If MBT with the rocker sole works best for you, then use them.

Balance problems can be due to a number of causes. Read my website on the Rothbarts Foot and the PreClinical Clubfoot Deformity. Both of these abnormal inherited foot structures can result in balance problems.

Professor Rothbart

That is a difficult question to answer without seeing photos of your feet. You can contact Linda at Appointments@ProfessorRothbart.com and she can set up a phone appointment.

with regards,
Professor Rothbart

Thank you for sharing your ideas. I do agree with much that you have written. However, for clarification, Dudley Morton was a Medical Doctor not a Podiatrist.

Professor Rothbart

I fear I have to disagree with you here – I think the whole creation and perpetuation of ‘Morton’s Toe’ as a ‘disorder’ is a sad case of selective cultural bias. Thomas Morton was an American podiatrist, so naturally his definition of what constitutes a ‘normal’ foot structure is going to be based on the most commonly distributed foot type in his native population. Among Anglo-Saxon populations the distribution of ‘Morton’s Toe’ is relatively small, so of course he saw this as an ‘abnormality’, and subsequent clinicians in your field (at least in Anglo-Saxon cultures) have naturally built on the historical body of knowledge in your field that his work forms part of.

Unfortunately the distribution of this so-called ‘disorder’ is as you say very different across populations. So for example in Slavic (Eastern European) populations such as the one I’m from, you will find the ‘Morton’s’ foot type is the norm, rather than the exception. To us, the ‘uncommon foot abnormality’ are feet where the big toe is longest.

Personally, I find ‘Anglo-Saxon’ foot shapes disturbing … there’s just something about them that seems almost ‘degenerate’ … but that is obviously my own cultural bias coming out. My point is – ‘Morton’s Toe’ is a handy term and point of reference when you’re working in a population where it’s the exception rather than the norm, but it’s a terrible mistake to go referring to it as a ‘disorder’ or an abnormality. There are whole countries in Europe where it’s the dominant foot shape, and what ‘Western’ podiatrists and clinicians such as yourself posit as ‘normal’ is seen as decidedly ‘freaky deaky’.

That’s my two cents worth.

i have egyptian feet but why is there space btn the first and second toes?

Pain traveling down the leg is a common symptom of sciatica (compression of the sciatic nerve). Have your mother screened for the presence of Rothbarts Foot or the PreClinical Clubfoot Deformity. Either of these inherited abnormal foot structures can result in sciatica.

with regards,
Professor Rothbart

There are specific tests that can be run by your surgeon to determine if you have the Rothbarts Foot or not (See Three Minute Screening for Rothbarts Foot).

If you do have the Rothbarts Foot, rockerbottom shoes will create the type of symptoms you have described.

with regards,
Professor Rothbart

I am very sorry to hear of what you have gone through after your back surgery. Unfortunately, what you have experience is not uncommon. This is why I caution patients against having back surgery unless they have exhausted all other options.

with regards,
Professor Rothbart

I am going through horrible depression from the loss of using my foot, guess I am mourning the loss of it. My husband does nothing but call me lazy and worthless and even though been shown on MRI my problems still does not believe it. He refused to take me to PT after surgery saying they are just quacks and if I wanted to do those type of exercises look them up on the internet for free. My surgery left me in horrible pain to which my surgeon said it was not his problem he did surgery not pain and aftercare and he sent me off to a pain clinic, thank God. I was suicidal and my pain doctor saved my life.

Now 2 years out I find myself feeling horrible cause I am addicted to pain meds but I need them to live. I have spent my entire life scared of medications as I am allergic to almost all and my family has an addiction problem. I was the one child who did not fall down that path and yet here I am now thanks to a surgeon who screwed up. He was highly recommended however I have since met 3 others who he “screwed up” their lives too.

Please do all alternatives prior to any surgery. I did the epidural shots, PT (took myself prior to stop driving) and other stuff. I now have no clue how to recover if at all possible. I just switched my PCM so hopefully this new doctor will have some ideas. I am ready for this “sofa life” to be over and join society.