Plantar fasciitis operation

My fiancé' had the plantears surgery along with a bunionectomy, Dec.19, 2013. it is 2 1/2 months post -op, and he is still relying on the surgical boot for the most part. Scar tissue, nerve pain' swelling & numbness are just a few chronic symptoms. He is scheduled to return to work March 12th. Undergoing physical therapy for the 3rd week, he just got into a sports shoe, but limited to 5 hours a day. He cannot feel the bottom of his foot, icing it throughout the day

After a year and a half of cortisone shots, Anti-Flammatories, stretching my foot twice daily, Rolling my foot on everything from frozen water bottles to balls to know improvement, Only the first cortisone shot took the edge off the pain. After that, I had constant excruciating pain every day.   My doctor performed the same "open" Fascia release 5 weeks ago on Valentine's Day on my right foot which was the same procedure he did on my left foot 7 years ago.  The advancement is pain management since my first surgery is amazing.  They gave me this long lasting numbing injection during the procedure.  I didn't have one ounce of pain for the first four days.  It wasn't until day five that I started getting a slight throb but by that point, I was able to control the pain with just Advil.  Never had to take any of the pain medication they prescribed which I was really happy about since it is very hard on my stomach and gives me freaky dreams :)   I am extremely pleasd with the recovery so far  and so glad I did the surgery again.  Since I had the first surgery 7 years agon on my left foot, I haven't had any pain.   My only suggestion is to do a lot of research first, do all the alternatives first to see if you can fix it without the surgery first but if you have exhausted all other treatments and haven't improved then I highly recommend the surgery as long as you find a really good doctor who has a great reputation and proven results.  If you are in Arizona, Phoenix area.  I highly recommend Dr. Paul Shapiro.  He also performed a bunionectomy on my right foot ten years ago.  Good luck to you all.

Surgery in plantar fasciitis patients can be avoided in 95% of cases. It really should be an absolute last resort. There are so many different options to try to relieve the pain. You should explore as many of these as possible. I had a stubborn case of PF that was finally relieved by wearing orthotic sandals instead of going barefoot. The use of PF sleeve socks at night also helped a lot.

I just had the surgery four days ago. My doctor has me in a non weight bearing cast for two weeks and then I will be in a walking boot for two more weeks. I have had lots of swelling and have had to ice constantly. I will report back once I get the cast off because as of right now, I cannot say if it was worth it or not. I have never had a cast before and i am claustrophobic so I am struggling with the cast. I hope it is worth all of this.

Are shots of cortisone necessary for plantar fasciitis and what are the side effects and are the injections extremely painful as I have heard?