Orthotics for Balance Issues

[JWW]

Yesterday, I went to the podiatrist to get new orthotics (gait off and plantar fasciitis) and told him about my AN. I know this has an effect on my balance. I ask him if he knew what an AN was.....he said, " you are the 4th patient I have seen TODAY that has an Acoustic Neuroma!" Doesn't that make you wonder how common this might be? This is a small town in Texas.

[arizonajack]

About 3000 ANs are diagnosed in the US every year. Given that ANs occur between the ages of 20 and 80, multiply 3000 by 60 and you have probably 180,000 people walking around with an unwanted companions in a population of 300,000,000 in the US. So, no, not very common and the odds of 4 people with ANs walking into one podiatrist's office in one day are astronomical enough to lead me to suspect that maybe your podiatrist was kidding you.

If he wasn't, you've got the makings of an AN support group right in your town.

Anyway, with regard to the plantar fasciitis, did your podiatrist show you how to tape up your feet?

I had plantar fasciitis starting about a year ago and I had to get the orthotics. But what helped me more was taping up my feet to relieve the inflammation. Did that for about 6-8 months till it cleared up. Now, when I start feeling some pain in the bottom of my foot, I tape it up for a few days and that takes care of it.

You can buy rolls of sports tape at Walmart pretty cheap.

There are quite a few variations of taping techniques. This is the one that I was using and it worked well for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLqRwJjHkm0

For my balance issues I have been wearing clunky walking shoes that have wide soles and heels. Exercises that strengthen your legs and ankles will also help along with the usual vestibular rehab exercises.

[ampeep]

My wife has plantar fascitis, and swears by those weird Vibram Five-Finger Shoes.  They look funny but seem to work.

http://birthdayshoes.com/vibram-five-fingers-help-with-plantar-fasciitis

[campbellmerlin]

I'm 3 years post-gamma knife treatment for an AN. Constant imbalance when walking (most obvious if it's a dark room or outside at night). Constant tinnitus, so much so that I can hear it over normal noises inside and outside. I developed plantar fasciitis a year ago and managed to cure it with exercise.

[LeahRachel]

JWW, how big is the town you live in?  I played around with the population of Metro Chicago, probability of AN,  the number of hospitals.
I figured that on average, you would only see 1 or 2 AN cases per hospital, per year.  After that I wasn't quite as mad at the  schedulers who were telling me they could not give me an appt. within the next 3 months.  That was just after finding out that my AN had grown from .6 to 1.1 cm in 7 months.

If your podiatrist was not kidding, there is something very strange going on in your town.  Is the incidence of other brain tumors also higher?

.