I've had my orthotics for 5 weeks now and yesterday was my follow up appointment with my podiatrist. I told him I wasn't too thrilled with my orthotics and that they haven't helped my feet improve that much. My left heel still hurts every now and then and it doesn't seem to correspond with times of extended activity on my feet. He said most people have about a 50% improvement by now and I'm maybe 30% better.

So he said to try a cortisone shot that should make the inflammation and swelling go down so theoretically the muscle can heal faster. I wasn't expecting to get a shot yesterday, so when he suggested it I got a little nervous because I hate getting shots. But it wasn't too bad because I was able to lay down and he told me to breathe deeply several times before he did it. I didn't react as badly as I normally do, maybe because it was in my heel instead of in my arm, or maybe it was because he prepared me pretty well. It was numb all of last night. He said I could stop wearing the night splint for a little while too so we can see what the cortisone does.

I'm not that optimistic this will help in the long run though. Everyone I've talked to says a cortisone shot is just a big band-aid over a bigger problem. But I guess I'm willing to try anything at this point... It didn't hurt when I was walking to work this morning, which was nice. I have another appointment in two weeks to see how it's doing.