Stand Strong Blog

Inflammation. Owies and sore spots. Toes, heel, arch who knew. Most chronic foot pain is caused by chronic misalignments; ankles, knees, my low back. Or, your arches are out of round. There are several foot arches commonly described in the literature; unfortunately there's not a lot of agreement regarding their functional }importance. 🦶😫👣💥🔄

The ball of your foot hurts. Sometimes you can pop the painful area into relief; it's usually a nerve getting pinched between two metatarsal bones. The ball of your foot has lost its arch and spring, as your foot has gotten wider and flatter. Stand Strong® arch helps to coax an arch into your foot.

But sometimes you'll feel pain from the arch support. 😖 Usually, it's as simple as repositioning the ball of foot support into a comfort zone of your foot. 🩰👣 Other times, there may be so much built up pain, stiffness, and aggravation that one should first use a pain reliever - topically, orally, massage, and physical therapy - to calm your foot pain DOWN. 💊🌡️💆‍♂️

Gradually, over a period of weeks, your feet and legs will welcome the improved alignment and function the Stand Strong® arch offers. 🕒🦶 If your tissues are stubborn like mine, that self-improvement process may take 3 or 4 weeks to get max enjoyment. 📅🌟

Keep On Standing Strong! 💪🦵 Dr. Stand Strong 🩺👨‍⚕️

Foot pain knows no social class, race, or gender. Some of us have more foot pain than others, yet we don’t have to ask too far to find people who have their share of foot issues.

While podiatrists may treat more advanced foot pain disorders, with complicating factors like diabetes or neuropathy to contend with-there are still lessons we can all learn from understanding common foot pain causes. While yours truly, Dr. Stand Strong, inherited a foot affecting neurological condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disorder-many of the symptoms of that nerve disease are just magnified examples of the more common, run of the mill foot problems suffered by otherwise healthy and active women.

As a podiatrist with CMT, it is heartening to hear someone famous like American singer and songwriter Alan Jackson also inherited CMT.  Balance issues, foot deformity, and difficulty wearing normal shoes (or even cowboy boots) are all daily facts of life for this tribe.  And, the development of the Stand Strong® Arch was driven by studying how to decrease foot related pressure points (many causing callouses or corns), and helping to achieve a well aligned foot and leg-leading to better balance and less low back, hip and knee pains.

While a progressive disease like CMT oftentimes leaves the individual with profound weakness and loss of sensation in the foot and lower leg, even the common treatments like bracing with an “AFO”, or ankle foot orthoses can cause secondary pressure points, pain, and even ulceration of the skin from chronic rubbing or poor fitting rigid orthoses.

The Stand Strong® arch is designed to minimize excess pressure points on isolated areas of the foot. Many of us have felt pain in one area of the ball of the foot, for example. Proper placement of this stick on arch support can relieve the pressure, and help the pain because of that. Please let us know your experience with this novel remedy!

Keep On Standing Strong!
Dr. Stand Strong

Hello fellow Stand Strong warrior! You are to be commended in taking care of your foot pain. 

Stand Strong® Arch Supports are "In Step With The Way You Live"!

Your Stand Strong® arches help to balance and realign not only the foot, but also the way in which your leg muscles help support and direct your foot posture and motion during walking and running. Many of our women have suffered for YEARS with foot and ankle pain, before finding the Stand Strong® arch.

First, play with the positioning of the narrow end of the support on the ball of your foot. You will likely find that some areas are quite tender, and you want the arch support to “offload” that area, that is-move your weight bearing pressure to areas that AREN’T sore. If not properly positioned, the metatarsal support (narrow end) can actually increase your pain. Generally speaking, you want the support centered behind your middle toe, in the center of your ball of foot region. Also please note: moving the support forward or back just a few millimeters can make a big difference as well.

Check out this video on proper placement:

Some feet adjust faster than others to the correction. Take your time, and wear the support for just an hour or two the first day you get them. Sometimes the heel is sore, and adjusting the positioning of the support can make a real difference right out of the box!

Oftentimes, you will feel the leg or even your knee adjust to the supports. This is generally a GOOD thing, but let your body have a break and don’t expect instant results. After years of misalignment, most women will need a few days to a few weeks to feel the full effect of the balance and support features of the Stand Strong® arch.

