Thank goodness for this online forum and thanks to organisers and participants for sharing your experiences.

I found pea sized lumps in both feet in late 2007, which only started actively growing since early 2010. The GP and podiatrist told me there is no treatment, and I had an ultrasound to confirm the diagnosis of bilateral plantar fibromitosis. The left foot lump is about 4 x 2 cm, the right foot about half the size and the pain only started about a week ago after wearing orthotics for about 2 weeks. At the moment, it's the last thing I think about at night and the first thing I think about when I wake up as my feet are ache pretty much all over, pang around the lumps and burn in places. The podiatrist is high-tech and sympathetic and trying really hard to get the orthotics right, even to the extent of not charging me for return visits, but so far I have had to stop wearing them repeatedly as they feel like implements of torture rather than treatment. Like others, I'm from Northern European descent (thanks mum and dad).

I fear that intensive exercise might make the lumps worse. At the moment I am walking briskly for 20 mins each day and plan to trade running/bushwalking for swimming, modify my cycling shoes to lesson the strain on my arch and take up weight training as I think this counts as a load bearing activity (?)

My question to my partners in ancestry and pain out there is:
- how have other physically active types modified their exercise routines to accommodate this ailment?
- how are others finding their exercise routines and pain management after 5, 10 and 15 years down the track?
- has anyone tried rowing or anything else as an alternative load-bearing activity to jogging?

Di

Edited 01/09/11 01:43