Plantar Fascitis

You need to make sure to wear shoes, especially running shoes, with good arches. You can start by adding Dr. Scholl's arch supports to your shoes and you should see a difference. It's caused by hyperextension of the foot. To feel an example of what's happening, hold your hand out flat, palm down, and then curve your fingers back (up). You'll feel pulling on your palm at the base of your fingers. This is basically what's happening to your foot and why plantar fasciitis results in heel pain.

This is even true for those of us who have feet that are naturally flat like a duck's. Arch support is where it's at.

I had to deal with it when I first started my running routine, and it sucked. Went to a local shoe store that carried a foot doctor on staff and got some great advice. She said to either to stay completely off it for 2-3 weeks, or to follow these steps:

A) Take some ibuprofen the first couple of days (only) to help with the inflammation.

When you get out of bed in the morning, massage your foot / feet. Then put on slippers or regular shoes before getting up. What happens is that your feet heal themselves over night, and when you first get up and step onto a hard floor, it causes your feet to tear all over again. Doing damage to what had previously healed.

C) Fill an empty water bottle with water and freeze it. When you get up, take the frozen bottle and step on it, rolling your foot over it back and forth, applying a good amount of pressure while doing so. She said enough pressure that would be pretty discomfortable, but that you would still be able to talk on the phone without the other person knowing. Do this every three hours, for two weeks.

D) Stretch. Face a wall about 2-3 (or so) feet out. Lean to the wall bending one leg. Keep the other completely straight and the foot firmly on the ground. Hold for 10 seconds and release. Do it three to four times for each foot that is affected. And also, do every three to four hours for the two weeks. This also works really well with an 30-35 degree incline.

E) Stop wearing sandals / flip flops. At least for the two weeks. And even afterwards, ease back into wearing them.

I followed all of these steps, and I continued my running regiment during that time. After two weeks, I haven't had any more problems.

Best of luck.

Definitely get the right shoes for you - a good running store will do an analysis and recommend the right shoe for you.

I had the same problem and completely solved it by getting the right shoes for me, as well as 'superfeet' insoles - they are great.

Today: no more PF problems

My goal when I started my healthier lifestyle was to get in at least 5 miles per day of walking. I wanted to work up to training for a 5K. I was finally able to run/jog 3 miles on the treadmill but noticed that I was having some pain in my left foot. It has been getting progressively worse and found out that I have plantar fasciitis. Does anyone else suffer from this pain? It has really put a damper on my training. If you do have this, how do you deal with it? I am wrapping my foot right now and taking Aleve for inflammation which helps tremendously UNTIL I participate in activities such as Zumba where there is a lot of impact on my foot.

Go to a podiatrist. PF is not something to screw around with. My husband had it bad several years ago. He was put on anti-inflamatories and had to get cortizone shots. He couldn't run for over a year. Even doing low/non impact cardio machines stressed the condition.

You might need to get custom made orthodics as well which my husband did and it helped a lot.

Seriously. Don't mess with it. Go see a doctor.