Peroneal tendonitis is an injury where the tendon that connects the heel to the ARMature becomes damaged and inflamed. When this happens, you may experience pain in that area, especially when walking or operating machinery.
Walking boots are one of the best solutions for this condition. These walking boots have a band around the midfoot that attaches with a clip. This clip allows you to place your foot on the ground easily and comfortably.
These walking boots also have a thick wall around your ankle where the boot is thickest. This helps support your leg when walking, which is important for staying upright. Having this help keep your knee up is even more important when looking for medical treatment, because kneeproblems can make it hard to stay upright.
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Causes of peroneal tendonitis
Peroneal tendonitis is a relatively common tendon injury, though not often treated. Peroneal tendonitis happens when the peroneal tendon, an elongated band of tissue located between the heel bone and the toes, becomes stressed or overused.
This can happen when patients walk in new shoes for the first time, when shoes are replaced every few years, or when shoes are size bigger than person’s normal shoe size.
People who wear tight-fitting clothes may also have trouble using their peroneals to help support the foot. Someone whose favorite boots have been bought new and new and lost is probably a good example of this.
Peroneals are a part of our arms, legs, and feet that never quite get enough time to rest or heal on their own. That makes it more likely that you will see someone with peroneal tendonitis.
Symptoms of peroneal tendonitis
While most people symptoms of peroneal tendonitis are pain and discomfort, there are some symptoms that aren’t common but may be relevant to your personal pain and injury tolerance.
Some of these include:
Fatigue or sleep trouble
Nausea or vomiting
Dry skin or dry hair
Dry nails or hair that is not growing in very well
Peroneal tendonitis is typically more difficult to heal than other calf injuries like heel spurs. This is due to the fact that the tendon is more sensitive to temperature changes which can make healing slightly more difficult. If you have peroneal tendonitis, you may notice some of these effects more clearly than if you had another calf injury.
Treatment for peroneal tendonitis
While a non-medicinal approach is always the best course of treatment for tendonitis, there are some non-medicinal tips that may help keep your peroneal tendon healthy. These tips include:
Minimize activity by reducing the length of time you are standing or walking on your hurt foot.
Avoid overhead and diagonal movements when possible, such as when putting your foot in a shoe or bed.
Avoid playing sports, especially if you were recently diagnosed with tendonitis. Sports are very good for making you pain free, but now is not the time to start training again.
Do not try any new exercises until you have healed your tendonitis, as they may make the pain return! Most likely it was just the movement that was causing pain, but still recognizing the cause and treating it accordingly can help get back normal function quickly.
What is a walking boot?
The term walking boot is a bit misused as many people use it, but it is not needed for this technique for peroneal tendonitis to work. Walking boots are a great way to reduce pain during exercises such as lawn mowers or bike routines.
Walking boots are typically black with a thick rubber sole and padded footbed. The hand-blown leather vented/non-vented contains the tendon for the boot to fit over. This allows more space for movement and less painful stasis when cutting, grinding, or loading something.
The trick to using walking shoes is to adjust them every day. Because tendons grow and change, you will have to keep taking them out of the boot and re-tying them. If you have little children or mobility challenges, they may help create distance between the shoe and footbed without having to remove the boot.
Walking in comfort is important so your muscle can recover from working in the tendonitis.
Who should use a walking boot?
People who can’t walk without a lot of help, such as someone with arthritis who needs assistance with getting around or someone with mild peroneal tendonitis (PT) who needs some help getting around.
The best time to use a walking boot is when you need help moving in a straight line or trying out the boot is helpful for this. Once you feel comfortable in the boot, keep using it until you find a better fit or until your foot gets used to it.
You can purchase some types of walking boots that have different sizes of feet built into them. These are helpful if you have very narrow or wide feet and cannot find a good fit in regular shoes. These may also be useful if you are having trouble keeping your foot flexed or letting the boot move enough because of your peroneal tendonitis.
How do I know if I need a walking boot?
There are many reasons to wear a normal shoe to walk in. You can put on a second pair of feet, get some good foot work, or learn the correct path when going from sitting to standing. These can be hard to know if you have no feet but the boot!
There are many ways to know if you need a special boot for your peroneal tendonitis. Your doctor can do this by testing your peroneal tendon and/or by x-raying your foot and/or by doing an ultrasound of the heel and toes. Special boots can make sense if there is significant pain or lameness in the area where they apply.
Walking boots are typically used when someone needs to get back on their feet quickly. They must be able to fit correctly and be worn enough for them to settle in. A walking boot should last at least 6 weeks with consistent wearing, taken every day.
How do I choose a walking boot?
There are a few things to consider when shopping for a walking boot. These should be easy to put on and take off, should allow you to move your foot in both directions without putting any pressure on the tendon, and should be practical for everyday use.
When shopping for a boot, make sure that you can comfortably walk in the new boot with no problem. If this new boot is going to be used for working out or daily activities, it needs to fit well. And lastly, check how comfortable they are to walk in and out of the house with.
We suggest looking into some of our recommended walking boots below!
Walking boots are a good way to punish your feet. They can help keep your feet healthy by being able to comfortably place weight in them.
What should I expect from a walking boot?
When it comes to choosing a walking boot for peroneal tendonitis, the main question to ask is what kind of walking you want to do?
For instance, do you want a casual walk or a daily walk? In this case, the best boot for the job! There are many different kinds of walking shoes, but they all have some kind of bottom that fits into a standard foot size.
The outside of the shoe should be hard and not stretchy. If there is a soft spot on the sole, make sure it is strong enough to hold up weight. We recommend looking for ones with wooden veneers as reinforcements against eventual nail head breakage.
Lastly, make sure they are easy to put on and take off. Some shoes can be very narrow making it hard to get one’s index and middle fingers inside enough to put them on and remove them.