I had my ankle crushed by a hydraulic ram in an accident at work about four years ago. The surgeons washed out the wound and inserted plates and screws to fix the bones together. After that I was in a lot of pain. I then had 2 ankle fusion operations to try and stop the pain. I also had pain killing injections, but nothing seemed to work. I had pain every day. As soon as I got out of bed. On a scale of 1-10 in the morning it was a 5 and it got worse during the day to a 9-10 in the evenings. I was only able to stand for an hour at a time before I had to rest on the sofa.
The pain was just destroying my life, I was moody and angry all the time. My mobility was poor, and I had to go through pain just to make a cup of tea. I couldn’t go to watch football because of the walking and standing. The operations to fuse my ankle just seemed to make the pain worse. Then my back and my good leg started to get soar. All my weight was going through my good leg and it started to deteriorate.
I went to see Mr McMullan an Orthopaedic trauma specialist. He suggested that I contact the Northern Ireland Foot and Ankle Clinic as they had developed a rocker device which might help me. I made an appointment to see David Hallowell the Podiatrist. During my consultation David let me try a sample rocker, which immediately seemed to help. I had a cast taken of my foot and a custom fitted rocker was made.
The change has been unbelievable, I can walk now for longer and be on my feet for longer. My pain is 80% improved and this has had big effect on my life. I really wish I had heard about the Northern Ireland Foot and Ankle clinic 4 years ago. Before I got the rocker, I was considering having my foot amputated, but the rocker has delayed or maybe even prevented this.
Thank you, Thomas
