Plantar Fasciitis

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  • gmthisfeller
    gmthisfeller Posts: 779 Member
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    My wife and I own a physical therapy practice and we treat this successfully all the time. The night braces usually are the most effective. However, take a regular water bottle and freeze it...then roll it back and forth on the sole of your foot.

    Ice, ice, ice! It is very underestimated.

    +1

    My wife has this, and her Doc and physical therapist both recommended frozen water bottles. Coupled with a night brace, she is good enough to run 2-3 miles daily.
  • Sphyk1
    Sphyk1 Posts: 85 Member
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    bump for later
  • Derf_Smeggle
    Derf_Smeggle Posts: 610 Member
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    Acupuncture, ice, and foam roller or tennis ball to help with stretching and breaking up adhesion.
  • jeepyj93
    jeepyj93 Posts: 392 Member
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    I have been off running since the spring due to a sore heel. the Dr's can't even agree what is wrong with it but I have tried stretching and had Orthotics made. Nothing has worked so I have now had Prolotherapy injections and they are working I have only had one and I can feel a huge improvement and having another treatment in Jan and hopefully I won't need any more. My Dr said he has had patience that were so crippled with PF they could barely walk and after 3 or 4 treatments were pain free. I am not yet pain free but it is only tender not so sore I can't walk like it was.
  • amynoelhall1
    amynoelhall1 Posts: 12 Member
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    I ruptured my PF while jogging two weeks after giving birth (what was I thinking?!?). The recovery took about 16 months. Here's what helped me the most...

    1) wearing orthotics 100% of the time. I have a pair in my slippers and was only ever barefoot in the shower. Now I will walk around the house barefoot sometimes, but mostly still use the orthotics. I like PowerStep and SuperFeet.

    2) Voltaren gel. Much more effective for me than oral anti-inflammatories.

    3) Medi-Dyne ProStretch Plus. This is a calf stretcher with an additional piece that draws the toes up and stretches the PF. I still use this regularly to keep any PF issues away.

    Over those 16 months, I saw four doctors, did PT for 10 weeks, iced like crazy, bought a $500 night-splint (couldn't sleep in it), etc etc etc. But these three things plus rest and time are what fixed it.
  • walkinthedogs
    walkinthedogs Posts: 238 Member
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    I had very good luck with cortisone shots. I had PF in both my heels about 20 years ago and with the cortisone, religious use of orthodics and stretching has kept it away for 20 years. I know your pain and I'm sorry for everyone suffering with it. My relief came quick and I was lucky.

    About 6 months ago I started having heel pain again, but it was different this time. Felt like a burning or pinching on the inside of my heel, numbness and at times intense shooting pain up the inside of my heel. Although the first doc said PF again, I wasn't sold, didn't feel like PF, and luckily 2nd doc came up with Baxter nerve impingement aka tarsal tunnel or some such. Similar to Carpal Tunnel (which I also suffer from). Got my 3rd, yes 3rd cortisone shot in my heel, but this time right on the Baxter nerve and voila, pain is virtually gone! Good luck, I hope you find what it is and what will work for you. Keep searching if you aren't getting relief, you should be getting relief if they are treating the right thing. Chronic pain sucks.
  • janicebinva
    janicebinva Posts: 99 Member
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    I know this pain. Mine is mostly under control after two years, but I still have problems when I walk a lot. Saturday I walked ten miles and now I'm paying for it.

    I have to ask this: when you had physical therapy, did you follow all the therapist's directions? Do your stretches several times a day? Use the ice? Pull your toes back and run in the parts of the arch that are painful? My understanding is that the pain is caused by the tendons being pulled tight and so causing inflammation on the bottom of the foot. For some reason my calves and hamstrings have just always been tight. If I don't keep them stretched, my PF comes back. If I stand or walk for very long in high heels or in shoes without my custom orthotics, the pain comes back. So if you were not very vigilant, this could be your problem.

    Here's something else: My brother, who is a nurse, just made me aware of a relatively new treatment you might want to look into. It's called Tenex Health TX. It "combines ultrasound imaging to pinpoint damaged tissue with the advanced TX MicroTip (TM) which precisely breaks down and removes only the damaged tissue that causes pain. this procedure is not invasive open surgery and can be performed in an office or procedure room". Frankly, this doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but I'm not a medical professional. Whatever podiatrist or orthopod you trust, you may want to see if they offer this and what they think of it.

    Best of luck to you. I know what you're going through.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    thank you for starting this thread. my foot's hurt for awhile after an old injury and sporadically. thanks to all your descriptions I found the following article and referring back to this thread and the advice feel I have successfully kept it at bay and know what to do if I get a flare up. http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/plantar-fasciitis-topic-overview

    OP thanks for starting this thread :heart: and I hope the fact that mine stayed minimal by using various of these techniques instinctively helps you feel hopeful to get on better "footing" regarding your problem.


    I am currently starting a running program that I am elated to be able to do after worrying about an old back injury and when that was resolved I wasnt' sure my feet would handle it. With careful stretching before and after as well as inflammatory reducing oils and potions...So far so good.

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