Hello,

For years I have dreamed of being a nurse, and just recently have started going to school--not yet into nursing--just taking general education courses. The biggest worry I have is being able to find a job afterwards that does not have me walking and standing all day long. I have a condition called plantar facsiitis, which is very painful if I stand or walk for a good period of time. Since I have this condition should I even be considering nursing as a career?

Any bit of advice will be useful.

Rachel

I'd say there are a lot of positions in Nursing that involve less walking- but a lot of them are for nurses with experience. For example:

Certain Office jobs- I've known nurses that Place PPD's most of the day and only get up and walk as much as a typical office worker.

Telephone Triage...

But the typical Med Surg job is pretty heavy on walking. I've known some nurses with your condition, and it was difficult for them. They do have some treatments and devices (shoes) that supposedly help with this.

I think your concern is valid- even clinical time involves quite a bit of standing and walking.

Still the way things are with nursing today, I imagine you could find a job, but you might have to look longer than the typical new graduate...

I've had plantar fasciitis twice over my career. Both times I went to a podiatrist. The first time I had custom orthotics made for my shoes that I used for 10 years. Then I got some attitude and stopped using them and got PF again. Went back to a different podiatrist--treatment was orthotics again. This time, rather than a custom orthotic I use Spenco arch supports. It took a little over 4 months for my pain to finally go away, but I learned my lesson. I have arch supports in all my shoes now and haven't had a problem with PF since. But, that is my story.

When I was working the PF was actually more of a heel pain and hurt worse after I had been off my feet for a bit. Getting out of bed in the morning was a real pain, if you get my drift. It seemed that as long as I was up and moving, the pain was more tolerable. I could put up with the PF more than I could the ruptured disk in my back.

Have you gotten medical help for this?