I have foot pain. I'm seeing a podiatrist for both feet with two different problems. The severe problem is my right foot with a sesamoid bone rubbing on a tendon and it is requiring a lot of attention and money(!) to deal with. (Orthotics etc).
I had mild achilles tendon pain on my left foot that has become worse because of favoring the left while the right has been so painful.
Now the podiatrist wants to treat the achilles with EPAT - extracorporreal pulse activating therapy. From what I know it is a form of pressure shock wave treatment that is performed once a week in the office 3-6 times as needed till the pain is gone.
My problem is that it is not covered by insurance and he wants $450 up front for the treatment. (This would cover "up to" 6 treatments - the literature says that sometimes only 3 are necessary).
Has anyone had this treatment done? What kind of results did you get? Is the price reasonable? Has anyone had it covered by insurance? (it is FDA approved). I know it is used for many pains in different body parts - but no-one I know has heard of this or knows anyone who has had it.
Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you Mamas!
Thanks for all the suggestions. I did actually try the treatment for 2 sessions - but ended up having to have an MRI of my OTHER foot which showed a partially ruptured tendon. Because I had to go on Prednisone - the other treatment had to stop as they cannot be used together. As of now, I am pain free for both feet - but am tapering the Prednisone. The achilles is only a problem if I touch it deeply. So far so good. After the prednisone, I will go on a NSAID for one month and gradually start to come out of the brace. I will only return to the EPAT treatment if it is necessary - but still have 3 treatments left if I need them. Thanks for the support and the advice - it's always well appreciated from this source of Mamas!
S.
I have not heard of this therapy but before spending hundreds of dollars out-of-pocket, I would get a second opinion from a different podiatrist who is covered under your insurance, someone from a different practice than your original one.
I've spent thousands of dollars on my foot over the years. I found a neuromuscular therapist in Sacramento who fixed it in one visit of $65! I've sent tons of people to her and everyone leaves with the same story. She just fixes this stuff. It's wonderful.
Her name and number is Judy Terwilliger ###-###-####
She has 3 pain clinics in the area.
C.
Not to second guess your doc in any way, but I think it's wise to check out other options as well. There is SO much out there and available today and even the specialists can get hooked on their 'own thing.' It may turn out to be the very best thing you can do, but keep checking.
Also, it would be great to get at the cause of the problem in the first place. Maybe this treatment will do just that and I certainly hope it will, but my own experience with acute and chronic neck pain has been a need for finding the deeper cause and not just, in my case, chiropractic treatments that did indeed help - temporarily.
You might check out an osteopath. They work from a different point of reference. - Hope you can find a treatment that gives you some true healing. Best -
Read about "Severs disease". It is a temporary condition (painful), but will go away on its own if you treat it right. I bet it's happened to all of us at one time or another. The pain comes, lasts a little while, and then disappears just as quickly as it came. Even thos the syndrome is more common in children, adults can suffer from it too, especially since you've been having to favor one foot while the other is down. Here's a link: http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/healthy/phys...
