Question for Socks

neb - 2009-08-14 1:36 PM Hi Dr Ott, I had a message in the Florida forum a couple of months ago about who to see in the Tampa area for a foot problem. I wanted to see someone with a sports med background and your name came up. I couldn't find you on my insurance provider network so I went to see a local podiatrist to at least get it looked at. They took x-rays of my foot and then the doc looked at the x-ray for about 30 seconds and informed me that it would be best to have surgery. He said it was a bunion and while it's not bad yet, it would be best to take care of it now. He didn't even look at my foot or my alignment/gait or anything, just the x-ray. Needless to say, I'm a little concerned and would like to get a second opinion. The pain is not all that bad, but definitely gets worse when my mileage increases. It feels like pressure all around the base of the big toe and there's a slight protrusion on the inside of that joint. Occasionally, (especially when I'm barefoot) if I stand on something where my weight is mostly on the ball of my one foot, it hurts pretty bad, but not terribly. I first started noticing this a month or two after my Ironman in November of 2007. I laid off the long stuff for awhile and it was just mildly annoying so I never got it checked out. Then I started training for a marathon in Jan of this year and it just got worse as the mileage increased. Since then, I have again laid off the long stuff, but I really want to see what my options are to allow me to continue to train and race without pain. I'm not necessarily opposed to surgery if that's my best course of action, but I want someone that understands a triathlete/runner's way of life to help make that decision. My biggest concern is that I'm going to have to give it up one way or another. Sorry this is so long, but my final bit of info is that after seeing the local podiatrist, I called my insurance company and it turns out you are in my insurance's network so I would like to come see you if you think this is something that you could help me with. Thanks for listening. Ben