My name is Lee, in 2018 I was involved in a road traffic accident caused by a drunken driver. As a result, I suffered back, hand, leg and foot injuries. My injuries were very bad, so I had to have multiple operations to repair my leg and I even had bones removed from my feet. The operations left me in a lot of pain although they repaired a lot of the damage, I was left with a painful limp because my right leg was now shorter than before.
This meant I couldn’t walk any distance without severe pain in my back and hip. At times the pain was excruciating. I had lots of physiotherapy which seemed to help for a while, but I was still unable to walk any distance. I was taking very high doses of pain killing drugs and I became quite depressed about my situation as I felt there was no end in sight and I kept thinking, “what if this is as good as it gets, what if I’m going to be like this for the rest of my life”.
Because of my right leg being shorter, I was referred to the NHS Podiatry clinic to see if they could help. They took a cast of my feet and after 3 months wait; I was issued with a pair of what they said were custom insoles. The right orthotic had a heel raise to try and balance my leg length difference. From the moment I put them on they were extremely uncomfortable, however I decided to persevere as I felt that they might become comfortable after a while.
After about 3 weeks I finally gave up with them as they were not only uncomfortable, but they also seemed to make my foot and leg pain worse. The orthopaedic surgeon who had operated on my feet recommended that I attend the Northern Ireland Foot and Ankle Clinic to get a medical report and to see if they could help me walk better. I looked at there testimonials online and was encouraged that they seemed to specialize in my type of injury. I went for an assessment and David Hallowell the Podiatrist who showed me why my NHS devices hadn’t worked, and he said that they would be able to help. He spent a lot of time explaining the mechanics of my injury to give me a full understanding of what was going on. He took some casts of my feet and 2 weeks later I got my new orthotics.
I immediately felt that my foot was much more comfortable and that the heel raise was making me much more balanced. My limp was greatly reduced and for the first time in 6 years I was able to walk much more normally. Most importantly my lower back pain was almost completely gone. I almost cried with relief as I had for some time believed that I’d never walk properly again and here a I was walking normally after just a few minutes wearing the devices. I was blown away by the difference. I really can’t thank David and his team enough for the work they’ve done, I am so happy with the life changing outcome.
