Spastic toe pain with a toe crest

 My therapist never mentioned possibly using toe crests to straighten the toes that are curled due to spasticity.  I've been using them on and off for years, first to stop from walking on my toenails while inside the shoe.  I can't walk barefoot without walking on my toenails.  Today after a full day of wearing one my toes screamed in pain for stretching muscles that don't want to be stretched. 

Another possibility I tried at night was to sleep with this toe stretcher. That lasted only two hours before my toes screamed in pain and I removed them and threw them away.  The only solution is curing spasticity contrary to the idiotic opinion of

 the infamous Dr. William M. Landau who thinks spasticity is not worth treating. 

Do you believe in the do nothingism of Dr. William M. Landau on spasticity?  

His statement from here:

Spasticity After Stroke: Why Bother? Aug. 2004

Wonder if he will be singing the same tune after he becomes the 1 in 4 per WHO that has a stroke, will he be satisfied with not getting recovered? Comeuppance will be a real bitch for him when he gets spasticity.

curled toes failure again

 Even wearing the toe crest in walking around Paris didn't help. The third and forth toes came into a lot of pain at the end of the day. I moved the toe crest to the forth toe and that seemed to help a bit more. But I should be able to go to that database of publicly available rehab protocols and CURE my curled toes.

curled toe failure again

 I quit wearing the toe crest 6 months ago since the toes seemed good. Made it thru tons of hiking in Death Valley and Yosemite in November with no problem. Also good in Albuquerque and Taos in February no problem. This past weekend in Boston for the Frozen Four the problem showed up in force again. We had done 12,000 steps on the Freedom Trail and I was wondering why my left foot was hurting so bad sitting in the arena. Back at the hotel when walking barefoot on tile in the bathroom it was painfully obvious that toes 3 and 4 had curled under and I was walking on the toenails. Since I was no longer carrying the toecrest the next couple of days were hell, especially going downhill on Boston streets.

So I guess 15 years of toe crest therapy is not enough to cure the spasticity in my toes. WHAT THE FUCK IS THE CURE?

Toes 3 and 4 here on left foot have flattened out a bit. When I first removed my shoes you couldn't see the toenails at all

 

I guess I have to carry these all the time.

curled toes failure

 I've been wearing a toe crest for the past 15 years. My second AFO had a built in toe crest and when I quit wearing that 3 years in I had to figure out for myself what it was called and where to get one. Three years was not enough time to stop the spasticity in my toes.  A couple months ago I stopped wearing one since I thought I didn't need it. All was good until this past weekend in Pittsburgh for the Frozen Four. We walked a lot on pavement to get to and from the arena and to see the sights. Much less than the common 4 miles I do every day in the woods next to me. But the last day walking back after UMass trounced St. Cloud State I could tell that I was once again walking on the tips of toes 2 thru 4, fairly painful. So I guess 15 years of toe crest therapy is not enough to cure the spasticity in my toes. WHAT THE FUCK IS THE CURE?

 

Toe crest failure

I've been wearing one for years to somewhat help my curled toes. I know of no guideline or protocol on when it should be used and its efficacy.  The strap goes on my third toe. It mostly covers the second and third toes. This was never a problem until my Banos, Ecuador trip. One day we walked across a muddy trail on a 50 degree slope to get to the La Virgen statue. Then down 654 steps to get back to town. The downhill part caused the problem. The fourth toe had almost no ridge under it from the toe crest. That meant that as I was going down the top of that toenail was being pressed into the shoe. Luckily it didn't cause the nail bed to loosen and have the toenail fall off. Probably because before every trip I take I now get a pedicure. As a result of losing my left big toenail hiking around Barcelona once.

The statue, “La Virgen” honors the Holy Mother of the holy water and was built in 1987 by Father Acosta

What it looks like today

The muddy trail on the way to La Virgen, quite a slope

Walking,walking, walking

On the last day in France with only 12,000 steps and walking uphill with a toe crest under my left toes. I  still managed to have enough spasticity  in my toes to be walking on the tips of my toes. What the hell is it going to take to get rid of that fucking toe spasticity?
My God in the last 2.9 years I've  walked 4,036,206 steps.
What the hell is it going to take to release that spasticity?

Who in the world knows what to do to relieve spasticity?