Plantar Fascitis

[Rod Hagen]

OUCH. Besides Stretching and Massaging the foot every morning, wearing a night splint nightly, using new very good orthotic inserts in my new very supportive shoes and not going barefoot around the apartment anymore, does anyone have any suggestions of how to get rid of it? Fucking driving me nuts. OUCH.

 

THANK YOU!!!!!

[Radames]

i got a steroid shot in the foot which hurt like hell but totally relieved my plantar fasciitis and has never recurred.

[Becket]

I have admired you from afar, and would come rub your feet anytime.

[MscleLovr]

Sorry to hear you’re suffering @Rod Hagen. (I’m no expert on this but I had a problem that affected my feet and in consulting experts, I was advised to do exercises to prevent this developing).

 

Conservative measures to treat this are stretches and exercises to the lower leg muscles and feet. I assume you’ve been shown how to do these? I‘d suggest doing the stretches 3-4x daily. At home, elevate your feet and apply ice packs.

 

And I assume you’ve already done the obvious: switch from running to swimming, throw away any worn athletic shoes, and never wear flip-flops!

[craigville beach]

OUCH. Besides Stretching and Massaging the foot every morning, wearing a night splint nightly, using new very good orthotic inserts in my new very supportive shoes and not going barefoot around the apartment anymore, does anyone have any suggestions of how to get rid of it? Fucking driving me nuts. OUCH.

 

THANK YOU!!!!!

 

i had it at the start of the covid shut down. whenever i was sitting i "rolled my foot" over a wine bottle pressing into the bottle with my foot. i thought it helped shorten the time

[+ Lucky]

Stretches can help, but for intense cases, cortisone shots work best.

[spider]

One thing that seems to bring it on for me is wearing the same shoes too often. Rotating shoes really helps me. I find orthotics worthless - sort of like 20th century quackery. Just stretching the "toes to the nose" while watching TV or whatever really helps me, but it isn't an instant fix.

[Tommygunzz]

Have you tried using a lacrosse ball? Ball on floor and roll your foot on top of the ball. I find it helps quite a bit. BTW Something about the size or firmness of a lacrosse ball makes it work better than just a tennis ball.

[KrisParr]

My left foot - After years of treatment including shots, icing, stretching, loads of PT, a 10 minute laparoscopic surgery fixed it for good. It was a last resort, but glad I did it. A year later it developed in the other foot. Didn’t wait - had another in/out surgery. That was 2 years ago - haven’t had any problems- I run, swim, bike, hike - all good so far.

[+ mature_guy]

My sympathies. I've suffered on and off for years in both feet. Like spider I found inserts worthless and doing the stretching exercises - standing on the bottom step and flexing as well as rolling a tennis ball - and rotating good shoes helped a lot. I did discover doing those things on a regular basis has helped lengthen the time between flare ups.

Edited May 11, 2021 by mature_guy

[Guest]

... driving me nuts...

 

It's very important that your arch support orthotics are firm/rigid, not foam. Go for the Spenco orthotics one can get at sporting goods stores, not the stuff you get at the drug store:

 

Also, some exercises can be helpful:

https://www.ortho.wustl.edu/content/Education/3691/Patient-Education/Educational-Materials/Plantar-Fasciitis-Exercises.aspx

[+ Charlie]

I had it in my left foot several years ago, and the podiatrist sent me to a physical therapist, who said the problem was a tight hamstring. We did various exercises, and I also started replacing the insoles in my shoes with SuperFeet, which I bought at the store that provides my tennis shoes. The plantar fascitis eventually just went away, and I had no problems until recently, when I developed it in my other foot. I have gone back to doing the exercises, and made sure I have new SuperFeet in my shoes, and it seems to be improving on its own. I always wear supportive shoes, even when I am sitting around the house. Despite the discomfort, I have continued to play tennis, and I often don't even notice the pain when I am playing, so I am convinced that the leg exercise is the most important factor in correcting the problem. I always have more pain when I get up in the morning than I do after I have been moving around for even a few minutes.

[Best Kisser]

OUCH. Besides Stretching and Massaging the foot every morning, wearing a night splint nightly, using new very good orthotic inserts in my new very supportive shoes and not going barefoot around the apartment anymore, does anyone have any suggestions of how to get rid of it? Fucking driving me nuts. OUCH.

 

THANK YOU!!!!!

Try this. Take a great big bottle of water and freeze and then leave your foot (or feet on the frozen water for 30 minutes morning and night. It helped me!

[Luv2play]

I had it in my right foot a couple of years ago and was not sure what it was. I spoke to my sister, who is a retired professor of nursing at a large university and she told me she also had it but had never mentioned it to me. She and I never went on for the more aggressive forms of treatment but rather just did some exercise focusing on the legs. In my case I stepped up my swimming to three times a week.

 

It gradually went away after about a year or so. It was never that debilitating in my case and mostly noticed it when I was walking barefoot.

[CalTec]

This saved my feet when I was on my jump course

 

https://www.physiotherapyroom.com/Pro-Tec-Spiky-Massage-Ball

[DDad4ynger]

I grip a stair tread with my toes and hang my heels down. It’s a great stretch and helps with this just hang and let gravity help heal you

[Rod Hagen]

Thank you everyone.

 

Often times PF results from tight calves or tight hips or tight hamstrings too. My calves are not tight nor are my hamstrings nor my hips, all three areas are super flexible.

 

My podiatrist and I think it's a result from all the yoga I've been doing this last year (so cliche, I know, "everyone" started to do Yoga in front of Youtube during lockdown). The prone position of the feet in UpDog, other backBends, and numerous other positions probably got to be too much.

