Plantar Fasciitis

I feel your pain. Dealt with PF last year while running. If you continue to work through the pain, it will just get worse. I had to take about 4 weeks off and did some deep tissue work to break it up..It was not quick to go away.

My wife also had it worse than me this past year, she ended up having a cortisone shot and that took care of it right away (that was after doing months of PT).

Good Luck!

I would suggest find a good physical therapist or sports doc or orthopedist. My gym buddy has been dealing with horrid PF for over a year, tried several forms of self therapy (ice, ultrasound, boot, stretching, etc) then finally went to a PT. The PT did some therapy as wel as teaching her how to stretch properly. She is now finally getting back into running (slowly and carefully) and so far so good!

We've figured out that she must continue with her stretching as it makes a huge difference. We ran Wednesday and forgot to stop and stretch after our 16 minute run and she had a bit of pain that night. Today we ran 20 minutes and made sure to stop and stretch so hopefully that will make a difference.

ETA: Everyone's different though. When I was much heavier, I had PF but it went away with better shoes (Therasandals) and losing weight.

I am a runner and dealt with it for 9 months last year. Did the taping, frozen water bottles, streching, oral steriods, night boot and cortisone injections. I finally read an article that talked about strengthening your foot with the use of minimalist shoes or walking around barefoot. I was very hesitant because after an hour in flip flops my feet were killing me! So I started slowly...and everyday increased the amount of time I was barefoot or wore minimalist shoes. I also massaged the he!! out of my feet and calves every day. Gradually the pain went away. I have been painfree for almost a year and I successfully trained for and ran two half-marathons and am currently training for my first sprint tri. Hang in there. I will never forget how miserable I felt and how I just wanted to cut off my own foot!!!

i have it, and heel spurs, fallen arches too.
I also have custom orthodics

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they are painful, dont help, and a waste of money!
Good Luck with what ever you choose to do. here is what i am doing:
Vibrams barefoot shoes, and exercises for feet:

i took off my shoes, and said the hel with it all. i needed to strengthen the over 100 muscles in my feet, and then i will be okay!!
here is some of what i do:
copied from Mark's daily apple website

A Few Simple Exercises to Strengthen Your Feet

Do toe spreads. Sit, stand, or lie down and fan your toes out as widely as possible. Create space between each toe. Hold this position for ten seconds, and repeat the exercise ten times daily per foot.

Point at things with your toes. Pick something, anything, in the room and point your toes at it. Now flex your foot. Hold it for five seconds, then release. Again, do this ten times per foot each day. For extra work, try tracing the alphabet with your feet in midair each day.

Get on your toes. Stand on your tippy-toes and just walk around for five minutes each day. Never let your heels touch the ground for the duration. Barefoot toe treadmill work is a worthy alternative.

Try side walking. Stand up (barefoot, of course) and get in a shoulder wide stance. Bend your knees slightly and roll onto the outer edges of your feet. Keep the weight on your outer feet and slowly raise up on your toes. You should feel your longitudinal arch stretching; once you do, hold that position for five seconds. Repeat five times each day.

Walk in sand. Sand is never the same. If you kick off your shoes and hit the grains (yeah, I just coined that phrase: “hit the grains”), you will be catapulting your virgin bare feet into a chaotic, ever-changing environment that will force them to adapt. Hyperbole aside, walking barefoot in the sand is a highly effective way to strengthen your feet.

Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/flat-feet-treatment/#ixzz2XT1pwMNx

I am a runner and dealt with it for 9 months last year. Did the taping, frozen water bottles, streching, oral steriods, night boot and cortisone injections. I finally read an article that talked about strengthening your foot with the use of minimalist shoes or walking around barefoot. I was very hesitant because after an hour in flip flops my feet were killing me! So I started slowly...and everyday increased the amount of time I was barefoot or wore minimalist shoes. I also massaged the he!! out of my feet and calves every day. Gradually the pain went away. I have been painfree for almost a year and I successfully trained for and ran two half-marathons and am currently training for my first sprint tri. Hang in there. I will never forget how miserable I felt and how I just wanted to cut off my own foot!!!

these barefoot shoes are awesome!!!!!

I feel your pain! My right foot bothered me some today. Freeze a water bottle and once it is frozen roll your foot back and forth for about 20 minutes 2-4 a day. It was for me. Add some stretching exercises to it as well.

Find yourself a good foot doctor, preferably one who deals with sports injuries.

My husband had it bad several years ago. He had to do the cortisone shots, had to get anti-inflamatories (and believe me, he is NOT a pill taker so for him to actually take those meant it was BAD) and got the custom orthodics. It took him over a year to recover.

oooh yeah... It 's a horrible thing... I have found resting my heels and the arch on ice packs help also stretching your foot, flexing it a few times and holding before you stand up stretches it out and it is less painful. I got insoles to go in my shoes from academy sports made especially for Plantar Fascitis @ around $10 help a lot. You wanna lift your heel more than lift your arch. I have been dealing with this for years now.

ETS the cortizone shots work but they are painful to get... its worth it though if your in enough pain already!

I had it in both of my feet - one first then the other a few months later. One took about a year to heal - I kept trying to run and everything else and I finally gave up the running. I continued with kickboxing though and elliptical. I did a lot of stretching, the ice water bottle under my feet, golf ball rolled under my feet. Went to a podiatrist and got the orthotics - they didn't help and I hated them. He also gave me cortizone shots and that helped temporarily.

Cutting back on activity, lots of stretching and ice and one day I woke up and they were both fine. At the same time. Quite strange. You need to stretch your feet but also your calf muscles as that will tighted up your muscles in your feet. I feel your pain.

Good luck to you!