Chronic Pain



I remember some time ago I heard someone refer to their clubfoot pain as chronic. I guess I just took that word for granted because I heard it some years ago when I was much younger and never really cared what it meant to others. When I was younger I never fully understood the lasting effects that clubfoot has on a person and myself. So in the true sense of the word my pain is daily, sever at times, irritating, episodic and totally incapacitating at times.

Chronic pain can be considered a persistent type of pain lasting for three to six months or longer and lingers beyond the expected course of healing.  Often chronic pain among clubfooters can lead to depression, anxiety and a general sense of helplessness.

There are many ways that people choose to deal with their clubfoot pain but others tend to ignore the implications of sitting around and feeling helpless and depressed.  I did that for many years and watched as my health took a steady nose dive.

I have been following many other clubfooters and clubfoot forums via social media sites and find in general depression and helplessness to be a common theme. I find that many parents are confused about what clubfoot methods are best for their children, people refused disability insurance because their governments refuse to recognize clubfoot as a disability, people who are unable to work because their jobs require them to stand, women who are unable to wear fancy shoes to  dinner parties and social gatherings, children and adults facing multiple surgeries that seem to be doing no good at all. The list goes on and on.

If anything living with a disability that limits motion and creates a significant amount of pain can be devastating. I am thankful that there are like minded clubfooters that share a desire to see each other through tuff and painful times both mentally and physically. I am excited that parents have recourses available to them to make sound and informed decisions regarding their child’s health.

Sometimes clubfoot pain  will never go away and become chronic. This seems to be the  only guarantee from the medical community.

I wonder how many exciting things and wonderful things we could do if we harness our depression and helplessness and use it for good.  I want to offer some encouragment to  my fellow clubfooters experiencing trying times to take the negative and turn it into to a positive way of coping with a debilitating deformity.

Perhaps staring a blog, sharing with others your tips and advice living with pain, helping children with clubfoot, reaching out to orginizations such as Miracle Feet to see how you can help, donating resources and time in your comminuty, finding other clubfooters in your area and get together, encourage one another and challenge yourself to do something you never thought you could do with clubfoot.

Triathlon and endurance racing has been my outlet. I have chosen to defy the medical community and the odds stacked against me.  I have taken  my life sentence of pain and used it to encourage my son and others with clubfoot deformity to push  themselves to become active and ambassadors for the clubfoot community.  This in itself has helped me deal with my pain because my pain now has a purpose.

I did however follow my doctor’s advice for many years and the end result was an overweight, unproductive, unhealthy blob of depression wondering why or if I would ever fit in.  

I watch my son play and run with his friends and I wonder if he too will be experiencing what I go through on a daily basis. I hope that my efforts to encourage others and bring awareness to clubfoot deformity  will have a positive and lasting effect on his life as he grows older and learns what the word chronic means.