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Desensitizing Uncomfortable Feeling On Feet


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#1 andydavis87

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Posted 09 August 2011 - 07:30 AM

Hello. Since my injury in 2002, my feet have been ultra sensitive to anything touching them. I wear socks all of the time because anything touching them feels "nails on a chalkboard" uncomfortable. They have made small improvements and are not as sensitive as they were when I was injured. I remember hearing something about a kind of therapy where they rub different things on your feet until it doesn't bother you any more. Does anyone know of this or what is it called? I'd like to get some more information on it.

Thanks
-Andrew

#2 wheeliebear75

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Posted 09 August 2011 - 12:31 PM

Nope never heard of THAT. I also have the oversensitive feet. I/we have to be careful about purchasing socks for me, the fuzzy texture on the inside of most cotton socks feels like sand TO MY FEET, & I've found that wearing my socks inside out helps keep the seam for the toes from bugging my toes. Oh yeah.....& wearing "nothings"/"crocs" is nice cuz they don't bother my feet....although they're kinda BREEZY in cooler months.

Have you tried using a TENS unit? Sometimes when my feet are bugging me feeling like bugs crawling in my socks.....I can use my TENS & lessen the severity.
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#3 Smileyblue

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Posted 10 August 2011 - 12:40 AM

My problem is not in my feet, but around my chest and especially on my back.. In rehab they tortured, I mean, tried to de-sensitize my back by touching/rubbing different textures on the hypersensitive areas for a set period of time, on a regular basis.. It didn't work for me.. It was pure torture everytime they did it.. Even touching with cottonwool feels like someone is taking sandpaper to my skin!

If you find something that works, let us know PLEASE?
What's important is not what happens to us, but how we react to what happens to us..

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#4 DxM

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Posted 28 December 2011 - 01:26 AM

I started the whole Desensitising process with my Physiotherapist for the very same problem with my legs/feet about a month ago now. They started out with a complete assessment of the degree of hypersensitivity, then moved on to placing a hand randomly on my legs/feet over clothing/shoes to see how I got on. Like someone else above said 'Torture' springs to mind! They've recently given me a basket ball, that I have to roll my feet around on regularly, but very gently as the stipples on it feel like spears and I have to touch my legs/feet with new textured items as often as possible! It makes no sense at all how cotton wool can feel like 100 degree iron filings being dragged all over my skin! I can see the 'Theory' behind the Desensitisation process, but I'm not sure I have the stamina to see it come to anything other than more pain :( I'll keep you posted though and I hope the process works out well for you at some point too :)

DxM

By the way...My physiotherapist said the process is simply called 'Desensitisation', but there may be some other more complex medical term for it that they didn't want to share with me :)

Edited by DxM, 28 December 2011 - 01:32 AM.





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