The image on the left shows Alice’s feet at her first appointment. What you’re looking at is a thermographic picture that “sees” heat. The brighter the color, the more blood flow. The entire foot should be a bright white/yellow with the toes possibly be a bit reddish. You can see on the initial image her right foot shows the normal bright white at the ankle but none of the left. By the time you get to her forefoot and feet the colors get much darker with her toes black. This indicates a severe lack of blood flow.

Your nerves need blood just like a tree needs water. The nerves in her feet are getting adequate blood flow and as a result are becoming “hypoxic”, which means they aren’t getting oxygen as well as the other nutrients. The nerves are effectively “dying on the vine” like a plant will in a drought (or when you forget to water it).

When nerves go hypoxic before they die they start misfiring. Your brain interprets these signals as numbness, tingling, burning, altered sensation, and balance issues. We’ve had patients state they feel like they’re walking on shag carpeting or that they’re wearing thick socks. In Dr. Fisher’s clinical experience, the patients who have symptoms progress rapidly (~1-2 years) have more complaints about pain or burning, while patients who’s symptoms progress slower have more numbness or abnormal sensation complaints.

The image on the right after 8 months of treatment shows what a normal thermographic image should look like. You can see bright white and yellow throughout the foot. This is what we want to see, it means the nerves in the feet are getting adequate blood flow and are returning to normal. Just like when the plant in a drought gets water or when you remember to water your plants again, the nerves start coming back. This isn’t an overnight process, but, as long as the nerve isn’t completely dead and it gets adequate nutrition it can come back.