I initially saw Dr. Bocian about five years ago for some foot pain after a marathon that I ran. I started using inserts and saw almost instant relief. After a few years the inserts wore down and I unfortunately kept putting off seeing Dr. Bocian but still continued a high mileage regimen. I built up a great deal of scar tissue in my heel and a new sense of pain took over.
I tried new inserts and even two cortisone shots but the plantar fasciitis pain was still very intense. I am grateful that Dr. Bocian had recommended trying laser treatment before exploring surgery. The treatments generally take about 15 minutes and I started off with just once a week. After the first treatment I noticed that I was starting to feel some of the other muscles in my foot that I hadn’t noticed in a while. Definitely not instant relief…but that wasn’t to be expected.
I was able to arrange for two treatments a week and that’s what I did for the remainder of my treatments. I made sure to have at least two days in-between and also continued doing the recommended stretches. By the fifth treatment I noticed that I was feeling very little pain right out of bed in the morning. This used to be the worst time of the day, so this was a huge improvement! By the seventh treatment I felt good enough to start fully training again. There was some pain afterwards, but with stretching the pain quickly went away. It’s really important to not overdo it at this stage!
I just finished my ninth treatment today and have my final one scheduled for a few days from now. The area of pain on my heal has quickly shrunken to just a small spot with slightly dull pain. Only noticeable if I’m poking around on my heel, which I generally don’t do.
Compared to rehab, surgery, and or the several other treatments out there, this was well worth the cost! I know that this will still take some time and that I have to gradually get back into shape, but I’m excited that I can finally start that process again.
Dr. Bocian takes great care to make sure that you know all of your options and also does a great job of keeping your expectations real. I couldn’t be happier with the level of treatment that I received.
Thank you Dr. Bocian!
Brian C.
Tucson, AZ
8/31/15