Plantar fasciitis

[rhendrix]

I've finally come to the conclusion that I have PF, I've been in denial for the past month thinking that my heel and arch pain was from some freak anomaly. I'm icing my feet, stretching my calves, rolling out all the knots in my feet with a golf ball, and wearing my super feet insoles as much as humanly possible, but nothing seems to be improving. Does anyone know of any other remedies before I make an appointment with a podiatrist? What can I do in the mean time to help me keep staying active, I've got access to a rower and a road bike and will continue to use them and abstain from running, should I cut the rowing and biking out too? Can I still do squats, lunges, and deadlifts? Really hoping this crap improves soon.

 

[a3dhunter]

For me, I had to stop any exercise that involved my feet to get things to heal. I also had to wear either boots or a motion control shoe, the inserts weren't enough.
The podiatrist was a personal friend but treatment was a joke, gave me some shots in my foot to break up the blood clots that formed when the ligaments first tore and told me to stay off it as much as possible. Then recommended custom orthotics for $600-800.

I would recommend a very stiff sole type footwear, stop all exercise involving your feet (even bicycling), and stretch your calves every hour of the day. If possible, sleep with a walking boot or PF night brace to keep it stretched out at night.

 

[Matt Cashell]

I also stopped all foot-involved exercise except cycling. I still lifted but stayed away from cleans and squats. My foot never hurt during or after cycling, so I did a lot of that. I also ended up going with a more cushioned shoe. Since I did this, I have not had a recurrence. I used the sock-type night brace as well and think it helped.

The best advice I got was from a podiatrist that said PF is a TORN ligament. Sure it was multiple small tears, but it should be treated the same way as any other ligament tear: it needed to rest and heal. He also said most podiatrists tend to just treat the symptoms, and PF recurs because the patient doesn't allow the ligament to heal.

The worst thing I did was try to run through it. That was dumb.

 

[rhendrix]

Guess I just need to man up and go see a podiatrist. I've got a lump on the bottom of my left foot that's painful if I push on it, just looking at the anatomy of my foot, it looks like it's the insertion point where my fascia meets my calcaneus. Any of you guys have something similar? How long did it take you guys to resolve this?

A3D, did you buy those splints OTC?

 

[Arrowslinger]

Google 'strassburg sock' and buy one.

 

[colonel00]

Great thread. I am pretty sure I have PF in both feet. Seems linked to me being up on a ladder for the past year and a half fixing and painting my house. I haven't seen a doctor mostly because much like has already been said, there isn't much a doctor can do besides recommend rest and maybe treat the symptoms.

I like the sock idea and have heard of similar treatments. Did you just wear it to bed?

 

[Matt Cashell]

Guess I just need to man up and go see a podiatrist. I've got a lump on the bottom of my left foot that's painful if I push on it, just looking at the anatomy of my foot, it looks like it's the insertion point where my fascia meets my calcaneus. Any of you guys have something similar? How long did it take you guys to resolve this?

A3D, did you buy those splints OTC?

I don't know if you have PF or something else, but some people do get bone spurs under their foot from PF. I do think you need to talk to a doctor. I wouldn't hesitate to get a second opinion either. The podiatrists I talked to weren't all on the same page.

I didn't run for two months. I eased back into running, and now run 4 days a week. If I get any PF symptoms I will quit running immediately.

 

[rhendrix]

Bitterroot, I guess I'll pony up and make an appointment, I'm leaning towards the bump being a heel spur, according to my internet based MD degree.

What'd you guys do for cardio in the meantime? I'm more concerned about that than I am the actual PF.

 

[KMD]

Google 'strassburg sock' and buy one.

+100
Had it BAD for almost two years. Two trips to podiatrist and shots to the area both times a year ago, and it came right back while training for last fall's backcountry elk trip. Would alternate hiking with a 55 lb. pack and mountain biking to give the feet a rest.
The Strassburg sock helped alot, but still had flaming pain during the first part of our hunt. Three days in, I soaked my feet in a cold spring for an hour and sucked it up. By the end of the trip, the pain was almost non-existent? Almost seemd like I walked the condition right outta my foot? Maybe it was them magical Salomon GTX boots? Don't know, but the pain just dulled away...


