dealing with Plantar Fascitis

[mysteriouslady]

First for those that dont know what it is.

The most common cause of heel pain is plantar fasciitis. Many patients with plantar fasciitis have a heel spur on the front and bottom of their heel, but heel spurs do not cause pain. The common name is "heel spur" because it's easier to pronounce than "plantar fasciitis" and doctors are able to point to the spur on an x-ray. Causes of heel pain include inadequate flexibility in the calf muscles, lack of arch support, being overweight, suddenly increasing activity, and spending too much time on the feet.

This is painful and difficult to deal with.

Anyone else experience this and now of any good treatments for it?

Thanks

[pirouette]

-warm em up...just like you would anything else. rotate from the ankles first, then point and flex and scrunch and release your toes. do all of it several times. You need to do this before your feet even hit the floor in the morning.
-get a tennis ball, roll it under your foot a couple of times during the day. This keeps the facia loose and supple.....and it just plain feels good.
-make sure you are stretching calves well. consider the make up....calves conected to the achillies which is connected to the plantar facia. If one of them is too tight the other over compensate or can be damaged.
-good shoes, make sure you are running or walking in good, supportive shoes. Pay special attention if you have high or low arches. get new sneaks at least every 6months if you run much.

Hope this is helpful.

[mysteriouslady]

thxs

[Amanda76]

Originally Posted by pirouette

-warm em up...just like you would anything else. rotate from the ankles first, then point and flex and scrunch and release your toes. do all of it several times. You need to do this before your feet even hit the floor in the morning.
-get a tennis ball, roll it under your foot a couple of times during the day. This keeps the facia loose and supple.....and it just plain feels good.
-make sure you are stretching calves well. consider the make up....calves conected to the achillies which is connected to the plantar facia. If one of them is too tight the other over compensate or can be damaged.
-good shoes, make sure you are running or walking in good, supportive shoes. Pay special attention if you have high or low arches. get new sneaks at least every 6months if you run much.

Hope this is helpful.

x2 Would rep ya if I hadn't done so recently.

My mom has platar faciatis. She goes to physical therapy for it and may be needing surgery on one foot (she currently wears an air cast on it most of the day). Crappy situation because surgery could make the situation worse. Gah! Anyway, beyond what pirouette told you, my mom would tell you not to use it as an excuse not to exercise and to keep your weight in check because the heavier you are, the more aggravated the situation will become.

Swimming, btw, does a great job of stretching out feet while keeping weight off of them. And I do know a couple of runners with plantar faciatis who wrap their feet before long runs...they're fine (things don't get worse, at least) if they're not doing activities where "pounding" is an issue.

[mysteriouslady]

thxs for the input..everything i am doing seems to be working.

[TeresaMalia]

I have acute achilles tendonitis right now. It sucks esp since even if I wanted to rest I can't because I massage so rest= no income.

[mysteriouslady]

that really sucks

well i have been icing my heel and exercising it. plus i used athletic tape on it today and started using a tennis ball tonight. It is feeling much better at least i can walk on it again.

[Eileen]

Good post. In the end, all the tennis ball rolling, custom made insoles and special exercises didn't do the job, and I had to get the injections. Hurt like hell, but it worked. It's almost a pleasure to go to the toilet during the night now, I don't limp!