 

I did get a steroid shot and it did help...for a few days.

 

Becket, that sounds wonderful.

 

I've tried frozen water bottles, doesn't help. Those spikey balls make my foot itch terribly, so I can't do that. I forgot about a lacrosse or racquetball thank you. I'll try that.

 

For the last few months while it's been acute, I have refrained from calf raises when I do resistance band workouts.

 

I bought VERY good shoes that are very supportive. I don't know how to pronounce the company name, maybe it's just "On" but it's this one:

 

https://www.on-running.com/en-us/

 

My Podiatrist made super expensive custom orthotics and they are great, very supportive, much better than the ones that the shoe stores try to manipulate you into purchasing.

 

Since I don't run, unless I'm being chased, I'm not going to get surgery. If I have to put up with some pain during yoga and swimming and walking so be it.

 

I really miss being barefoot, but that only makes it worse.

 

Thank you again everyone, I think I just have to be diligent and patient; it's almost certainly self-limiting, like most things.

[Scorpio]

I had a case of this about 15 years ago In addition to the things mentioned above, My PT had me wear a type of bandage that had TENS therapy. I just searched for them on the Internet, but I can’t find the item I used. But there are other TENS pads available for the feet. I also used to roll a golf ball under my arch and heel.

 

it eventually went away and hasn’t come back. Good luck!

[+ tassojunior]

OUCH. Besides Stretching and Massaging the foot every morning, wearing a night splint nightly, using new very good orthotic inserts in my new very supportive shoes and not going barefoot around the apartment anymore, does anyone have any suggestions of how to get rid of it? Fucking driving me nuts. OUCH.

 

THANK YOU!!!!!

Not a MD but "much experience". it's in both feet equally now but at first my right was terrible for almost a year from a strained PF. I've had to give up long walking (over 3/4 mile at a stretch).

I have high arches and was a marathon runner in early years...........but age and weight happened. Been to my podiatrist (Kaiser) a dozen times and tried everything.

The best is tight compression socks without toes. Increased blood and healing, lifts the arch, makes the heel snug if that's also an issue, and generally lets your foot deal with much more standing and walking than otherwise. They're the gold standard especially for women who have to stay on their feet a lot and once you try them you're hooked. Easier to use and cooler are the arch support sleeves that only wrap around the arch to lift.

I also have a little arthritis in my mid-foot bone joints which are under the arches. they rarely mention that but it matters. feels like a little electric jolt in the middle of the bottom of your feet. (and unfortunately sometimes feels like a big electric jolt.)

these are great:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0895FJ5FH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

these are "ok", should be tighter

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QQZR4LX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Edited May 14, 2021 by tassojunior

[marylander1940]

OUCH. Besides Stretching and Massaging the foot every morning, wearing a night splint nightly, using new very good orthotic inserts in my new very supportive shoes and not going barefoot around the apartment anymore, does anyone have any suggestions of how to get rid of it? Fucking driving me nuts. OUCH.

 

THANK YOU!!!!!

 

Steroid shot, stretching and get Hoka One One bondi shoes. Also avoid walking downstairs as much as you can, is not a natural movement for our feet.

 

width=385pxhttps://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1287/1533/files/achilles-tendon-stretch.jpg?7105139398797793311[/img]

[spider]

I grip a stair tread with my toes and hang my heels down. It’s a great stretch and helps with this just hang and let gravity help heal you

 

This as well. Just the toe or toes one at a time on the step with the heel hanging over the edge. Go down as far as you can, hold a few seconds - you should feel some stretching. Do a few reps. It's OK to hang onto the railing if you wish.

[+ newatthis]

Try this. Take a great big bottle of water and freeze and then leave your foot (or feet on the frozen water for 30 minutes morning and night. It helped me!

Better version: put the frozen water bottle (a typical 16 oz bottle of water) on the floor and roll it back and forth with your foot -- a foot massage with the frozen bottle. I don't recall how long I did this -- maybe 5 times of a minute each with a rest in between. You should be able to google this. It worked well for me.

[gallahadesquire]

My left foot - After years of treatment including shots, icing, stretching, loads of PT, a 10 minute laparoscopic arthroscopic endoscopic minimally invasive surgery fixed it for good. It was a last resort, but glad I did it. A year later it developed in the other foot. Didn’t wait - had another in/out surgery. That was 2 years ago - haven’t had any problems- I run, swim, bike, hike - all good so far.

[Guest]

Acupuncture and stretching does it for me

[+ purplekow]

Most of the usual treatments have been suggested here. In my patient's I have given the steroid injection with a local anesthetic. If that fails, a second try is worthwhile. At that point, you want to make sure you do not have a torn plantar fascia or occasionally Achilles tendinitis may be mistaken for Plantar Fasciitis and treatment of that will relieve the pain you are having. I assume you are having the typical, intense pain when you first stand after resting and then as you walk, you note less pain. If this is the case, the pain is coming from the initial stretch of the planter fascia to stablize the arch and each step stretches it less and less as the arch is more and more stable, If this is what you are experiencing, try the stretching first thing in the morning and before each time you stand. You can get a band or use a belt to wrap around the foot and then pull up the foot by using the belt or band as you would us reins to stop a runaway horse. 30 to 60 seconds of this will make the acute pain more bearable.

If your foot hurts all the time, you may have a torn plantar fascia and that may require surgery. A CT or MRI of the foot will help make that diagnosis and a podiastrist or orthopedist can do the surgery. There are a variety of surgical options, the easiest is shock wave therapy, there is also a more complex surgery which removes the plantar fascia from the calcaneus (heel Bone, which we all know is connected to the leg bone.).