I have Aetna. From what I am reading (this is a great site!) I will be doing a 3-6 mo. change of habits thing. I am at 38 BMI but am almost completely disabled at this point by severe foot pain and problems that the weight contributes to. I have had all the surgeries on my feet they can do and the only hope I have left is to lose the weight and keep it off. I am hoping that is enough of a co-morbity to qualify me!

So I am pretty limited on exercise. I can do upper body stuff while sitting down. I can't walk--physically I just can't at this point without causing further damage to my feet. Certainly I hope as the weight comes off I will be able to. What will I do to meet the exercise criteria? I am not able to join a health club with a pool and swimming is all my dr. has approved for me to do.

This is the exact thing that spurred me to surgery, I was becoming more and more debilitated by my foot. I was only a 36 BMI too. They never really figured what it was - severe bursitis was the guess - as my achilles tendon was fine, and we tried all the stuff - physio, orthotics etc. I still use my orthotics because I do have flat arches.

Anyway I certainly could not walk for exercise, no way. I couldnt do much of anything at all and in the end I had a cortisone shot which brought me six months of relief. In that six months, I started working out on the elliptical, had my surgery and began running.

Eventually the pain came back but nowhere near as bad as it hd been and running was strenghtening all the mucles in my foot, ankle and leg and the lesser weight load helped. I had pain mainly on getting up in the morning, but not all day anymore.

And a bit over three years later after some acupuncture (which was quite miraculous) I'm completely pain free.

I would highly recommend the cortisone shot if its an appopriate measure for your problem- its a drastic measure but its what I needed to get me started.

I have already had every treatment I can have for my feet. I have had over the max number of cortisone shots. They did provide relief for a while but this has been ongoing for 6 years. I can't have any more cortisone. I have had 3 surgeries and there are no more options.

I am reading more now and am afraid that maybe this won't be considered a comorbitity.:thumbup:

Well it was definitely taken seriously by my surgeon.

So do you have any idea what it actually is? What specific injury have you done or is it just pain?

The obvious answer with exercise is non weight bearing - swimming or would you be able to use a spin bike or even a recumbent bike? And like you say, upper body stuff.

Dont get too stressed, at first, its likely you'll lose weight well without much in the way of exercise. You'll probably be able to get a significant load off which may help considerably.

It is extremely severe Plantar Fasciitis in both of my feet and then I developed Tarsal Tunnel in the right one, which has been the worst anyway.

I am seeing my podiatrist again next week and am going to see if he will write me a letter in support of this explaining that there are no other options and that loosing the weight is my only thing that will help my feet. I am pretty confident he will.

I am not sure about using a bike. Water exercise is all he has approved me for. Even going that route I would need to join a gym and not sure that is an option right now.

I am in a similiar situation with my feet. I also have already had 3 cortisone shots, orthotics and I have little relief. I am reporting to my primary that I am walking on my treadmill daily and he is documenting this during my 6 month weigh in appts. I won't dare say I can't exercise. I am afraid that this will give the insurance company reason to deny. My podiatrist wrote a great letter supporting lap band surgery. My last appt with the primary is in May and I will submit to insurance. I believe that with the lap band procedure and weight reduction I will see a drastic change to my feet. If not I will deal with it as I go along. I would play it safe and report some type of daily exercise. Comply with everything insurance wants don't give them reason for denial. This is all just my opinion.

Well, I guess since just walking to the bathroom and upstairs to go to bed each night are difficult enough I could say that I am getting my exercise that way!:thumbup:

Thats how I would approach it, first you need to get approval for the surgery, this is the utmost priority. Maybe with weight loss there will be some relief for your feet and you will gradually be able to engage in some exercise. Right now I would focus on complying with everything the insurance wants for approval, everything else is secondary. I heard they actually look for reasons to deny. Don't give them anything. I don't think they will be too sympathetic about your feet, more likely they will say you did not comply with the exercise requirements. Keep us posted. Best of luck.