Planters Fascitis

siriusciel

So I have been diagnosed with Planters Fascitis (a painful condition of arch of my foot/feet) so working out is limited? Any good suggestions??? Rotary bike?? I don't want to make it worse as it is already quite painful.

Thanks!

siriusciel

So I have been diagnosed with Planters Fascitis (a painful condition of arch of my foot/feet) so working out is limited? Any good suggestions??? Rotary bike?? I don't want to make it worse as it is already quite painful.

Thanks!

chrissyh

Heal insert, use a frozen water bottle-roll your foot over it

It hurts a bunch!

emorym

My wife had that. The frozen water bottle helps a bit so does stretching. As far as still working out. Swimming is a good low impact exercise. Lifting weights. As my wife's foot improved she went back to spinning. Just hang in there. It will take a while for it to get better. My wife is back running with me now so this is something you can come back from just be patient.

havingitall

There are some inserts you put in your shoes to help with this. Try a health store or foot doctor.

Sorry you have this, I've heard it is painful

erikazj

I agree, it is painful. I tried all sorts of different shoes...some were definitely better than others. Flip flops were a big no! I needed shoes that gave my feet a lot of support, and contrary to a lot of other people I was actually better off with something with a flat footbed, but with a lot of support around the sides of my foot. This is just my experience, I'm not an expert! Where I live there are a couple of shops selling shoes for people with foot problems and they were able to advise me.

On the up side, mine went away after about 18 months or so, and I was able to more or less keep up with walking during that time.

Best of luck to you.

Erika x

Binkylove

Oh i had this condition in both feet. It took over a year for it to get better. I have specially made insoles from the hospital....specially molded to my feet. Swimming would be a great exersise for this beacause as you know walking is so painful.

Hope it all gets better soon.

Pamela XXXX

Nich0le

This will be long

I had to deal with this last year for several months. Went to the foot specialist and was told to do a combination of things. After I followed his instructions for a solid month I had a great deal of relief, continued and didn't have any sign of it until it started to flair its little head up about a month ago, simply followed his prior instructions and gone again.

Now, I AM NOT A DOCTOR, and you should consult your doctor to make sure this information will not interfere with any other medical conditions or Rx you currently have or take.

1. 2 aleve every 12 hours: reason the aleve is best for reducing inflammation. Inflammation is part of the cause of the fascia pulling constantly. Reducing the swelling will allow the tissues to start healing and relieve pain.

2. The frozen water bottle: get one shaped like a coke bottle, it will work the best by getting the arch at the same time. You should use this once an hour for 15 minutes as often as you can.

3. In the morning, BEFORE getting out of bed. Lightly rotate your ankles and slowly point and flex your foot to get the tissues warmed up before actually standing or walking on the feet. The biggest contributor to constant plantar faciatis is when you get up without stretches you tear the fascia thus adding to the problem.

4. Invest in two braces. Both are inexpensive and can be found at Target or Walmart and probably most pharmacies. One is a plantar fasciatis brace, it velcros over your toes and under your knee and you adjust the strap in between to pull the toes up. I wore this every night while watching TV, sleeping in it can be uncomfortable. I believe this one ran about $25 bucks.
Second is an ace bandage that is made just to go around the arch of your foot. This brace will keep the arch supported overnight as well as the fascia. I wore one on both feet each night. These are about $8 bucks each.

5. Forget about sandals until you are better. I had to wear tennis shoes until this summer and even now I only wear sandals to the waterparks.

6. Ask your doctor for an orthotic. This align everything so you have less chance of aggravating the fascia. I opted for some that he carried in his office over a custom orthotic due to cost at the time. The ones in his office were less than some I had purchased at shoe stores but sturdier.

7. My doc recommended that I continue walking or running, which everything I read said to avoid. I did switch to the bike for a couple of days but I couldn't take it so I did low intensity walking for about 2 weeks and then started ramping up again. In my case I got better while running.

I found out from the doctor that my fascia had been bad enough long enough that I do have heal spurs to go along with the package but the spurs are caused by the fascia rubbing on the heal and creating splinters. I highly suggest going to a doctor if you haven't already and take care of this so it doesn't have to drag on and on. An orthotic that fits your foot and makes your shoes etc work better for you will be worth the money.

Good luck, I think we all feel your pain! :flowerforyou:

jessmomof3

This will be long

I had to deal with this last year for several months. Went to the foot specialist and was told to do a combination of things. After I followed his instructions for a solid month I had a great deal of relief, continued and didn't have any sign of it until it started to flair its little head up about a month ago, simply followed his prior instructions and gone again.

Now, I AM NOT A DOCTOR, and you should consult your doctor to make sure this information will not interfere with any other medical conditions or Rx you currently have or take.