I still feel the remains of PF every morning, but it is barely noticeable now. Best advice I can offer is:

If you are carry extra, LOSE WEIGHT
Purchase & wear the Strassburg Sock to bed every night
Stretch often
Freeze a water bottle and roll it under your arch at day's end Really helps tame the pain & inflammation

Good luck, PF sucks to deal with!

 

[rhendrix]

+100
Had it BAD for almost two years. Two trips to podiatrist and shots to the area both times a year ago, and it came right back while training for last fall's backcountry elk trip. Would alternate hiking with a 55 lb. pack and mountain biking to give the feet a rest.
The Strassburg sock helped alot, but still had flaming pain during the first part of our hunt. Three days in, I soaked my feet in a cold spring for an hour and sucked it up. By the end of the trip, the pain was almost non-existent? Almost seemd like I walked the condition right outta my foot? Maybe it was them magical Salomon GTX boots? Don't know, but the pain just dulled away...


I still feel the remains of PF every morning, but it is barely noticeable now. Best advice I can offer is:

If you are carry extra, LOSE WEIGHT
Purchase & wear the Strassburg Sock to bed every night
Stretch often
Freeze a water bottle and roll it under your arch at day's end Really helps tame the pain & inflammation

Good luck, PF sucks to deal with!

I'll look into the socks, I was actually looking at a splint. And I'm working on the losing weight part, slowly but surely.

 

[SDHNTR]

The sock is way more comfortable that the splint when sleeping.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

I too suffer from PF in my right heel. It started close to 30yrs ago when I was running a lot to stay fit.
For years I thought it was just stress fractures, until I finally asked the Dr. to take X-Rays and found no fractures. So off to the foot Dr. I went. He told me it was PF and gave me a set of hard plastic heel & arch supports. End of problem. (might also check with the folks at The Good Feet Store.) I just wear them inside my hiking boots and haven't had any issues since.
I too, second how important it is to keep the tendons stretched out.

Hope this helps, as I know how painful PF can be. I could barely walk at times.
Hunt'nFish

 

[Ray]

The rolling frozen bottle helped me, as did various inserts. I ended up settling on PowerSteps over super feet for all my footwear.

The doctor also recommended that I stop wearing flat slippers and start wearing running shoes around the house. Never to step out of bed and weight my feet unless they were in a shoe with good firm arch support. That was probably the best thing I did to lead to recovery.

Some shoes have some arch to them so inserts can end up creating too much of a curve. This is where the slight flex of a PowerStep insert really helps out.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Stretch your hamstrings, glutes, and calves religiously every day. Use a foam roller on all of these muscles also, daily, until your PF diminishes.

Every morning when you wake up, do a bunch of toe circles and clench your toes like you're trying to hold something with them. It is imperative that you do this BEFORE you jump out of bed and immediately damage any healing that took place during the night.

Ice and ibuprofen will help. Depending on how bad it is, you're looking at several months or more to heal.

 

[ezrida]

I had plantar fasciitis and I am over it now - It can be cured!
It took me a few months to get over the strong pain and then about a year or more to shake it off totally.
You should listen to your body in 2 aspects:
1. Try to find the treatment that help you most and the ones that hurt you.
2. Find what causes the problem in the first place. What is the part of your routine that aggravates the plantar fascia.
The answers are in the pain pattern.
As your pain will get better I recommend foot strength exercises. That's what took my plantar fasciitis completely out to retirement.
You can find a treatment review in here.
good luck

 

[Mike7]

Great info provided from people above.

A couple of additional things...Be careful about getting injections before an adequate trial of the conservative therapies mentioned above, as there is the potential for real complications with injections into any tendon/ligament (e.g. plantar fascial rupture, plantar fat pad atrophy, plantar nerve injury, and bone infection). Be careful not to do any vigorous activity for a few wks after injection in order to decrease the chances of fascial rupture.

