? Poor fitting shoes? Is it better to go barefoot or try to bind your feet up with hard supports? Right now if I knew that stretching and ripping the tissue would help I would do it. Sometimes it feels like the tissue in the nodules are ripping. Sometimes they tingle. Sometimes they itch too! Thanks for any answers. Btw. I am almost 57 years old and am 5'5" and weigh 110 lbs. I am a Heinz 57 mix of ethnicity but am very fair and freckle easily in the sun.

Thank you so much for your reply. I feel more hopeful hearing that someone has been able to continue to be very active. So have your nodules stopped growing?

Cortisone is definitely worth looking into. I had this injected into both feet with LD when I was 16. I'm now 34 and really have had little trouble since. Could be luck, could be cortisone - worth a try!

Suggestion: Use the search option to find posts by Luba or Private Message her. She had radiation/Radiotherapy/RT on her Ledderhose foot and the nodules shrank and progression stopped.
She has Dupuytren's and Leddeerhose. She is very willing to share her experience and is very knowledgeable.

I have 2 small nodules on my right foot. It they start to grow fast, I plan to have RT on them. I had RT on my Dupuytren's nodules on my right hand. It stopped the progression.

"A little troubling at the moment is a mass forming on the pad just behind my toes on one foot that looks suspiciously like the same disease."

I have this too - in addition to arch nodules. It's just under my second toe and its hard to walk. The doc wants to take it out, but I am afraid of reoccurrence. Also I have not heard of a nodule so far from the arch.