Tony Standering took one look at the toe and suggested it was probably osteoarthritis (awesome) that was causing the lack of mobility. The joint was completely immobile, so even when I tried to move it manually there was absolutely no movement in the toe, the joint was completely rigid. Unlike the smart arse at the Sheffield podiatry unit, Tony didn't judge me for having the cryo, and after unsuccessfully trying to get the click of Mulder's Sign, he was also of the opinion that the Morton's Neuroma was gone (so no need for the surgery that the afore mentioned smart arse was saying I needed then?)
Tony suggested I get new orthotics fitted in time for my trip to Nepal, he explained that the foot needed to be stabilised as I over pronate, this in turn loosens up all the joints and leaves me liable to suffer from injury. Orthotics would put my foot into a neutral position thereby making me less likely to further injure the foot, call me radical but when you're going to be walking a number of hours every day for three weeks you really don't want to injure your feet.
So I got the new orthotics and started to 'wear them in' over a two week period. You have to build up usage gradually, so 15 minutes on the first day, building up to a few hours over the first week, then on to a full day and only at that point can you even consider going for a long walk in them.
At first they felt so weird like I was on stilts but now when I'm wearing them I sometimes have to check if they're actually in the shoe. My bones still feel like they're grinding against each other if I do certain exercises but on the whole the pain isn't too bad.
I did walk for 3 weeks and my foot did hold up, I didn't lose the toe to gangrene through the cold but we did end up hiring a helicopter to take us out of Lukla as the planes stopped flying due to fog and snow. But that's another story, check out the two minute
video of our adventures.
