Plantar fascia release surgery involves cutting part of the plantar fascia ligament to release tension and relieve inflammation of the ligament (plantar fasciitis).
I have had lots of trouble with my Plantar Fascia in the past 10 months and re tearing it over and over trying to come back to training. I have used none surgical treatment for the past 10 months which was cortisones (3 of them) which settle it down enough to try and start training, but on my return to training I tore it 2nd time round. The Plantar Fascia was improving but it would get to a point and then plateau causing it not to be strong enough to undergo playing squash. Over the 10 months little tears kept appearing and when something is damaged over and over and over it becomes too damaged to repair itself. My foot was just constantly inflamed, sore and it felt like things were going to snap inside when I tried to run on it.
Going back to when I first started getting a sore heel it originally felt as if I had a bruised heel. I did see someone about it at the time and they seemed to think I bruised my fat pad in my heel so taping it up with some padding to protect my heel. With a heavy training schedule leading up to a tour of events in June, July and August 2011 that bruised feeling started to feel a lot sharper and my foot started to swell up and get very puffy after each training session and the first few steps in the morning were excruciating. I describe the pain as someone sticking a hot knife into my foot.
I flew to Malaysia in June 2011 and during my first match I felt something tare in my foot, it felt like something had just snapped, let go. Your plantar fascia is like an elastic rope, and what happened with me is that rope started to fray. Instantly my foot swelled up like a balloon. I had a very hard decision to make as I had the Singapore Open and the Australian Open to follow. Walking around Malaysia with my foot throbbing and very swollen I had arrangements to make to get my flight changed, feeling very alone and not knowing where to turn for help with my problem. I was feeling very flustered and anxiety was setting in, Air Asia sending me from office to Office in KL and then out to the airport. I finally got some help from a friend Nicol David (my saviour) who had some contact with Air Asia staff and 3 days later I finally got home back to Australia to which I then followed a course of MRI Scans which showed I had torn my Plantar Fascia 50% through. I was put into a moon boot for the next 8 weeks. Once out of the moon boot I then had cortisone injections which helped get me back on the court, it was all going well and I was given the go ahead to try and increase the work load. It was still pretty sore and it just didn’t feel right but I just wanted to get back to playing and maybe if I just ignored the pain then all would be good!
I was so confused during the whole process as surgery was an option but the Doctors always said to me that surgery is definitely last resort. Plantar Fascia Release is not a very common surgery and I was told that it may only be 50% to 70% success rate to come back at elite level. So I wanted to give my foot the best chance to heal by trying everything else first. I just thought in the back of my mind that it will heal.
There was some relief after the 3rd cortisone treatment, and it was now time to increase my training the next step was to start playing some all length condition games and during my first game I pushed off with my left foot from the left side of the court to the right and I felt it tear again. I was still under the impression that I came back too early and that if I just put it back in a moon boot and rest it properly this time it will come good.
This time around in the moon boot we were going to try a few different things and one of them was a series of PRP injections. I had a total of 7 PRP injections and after 10 weeks of rest it was now time to test it out again. Disappointingly it still felt sore when I walked in normal shoes and was still inflamed.
That night I had a restless sleep and out of nowhere I took a look at my life and my career with more of an outside perspective. I took a step back and looked at the big picture, my future in the sport and my seemingly never ending cycle of injuring my foot. I've been battling with this injury for nearly a year now and I can’t walk without pain. Should I really be trying to play this year?
I got talking with my family, coaches, sports physicians and close friends and really being honest about the past year, the future and what I'm doing now. The more we talked and the more advice I got from close friends the more it became clear. I mulled over the idea of getting surgery for a few days weighing out pro's and con's and trying to get a sense for where this was coming from and how I really felt without taking into account outside pressures or opinions. My gut feeling was right. In every way! So why was I taking the idea so hard? It's because I love what I do. Squash has been my life since I was a kid and training full time for about 12 of those years. This thought was a bit daunting but I knew if I wanted to play again I needed to have the operation done and that 50 to 70% chance of success was much greater than where I was right now.
The hardest thing about injuries is mentally accepting it all. I found the first 5 months of my injury I was in denial, coming to grips that this is a serious injury and I have to stop and let the body repair.
Because I was so use to training every day to then completely doing nothing the guilt trips start setting in along with lack of mobility feeling fat and unfit, and feeling that I am not going to be able to play again. Learning to switch those little voices off and to focus on what is happening with my injury. Once I got in control of all the negative thoughts I started to treat my injury with respect I learnt how to relax and stay positive. Another very important thing is to keep myself busy, making sure I had something that kept my mind active and having other goals to achieve.
"So what do you do with your days then?" you might ask. Well, besides Doctor and Physiotherapy appointments I have spent most of my days working on creating an online website that helps other athlete’s, to be able to give them the opportunity that I have struggled with to name a few, finding sponsorship and promoting myself. During the process of making my decision I was in search of other athletes that have had this surgery done before so I could hear what their success rate was, how long it took them to get back to training and how they are feeling now. But I couldn’t find any information anywhere. This also gave me an idea of producing a network where athletes can write about their injuries and experiences and allow athletes to connect with other athletes that have been through it before.
I have also been able to see my family and friends more during this time and I enjoy cooking (a budding Master Chef) so having the time and opportunity to cook for others is great. There are positives to being a "normal person" haha ,not being completely focused on my career and being goal orientated…. I'll have to get back there…. but for now being helpful feels good!
Once the hard decision was made to go ahead with the surgery it all happened very quickly I saw my Doctor on Monday the 4th of June, I then saw the Surgeon on Tuesday and got the operation done on Thursday the 7th of June. I went under at 7pm Thursday night and came out of it at around 9pm (I was very out of it). I stayed in hospital overnight and the nurses did a great job with all the usual post op 30 min checks (making sure that all my vitals were working properly). I was in a bit of pain that night, my foot was throbbing but the pain killers helped a lot with that.
The next day I was able to go home, but felt sick all day nauseous, light headed, and very tired and drowsy. My foot was very tender and sore Friday night and I found myself wide awake Saturday morning at 3am thinking "shit what I have done"! I’m not going to be able to do anything and the feeling of helplessness was quite overwhelming, and also coming off all the medication was causing me to have all these feelings of utter sadness. I was having to take anti-inflammatories and my foot alleviated as much as possible and iced constantly. By Friday I stopped taking painkillers and my foot was feeling much better.
Things are now looking up (touch wood) and I’m on the road to recovery.
I am now on track 5 weeks out of surgery and tomorrow morning I start my rehab gym programme and walking again. YAY just walking again gets me excited!!!
I will keep you posted on my progress but for now, that's my story. Just in case anyone was wondering where I disappeared to. Luckily my ever-so-supportive sponsors are behind me which is a huge relief. As are my coaches, doctors and family.
Great shots after Surgery!!
