Traumatic foot injury caused chronic pain in many places
- Tom Fabish
- Jul 10, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Nov 18, 2021
CLIENT SUCCESS STORY: Diana H. | BodyGnosis | Massage Therapy
What did you initially come in seeking help with? Please describe in some detail what injury or pain that prompted you to come in.
In April 2015, I shattered my left ankle and broke every bone in that foot except for the small toe. Needless to say, I had to have major surgery to rebuild the ankle bones. My surgeon used a metal plate, screws and pins to reassemble the ankle bones since as she said, “the ankle was nothing more than shards of bone floating around.” I was in a cast and on complete bedrest for six weeks. During that time, I had to keep the leg elevated and could not put any weight on it. After that, I was put in a walking cast and did six sessions of physical therapy before I was put into a boot. After I graduated to regular shoes, I was still having a lot of pain and stiffness in that foot and leg. Due to the months of bedrest and walking in a boot, my leg muscles were atrophied and tight. As a result, my walking gait was off-balance, which caused pain and stiffness in my lower back.
How would you describe the sessions you had? What was the experience like for you?
In a word, the sessions I had with Tom were miraculous. I had around 30 sessions over close to a years time. For a while we did a session every week and then began to spread them out as things improved. During that time, he “re-engineered” my walk. He also continuously worked to loosen the fascia fused to the bones, which was the source of much of my pain. He worked on both legs and hips to loosen and stretch the muscles and tendons to free trapped nerves, which also relieved knee pain and much of my lower back pain.
How would you compare this work with some other sessions you have had in either massage or other modalities i.e. acupuncture, chiropractic, physical therapy etc.?
I believe all types of body work can be beneficial. But Tom’s holistic approach was optimal to effectively addressing the widespread damage to my foot, ankle, legs, hips and back from my accident.
What benefits would you say you received from our sessions? Would you say it was effective if so what specific issues were improved?
The sessions were VERY effective! The primary benefits were pain reduction and better mobility. Before I started working with Tom I could not complete a day of work without excruciating pain. Most days I cried it hurt so much and I was seriously considering using a cane. Now I work out 3 days a week and even run on it regularly which I was starting to believe would never happen again. The sessions were also very enlightening. I learned a lot about how the body functions from Tom, specifically how everything is connected. You know, “the foot bone’s connected to the ankle bone,” and so on.
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