Gymnast's pain was so bad he asked for his foot to be amputated

COMPLEX REGIONAL PAIN SYNDROME CAUSED THROUGH A BROKEN HEEL

- By JOEL MOORE

"MY foot was in a box of fire being stabbed and compressed, all at the same time".

That's how Tom Dingley, 15, can best explain the pain he felt due to a little known chronic condition. A pain that lasted three long years.

Back in 2021, the then aspiring gymnast broke his heel while vaulting at a national competition. Tom, from West Bridgford, soldiered on to complete floor and high bar routines, the first of which he clinched a silver medal for.

What followed next was a nightmare so traumatising it left him begging for his foot to be amputated, and at one point even death. "I spent nights genuinely wanting to die because the pain had taken over me," he said.

Tom had developed complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), a chronic condition where a person experiences "persistent severe and debilitating pain," according to the NHS. Medics admit little is known about the syndrome, which one described as a "wiring problem" between pain receptors and the brain.

The CPRS started immediately after surgery to remove a chipped bone following the gymnastics injury and began spreading further up Tom's leg. "Nothing could touch his foot. Once someone touched his toe and he was screaming for eight hours," said his mum, Lesley Dingley.