My name is Karen. I started having foot problems in my teens. My foot became so painful that I was advised to have surgery. Over the years, I had multiple surgical procedures in an attempt to fix my foot, but none of these were successful. As a result of the operations my foot and ankle became more and more rigidly fused. Over the last 40 years the pain steadily got worse, forcing me to live on strong painkillers. I am now 60 years old and living with the pain has greatly reduced my quality of life. I recentlywent to my surgeon and said that I could stand the pain no longer. I asked for a below the knee amputation. It was the only way I could see that I would finally be out of pain.
My surgeon reluctantly agreed that he would carry out the procedure if I would agree to try one last conservative method of treatment. He referred me to Mr David Hallowell at the Northern Ireland Foot and Ankle Clinic who I was told specialises in this type of difficulty. I somewhat sceptically agreed to go and made an appointment. After examining my foot, David said that he felt I might benefit from the use of what is known as a rocker insole. He showed me the rocker device he had designed and explained how it works. I tried a sample rocker and the effect was almost immediate my pain was
greatly reduced, and my walking became more fluent. I had a custom device fitted a few weeks later and the difference it’s made has been amazing. I’m not completely pain free, but the rocker has greatly reduced the pain and allowed me to have much greater mobility.
At this point in time I am happy to say I am no longer considering amputation.
