Dr’s Orders: “Flat, Wide, Soft Soled Shoes”

I’ve been having some trouble with my foot recently. I have a significant pain across my toes, down the outside of my foot and in my ankle. After a month of it getting more and more painful, and more and more stiff making it hard to walk on it, I gave in and went to my GP. He prodded and manipulated and suggested it might be something to do with my mtp joint, sending me for an x-ray to check and confirm.

Believe it or not, while I had the x-ray within an hour of visiting my doctor, thanks to the surprisingly speedy service at Lincoln County Hospital, it takes them between five and ten working days to send copies of the pictures to my GP for diagnosis. That’s right, even though they checked the images there and then I have to wait until next week to see what might be the matter. I admit I’m assuming that if it was very broken or anything similar the person doing the x-ray might have mentioned that to me or a doctor at the hospital and I would have been seen to straight away. So hopefully this is nothing serious and by the time I’ve returned to the doctor in a few days it’ll be all better anyway.

In the meantime I have been given some instructions. Plenty of walking but no uneven surfaces, no heavy lifting as the strain goes through the feet, no cycling, no running, no hill walking. Also, wear flat, wide, soft soled shoes that give my feet some support and comfort. While not being allowed to exercise is getting a bit frustrating, the shoes side of things isn’t a problem to me. I have a nice selection of sensible shoes in my wardrobe and don’t mind being told not to wear high heels. I have walking boots, Dr Martens and trainers galore, and these very soft soled black flats from Blowfish.

I don’t know how much you take advice when waiting for a diagnosis? I’ve been good and have done hardly anything apart from walking around normally for over a week now. The pain has eased but my range of motion is still limited. Hopefully there is nothing lasting and I’ll be back to normal in a few days. I honestly can’t wait to find out what the problem is and get back to enjoying the outdoors properly – and wearing whatever shoes I want to.