It could be something which specially made shoes or pain pills just could not fix. And by the time the surgery would be finished, too much damage may have been done to ever get it right again. Hopefully it has not gone that far yet because possibly, just possibly a simpler fix is on the horizon. A new discovery about how the foot arch works points the way to relief of a number of foot and leg pains as well as flat feet. True, it may not work for all foot or leg problems.
Nothing can promise that.
In fact, any one pain or problem can come from any number of causes. However, it can be shown that upsets like certain foot or leg problems and pains can be created when the foot arch is not working right. Nothing tried, nothing gained. Yes, the foot arch. The new discovery is that the foot arch is created using certain muscles in certain ways.