We are excited to hear from you, and welcome testimonials of all types. Let your voice be heard for all women, and let’s help you and others like you to Walk in Beauty!

Sincerely,
Dr. Stand Strong

Hello! And welcome to the Stand Strong tribe; we so appreciate you being part of our forward thinking foot pain relief family!

Sometimes, I notice my arches not sticking as well as they once did. This could be for several reasons-so let’s get started and make sure you’ve got the adhesion you want and need for all your daily activities.

Most common reason: not proper daily washing of the arch support gel. We recommend that you wash the devices as soon as you remove them from your feet.

First, rinse the sticky sides of the arch supports with warm water. Then, apply a few drops of the Stand Clean™ wash solution -to one side and use your finger or the pink sponge to distribute on the whole surface of the first gel sticky side.

Then, put the two wet, sticky sides together and “rub a dub-dub” paying particular attention to any dirty areas, or places where sock lint, or other materials have stuck to the gel. You may need to manually pull off large pieces of lint or hair while it’s wet, but the two sticky sides work in unison to make your Stand Strong® arches glow with as new shine and stickiness. Let the cloth side dry before wearing, and you’re ready for action!

Second most common reason? Not washing the bottoms of your feet daily, or using a moisturizer on the bottom before applying the Stand Strong® arch to your foot. Some skin types have more retained oils in them, making the naturally sticky gel not adhere as well as we’d like.

The special gel we’re using for the supports is sticky because of a phenomenon called “surface energy” which means that the tackiness (stickiness) is always present, but may be covered up by dirt, or by skin surface oils or moisturizers.

Here’s a short video demonstrating the washing technique.

Thanks again, and please post your thoughts and send us videos or other testimonials. We love hearing from our Stand Strong Women!

Sincerely, Dr. Stand Strong

By Dr. J. Greg Stilwell - Founder of StandStrong

Since many of us are wary of repeated steroid (cortisone) injections, there are other options for pain that won’t go away with simpler measures.  Whether you visit a podiatric surgeon or foot & ankle orthopedic surgeon, you may be offered these options.  Gone are the days where extensive surgical procedures are done, with grinding away of bone and removal of large amounts of the plantar fascia.  Thank goodness!  Those procedures often create as much pain and scar tissue as you had before the surgery.

EPAT*, TOPAZ*, and Tenex* are all relatively new on the scene and represent a more enlightened approach to treatment.  Plantar heel pain can convert from an acute injury to a chronic, thickened and scarred state of gristle on the bottom of the heel that is relatively inelastic, has poor blood supply, and reduced shock absorption; this is called plantar fasciosis (as opposed to fasciitis), because of the chronic nature and low-level inflammation present ALL THE TIME. The goal of these newer treatments is to bring in new blood vessels, take away the thickened scar tissue with as minimally invasive process as possible.  EPAT is a form of shockwave therapy (much like is used for kidney stones) and can bring great pain relief in as little as 3 treatments.  No anesthesia is required and no incisions.

TOPAZ* does require at least a regional anesthetic and done in a sterile environment like an operating room.  Multiple small holes are made into the fascia then a wand like radiofrequency device is introduced into those holes and helps take away scar tissue and stimulate regrowth of healthy blood vessels. Recovery is usually quick, meaning walking in a running shoe in about 5 days.

Tenex* is single incision surgical procedure that is also minimally invasive. This procedure uses an ultrasound probe to visualize the thickened fascia, and then a specialized probe is inserted into that area where a high-pressure water jet is utilized to break up scar tissue, which is then suctioned away.

PRP and amniotic cell injections are also a good way to stimulate healing in the chronic scar tissue domain that plantar fasciosis sufferers find themselves. PRP is platelet rich plasma; basically, a technician will draw your blood, spin it down in a centrifuge while you watch, then the doctor will inject this new hi-tech healing solution into your heel.  Amniotic injections are similar, but the injection comes pre-packaged, ready for infiltration into the fascia of your heel.  Both work really well after one of the aforementioned treatments.

Even after all these wonderful new high-tech procedures, you still will need something to control the cause of the chronic heel pain to begin with.  So, Stand Strong with the Stand Strong® Arch Supports and vanquish heel pain!