Plantar Fasciitis

[EdithKeeler]

I have it, I’m miserable, I’m having to sleep in a foot brace at night, which isn’t so bad except when I have to get up to pee. Apparently it’s caused by being too active, or not active enough, wearing bad shoes (guilty—my favorite footwear is flip flops....), being overweight and middle age... or a ballerina or tennis star.

I’m doing the brace, doing the stretches, wearing better shoes, but does anyone have any miracle cures that have worked? It’s getting better, I think, but slowly, and I’m sick of hobbling around.

[Ego]

There are several studies showing correlation between plantar fasciitis and other 'non-physical' issues in one's life.

Here is a woo-ish article explaining a possible mechanism.

https://bestselfmedia.com/healing-your- ... fasciitis/

And

https://trailrunnermag.com/people/cultu ... -pain.html

[J_]

As always there are two directions to heal physical problems: emotional things as Ego shows, the other is looking for a better food intake. Try to eat at least a month without sugar, meat, dairy (incl cheese) and alcohol. It will help, and then continue.

[FRx]

The tough thing with PF is getting over the pain necessary to heal the area with physical therapy. Ideally you'd have someone take you through it who is familiar with PF but you can do it yourself. Lots of theories as to why it occurs but in all the theories the nerves in the area are hyperexcited, irritable, and potentially inflamed.
Definitely love on your feet a little more, massage is very important. Starting with shallow and then very deep tissue massage which will be painful. Epsom salt baths are helpful. Applying topical creams either with capsaicin or CBD or ani-inflammatory herbs is a good option.
I've tried having my patient change shoes and I've tried changing my own shoes when I've had PF, though your footwear change might set it off, it's not going to be cured by changing your shoes. I recommend that you wear the kind of shoes which are good for your posture and body structure and then focus on healing the PF separately.
The stretching of the entire bottom of the foot along with the achilles and tightness of the muscles in the calve and surrounding muscles is important. Too often people focus only on the heel. Avoid using a brace, that prolongs the matter. Don't take anti-inflammatory meds such as what's traditionally available OTC, too many side effects with that and not enough benefit in PF.
Don't forget to exercise the area along with the stretching routine.
It's a process, it'll take a few weeks and it might come back again in the future. But if your body is primed for it, the next time around it might only last 24 hours.
Avoid inflammatory foods - whatever that means to you. Each of us knows what foods don't mesh well with our system. Goes back to what Ego pointed to, the nerves have to be irritable for PF to set in.

[Dream of Freedom]

Possibly a wave pulse device. I heard about them on a podcast. I want to say high intensity health, but I'm not sure. Anyway they cost like 100 bucks so of course if it gets bad enough it might be worth it but it's probably a backup option.

https://smile.amazon.com/Pure-Wave-Extr ... pul&sr=8-3

[Scott 2]

I've dealt with it on and off my entire adult life. My calves are chronically tight and it goes into my feet.

One of the things that gives me relief, is rolling my foot out on a rubber Pinky ball. They are around a dollar.

The biggest problem I have, is when things start to feel better, I go back to the patterns that make them worse. I don't want to spend 20 minutes thinking about my feet every day.

[thrifty++]

Funny. I had this not long ago.
It felt very sore and it freaked me out. I thought it was cellulitis or something. But I went to the doctor and he said plantar fasciitis and it me the description. But it went away very fast. It was very sore for a couple of days so I had to hobble around a bit.

I am pretty sure mine resulted from doing heavy lunges at the gym with a barbell with heavy weights on it. This is something I do regularly but must have just had a bad day.

My plantar fasciitis was very short lived however. I think it was completely gone within about 8 or 9 days. For a couple of days I just avoided much physicial activity. Except I went for a swim instead of other activity. And I didn't return to lunges for a couple of weeks.

Apparently it is a very common condition and the doctor thought very little of it. It looks like women can be more prone to it from wearing high heel shoes.

[Gilberto de Piento]

I have it (self diagnosed) from a stint of ultrarunning. I will second rolling a ball under your foot, though I use a golf ball as it doesn't give at all and a good size (and was found by the golf course for free). I have had PF a few years but it stopped hurting when I stopped running long distances. Now I just get a bit of it seemingly randomly. Good luck!

[George the original one]

Orthotics as needed, which these days is most of the time, for easing minor chronic pain. Debilitating pain arises when I try lifting too much or a jump lands me too hard... time and gradual rehabilitation are my only cures when that happens, but prevention is best.

[Laura Ingalls]

I had a bout and prescription anti inflammatory drugs helped tremendously. I credit less standing on concrete, yoga, and cheap shoe inserts for keeping it away.

[Nomad]

I had it a few years ago. It was very painful at the time but gradually it disappeared and I'd forgotten all about it until I read this post.
I'm not sure what I was doing wrong that caused it or what in particular encouraged it to go I'm afraid, but I hope yours heals up soon.

[EdithKeeler]

Well, good to know I'm not the only sufferer! It's just annoying because it hurts like hell, but there's nothing really wrong, per se, like a broken bone or something.

I've tried most of all of your suggestions, except the chiropractic and the CBD oil. I got some new orthotics today so we'll see how those go.