1. 2 aleve every 12 hours: reason the aleve is best for reducing inflammation. Inflammation is part of the cause of the fascia pulling constantly. Reducing the swelling will allow the tissues to start healing and relieve pain.

2. The frozen water bottle: get one shaped like a coke bottle, it will work the best by getting the arch at the same time. You should use this once an hour for 15 minutes as often as you can.

3. In the morning, BEFORE getting out of bed. Lightly rotate your ankles and slowly point and flex your foot to get the tissues warmed up before actually standing or walking on the feet. The biggest contributor to constant plantar faciatis is when you get up without stretches you tear the fascia thus adding to the problem.

4. Invest in two braces. Both are inexpensive and can be found at Target or Walmart and probably most pharmacies. One is a plantar fasciatis brace, it velcros over your toes and under your knee and you adjust the strap in between to pull the toes up. I wore this every night while watching TV, sleeping in it can be uncomfortable. I believe this one ran about $25 bucks.
Second is an ace bandage that is made just to go around the arch of your foot. This brace will keep the arch supported overnight as well as the fascia. I wore one on both feet each night. These are about $8 bucks each.

5. Forget about sandals until you are better. I had to wear tennis shoes until this summer and even now I only wear sandals to the waterparks.

6. Ask your doctor for an orthotic. This align everything so you have less chance of aggravating the fascia. I opted for some that he carried in his office over a custom orthotic due to cost at the time. The ones in his office were less than some I had purchased at shoe stores but sturdier.

7. My doc recommended that I continue walking or running, which everything I read said to avoid. I did switch to the bike for a couple of days but I couldn't take it so I did low intensity walking for about 2 weeks and then started ramping up again. In my case I got better while running.

I found out from the doctor that my fascia had been bad enough long enough that I do have heal spurs to go along with the package but the spurs are caused by the fascia rubbing on the heal and creating splinters. I highly suggest going to a doctor if you haven't already and take care of this so it doesn't have to drag on and on. An orthotic that fits your foot and makes your shoes etc work better for you will be worth the money.

Good luck, I think we all feel your pain! :flowerforyou:

This is GREAT info!! I also ended up at a podiatrist with PF and it is very painful!! No flip flops, only good shoes for me!! Crocs in the summer, even just around the house. The frozen water bottle and rubbing a super bouncy ball (or tennis ball) rubbing all over the bottoms of my feet when sitting down helps a LOT also.

It does get better, I had it while training for a marathon and was still able to keep running. But... the elliptical or biking would be good choices. Or swimming. :bigsmile:

arewethereyet

All I can say is get the injection, and get it over with!! I waited 2 years with a great deal of daily pain.

Got the injections, did my stretching................never had another issue.

(kisses cross)

:flowerforyou:

Iceprincessk25

Heel spurs (and any bone spur in general) actually come from the plantar fascia pulling on the calcaneous. NOT rubbing on it.

There's something called Wolfe's Law that says that a bone will adapt to the loads that is is placed under. Meaning, the bone becomes stronger by laying down more layers to combat that stress. Spurs happen because the body has an overreaction to tendons being pulled tighter.

Stretching will REALLY help your PF. Rolling your feet on a tennis ball is a great stretch along with the iced water bottle.

You can get an injection in to your heel if the pain is too bad that will help a TON.

It doesn't just have to be Aleve that you take to be an antiinflammatory. Motrin, and Advil (ibuprofen) will work just as fine. You have to take them continuiously for at least 3 days before they will actually start to be an anti-inflammatory though.

You're probably going to have to get custom orthotics made because PF comes back often.

It's a tough injury to get rid of unfortunately because we have to walk....we haven't started flying yet! :bigsmile:

Nich0le

Ice is right, ANY anti inflammatory will work but the dosing times are different. Aleve is a 12 hour dose and ibuprofen etc are usually 6-8 hours.

Rubbing or pulling, either way the plantar facscia can lead to heel spurs so you want to nip this and get it under control ASAP.

All of the advice is great and very useful! Keeping all the advice in mind will help when it flares up again. I was pain free from May of 2008 until about a week ago and I know it was because I increased my mileage and needed new shoes so after some icing and a couple of days of aleve and just the arch bandage for a few days and all is good again.

The tennis ball idea is good too, OR an exercise that was recommended is to walk your foot forward and backward just using your toes for the motion. You can also lightly stretch the area by pulling your toes toward your shin with your hand, but be careful, it is easy to over do it.

Ice it and stretch it and wear shoes, even in the house. It will get better, even though when it is at it's worst you feel like its a road block you will get past it! :flowerforyou: