I've read about the double crush phenomenon and wondered if that might be what's happening. It feels as if the problem is cascading down from the lumbar to the ankle, and then on to the bottom of my feet.

You're right in that it's a long, expensive process to arrive at an accurate diagnosis. I had an mri done of my feet back in April. It's a shame that while it was being done, they didn't also slide me another 3 feet into the machine and scan my spine as well. We would now be 4 months ahead of where we're at, having saved an awful lot of time and money on physical therapy and acupuncture, not to mention the amount of physical and psychological suffering that has happened since then.

I don't believe there's a silver bullet in all of this, but rather a combination of things that can resolve the foot pain I've been having. I would think that someone else on these boards has been through this and can offer some advice on what ultimately worked for them.

Thanks for the reply, glenntaj. I appreciate it.