Thanks, everyone, for your tips!!

[m741]

I had moderately painful plantar fascitis for a while. I think it came from running in bad shoes. It was going on for about two-three months consistently.

I tried the brace while sleeping, it was alright.

It's 100% gone now (for about 18 months), and I think two things were responsible: a very intense massage from a massage therapist, who managed to break up a bunch of scar tissue (basically just focusing a lot of pressure right behind the ball of the foot), and using a knobby lacrosse ball thing, which helped keep the tissue broken up. You put the ball right at the pain point and slowly shift your weight onto it until it's like 60-70% of your weight. The change after the massage in particular was almost immediate, my foot just felt looser as soon as I stood up.

Both were painful, but it was almost like a deep muscle pain and less a shooting pain - like after a very heavy workout.

[Quantummy]

I also had it close to 10 years ago after being on vacation from a desk job and walking much more than normal several days in a row. After wearing a rigid plastic boot night and day and then continuing at night for what seems like a few weeks the condition improved and completely went away. I hope you also have a full recovery!

[chicago81]

Oh my goodness, I've been suffering from this since just before the new year. It is awful. I've bought so many different things on Amazon trying to resolve it. My crappy employer-provided-health insurance has a small network, so I can't get in to see a podiatrist until mid June. My primary doc prescribed naproxen for me -- but it didn't do anything to help. I have found that regular OTC strength ibuprofen (200mg) plus acetaminophen (500mg) taken with lunch and with dinner seems to help a bit though... But hot damn, those first steps out of bed in the morning are f'ing bloody murder!

[EdithKeeler]

Oh my goodness, I've been suffering from this since just before the new year. It is awful. I've bought so many different things on Amazon trying to resolve it. My crappy employer-provided-health insurance has a small network, so I can't get in to see a podiatrist until mid June. My primary doc prescribed naproxen for me -- but it didn't do anything to help. I have found that regular OTC strength ibuprofen (200mg) plus acetaminophen (500mg) taken with lunch and with dinner seems to help a bit though... But hot damn, those first steps out of bed in the morning are f'ing bloody murder!

The brace at night has helped the morning pain. It's not gone, but better. Mine came with that ball with the pointy things for massaging (which my dog thinks is a toy) and I massaged my foot intensely with that. It hurt, but good hurt, you know? Another tip, which I don't think anyone here has offered, is fill a bottle with water and freeze it, and roll/massage that on your foot. That helps especially at the end of the day--yesterday, especially, since I was on it a lot in the afternoon. The toe stretch with the dog leash has started to help, too, I think. Or maybe just time is helping....

Since before the new year--man, that's a long time!! Mine's been a couple weeks and it's been miserable. If it has been 4 months, I'd be going nuts. My condolences!!

[Nomad]

I just thought on, around the time I first had plantar fasciitis, I was looking for comfier footware and the comfiest I found was
original Crocs, not the cheap copies. They are made of some spongy plastic and it feels a bit like walking on marshmallows.
Anyway, you could try those to ease the pain and maybe prevent a relapse in the future.

[enigmaT120]

I got it from ultra running in shoes without orthotics, and I fixed it in one very painful maybe 2 hour session.

m742's post most closely mimics what worked for me except that I don't know that I could allow a massage therapist to inflict that much pain on me. I had that hard knobby thing that m742 talked about, or something similar. I put Tiger Balm over the sole of my foot more for lubrication than for any inflammatory properties. Then I started with one bare foot braced over the other leg, with the fingers from my opposite hand ready to pull up/back my toes. I started out rubbing lengthwise along the facia, to relax it, but eventually I started rubbing across it from side to side. It hurt. I adjusted pressure to what I could stand and kept at it, and by the time I was done it didn't hurt no matter how hard I pressed on it. When I started I couldn't pull my toes back at all but by the time I finished I could. Repeat for the other foot.

Now I stretch my calves and the soles of my feet quite often. If you meditate, try a pose on your knees but your toes aren't pointed straight behind you, but with your toes tucked under your feet. Sorry I can't remember the name of that one! I also do hang off a curb stretches but I think those are more for calves than for soles. So far it hasn't come back. But I have also swapped out hours of bicycling when I can for the really long runs. I do expect I will get back into ultras when I retire in a few months, because I love being able to run that far. So far they don't have a pill to do that for me.

I have used a similar, equally painful technique to cure Achilles tendinitis.

[JamesR]

I was plagued with Plantar Fasciitis off and on for about 2-3 years, and it's gone now.

It originally occurred right after I had attempted to get back into barefoot running w/ new barefoot shoes (vibram five fingers) and running on sidewalks.

It was bothering me when I walked to work so I started bicycling and that mostly helped get rid of it temporarily.

Later I read that walking & stretching the bottom of the foot actually helps heal PF. So I stopped avoiding walking. I would sometimes stretch the bottom of the foot if it felt a little painful.

Generally it was only painful when in the first few moments when starting walking, when the feet aren't warmed up. Anyways it's gone now, haven't noticed the pain in a couple years.

Just be careful and don't forget to stretch the bottom of the foot. And walk a lot.