Hurrah for you Jaci; I am absolutely in agreement. Just keep doing what you can and push through when you have too.

I have had LD both feet since my mid teens and DD both hands from my early 20's. I am now 59. Over the years I have been advised to give up weightlifting and running but I have ignored this advice. I have an aggressive gym session 3-4 times per week, tennis 6-7 hours per week and cycle 30km or so once a week.

I cannot run at a steady pace for more than 10 minutes without getting pins and needles. This can get so bad that I end up not feeling my feet. Simple adaption; I have found that I can run on a treadmill for 1 minute at levels 12-14 then drop back and walk for 1-2minutes then repeat as long as I want with no pins and needles. Not quire marathon running I know but then I am 6ft and weigh 240 lbs.

If you can't do something then you can't but if you can just do it.

Hello
Please explain to me the type of orthotics you are considering.

For me running made the fibroma worse.

22 months ago I was fitted for my first custom orthotics. I was told this would help stop the progression of the growth and ease the pain. I too, have been a runner most of my life. I had a cortisone shot 4/4/2012 and this shrunk the 2 nodules for nine months. I wore my orthotics faithfully. Stopped wearing my heals. Since they had shrunk & the fascia did not protrude anylonger I thought they were gone for good. Before the shot I had 2 tiny nodules the size of a pea. After the shot I resumed weight training, then ballroom dancing, & later running. Toward the end of the year the bumps began to grow causing pain. I do believe it had to do with the running. It seems when I was taking the power group class at the gym which focused more on the muscle groups, squats, lunges, etc. the feet were find no nodules. I suppose it was because it was not a heavy impact consistently hitting the ground. I then began to running again. Soon after I noticed the bumps growing at a pretty fast rate. So in Jan 2013 I had another cortisone shot. Wrong move, This angered them and they grew larger and faster. My orthotics do not help much. I then embarked on the topical transdermal verapamil 15%gel. After 3 months the bumps did shrink. But I still did not have the quality of life that I had before all of this. 2013 has been a very trying year. I had to stop running, dancing even the power group class at the gym. During the summer months I embarked on radiation treatment. After completion of round 2 of RT I began to experience intense pins and needle sensation in the foot and ankle. It brought me to tears. I went to a neurologist to find out if I had nerve damage. The large nerves where fine. Then went for MRI of the ankle and foot. It showed tibia tendon never to be inflamed this affected the tarsal tunnel. The doctor wanted to then do tarsal tunnel surgery. I said NO, no surgery I had just had 2 rounds of radiation. I was put on nerve pain medication. This did help mask the pain to some degree. Finally around Thanksgiving the pain pretty much subsided. I am still on this nerve pain only because toward the end of this year I noticed fibroma on the other foot and dupuytren in both hands. In December I just completed round 2 for the other foot and hands. I will give it a few more months and get off this nerve pain medication.

One thing to note:
Since both round of radiation on the left foot. Last treatment completed in Sept. 2013 the nodules have almost gone. They are smaller than a pea size. I am still applying the TTV15%gel. Only because these things are a real pain in the foot. I want to tackle this at all angles.


How I was fitted for the orthotics:
The doctor’s office had a mat I stood on. This machine read the sole of the foot. They sent the reading off and made the orthotics. They cost 450.00.

My new podiatrist:
He suggest a different type of custom orthotic. He has some type of plaster and molds this to the foot. His price is 400.00. Since orthotics have not helped much in the past I have been reluctant to have any more made. If perhaps I had the money to just through away I'd be happy to try this. Seems that every foot doctor I have seen does things different when it comes to these fibroma's.

One more thing on running:
During the time of the pins and needles (late Sept, October, and most of November 2013) and trying to figure out what was happening and how to resolve the pain. I went to a chiropractor who treated tarsal tunnel for the MBA & NFL players. He travels with the team on occasion. I allowed him to attempt to break up the 2 nodules on the foot. He used this vibrating machine. The impacted caused a new nodule to form on the ball of my foot. The impact this machine had on the foot was equivalent to the impact your foot undergoes when running.
Although the original 2 nodules are shrinking considerably due to the radiation. I now have a new fibroma that has formed on the ball of the foot.
I highly suggest. Take good care of your feet. Don’t put undue impact force on them. From my personal experience this does cause mine to grow.