In addition to gentle stretching, massage of the tissues (like rolling the frozen water bottle under your foot) I think is important in order to stimulate blood flow to the relatively avascular tendon (like a poor man's extracorporeal shock wave therapy). Try to wear a stiffer soled shoe even when biking. And remember, just because you have a heel spur, doesn't mean you will need surgery or injections. Many X-rays I see in people without plantar pain have incidentally noted heel spurs.

 

[rhendrix]

Does taping work? I bought some KT tape while I wait for the strassburg sock to arrive and I'm not really telling a difference. Wearing my running shoes with the superfeet insoles and ice baths and frozen water bottles seem to help tremendously though. I foam rolled the crap outta my hips, quads and hamstrings yesterday too, one of the guys at work suggested doing some flute activation work as well since I've have some anterior pelvic tilt. I'm hoping that all of this fixes the underlying problem, I still don't know what the root cause is though.

 

[Baby Huey]

Mine went away with a set of the hard plastic inserts from Good Feet. I dropped about $700 for the 3 different types: one for flip flops, an athletic insert that I use for hunting and all exercise and a really pronounced one I wear to work. I went to my doctor and he said my pain was PF, which I understood as a tightening of the tendon that runs under your foot, along your arch and back up through your heel. Dr. said after time some people may develop PF if their arch starts to flatten, thus not keeping the tendon stretched enough. I was skeptical that the inserts would work, but after a couple of weeks the pain was gone. It was pretty bad for me, as I could barely put any weight on my heel - definitely no running, limited lifting, gimpy walking, etc. I bit the bullet and dropped the cash, but for me the inserts solved the problem. I wear them every day.

Hopefully you can work it out with stretching, but for me those inserts are much more pronounced and supportive, and stretching didn't do it for me. I notice the difference everytime if I walk in shoes without them, as it seems all support is non existent with the insoles in just about every shoe. You don't have to buy the three sets like I did, perhaps just the athletic insert which may run you around $300. May want to look into other companies for inserts, or maybe your Dr or Podiatrist have companies they work with that may have a cheaper version.

 

[Ray]

Does taping work? I bought some KT tape while I wait for the strassburg sock to arrive and I'm not really telling a difference. Wearing my running shoes with the superfeet insoles and ice baths and frozen water bottles seem to help tremendously though. I foam rolled the crap outta my hips, quads and hamstrings yesterday too, one of the guys at work suggested doing some flute activation work as well since I've have some anterior pelvic tilt. I'm hoping that all of this fixes the underlying problem, I still don't know what the root cause is though.

After going through PF I can not see how taping would work. I can't see how KT tape would help anything other than the psychosomatic aspect. Even though the fascia system would appear to be a connective tissue system to transport the effect of the KT to your muscles, I just can't see KT being effective mechanically.

The root cause of PF or other tendon issues is the tightness of our muscles or a posture issue that results in a overly tight muscle. On top of that there is the fascia system that connects it all together. Once the entire system gets too tight the nerves get inflammed and they double or triple the effect by adding pain to the experience. By the time you feel pain, you are years into the problem in many cases.

To get my PF, sciatica, and pariformius issues resolved I ended up seeing an osteopath. He explained how it all fits together, showed me how a broken ankle from 1983 had lead to the issues I was having in my back in 2009 and resolved much of the problems in three treatments. He left me with a series of self care stretches and I have not looked back.

 

[Arrowslinger]

It's not going to do much for PF -KT Tape that is! Hit your calves with the foam roller, everything in the lower leg seems to be connected. There is a great video from Strassburg on how to PROPERLY apply and use the sock, PM if you need the link or additional details on it's use. Now that you've addressed your workout shoes, you need to look at what you wear to work and see if that could be the root cause. Superfeet does make a dress fit insole for low volume shoes -dressy type ones.