Feet

Stretch.Try and curl your toes back towards your shins.

Try to pick things up with your toes. Curling them like that is one of the physical therapy exercises they give for PF. Also, roll a tennis ball under your arch or even better one of those textured dryer balls. This also helps. PF is micro-tears in the fascia and is way painful. Before you ever get out of bed, flex your feet and pull your toes toward your nose--this will lessen the pain. It is also a good idea to do this with therabands if you have them. Keep your stretches gentle, though! Ice packs will reduce swelling and heat will increase flexibility--just give yourself time to heal!

The stretches do help a lot and the inserts. I also freeze a plastic bottle of water and rub my foot over that. It is the same action as the tennis ball but I can ice my foot at the same time.

I had pf in both feet for 2 years and have been lucky to kick it and not have a recurrence. I concur with all of the advice above. Here are some additional tips.

1. When stretching before getting out of bed - Trace the whole alphabet with your toes.
2. Calf stretches are good but for me I can feel it start again if I don't stretch from hips to ankles. The stretches below are really good for this. If my hamstrings get tight then I get twinges in my feet. It's kind of like "your hip bone is connected to your...." and so goes the song. http://www.njsportsmed.com/files/myrtl_routine.pdf

I hope this helps along with the great advice above.

I was able to get rid of my PF through 2 sessions of acupuncture after a year of physio was not helping. This does not work for everyone but it's an option to explore if you are feeling like you aren't making progress. :-)

Ouch ouch ouch! Had it and omg I felt sick from the pain, therefore my sympathies go out to you. Avoid flat shoes, flip flops and dolly shoes are bad, as for exercise, I was advised to stand on the bottom stair and try to drop your heels. X

The pain first thing in the morning was the worst for me. I really found relief by buying a brace to wear at night that pulled my toes upward. It's a little awkward at first (took me a few nights to get used to it), but I was able to start the day off with no pain. I agree with the calf stretching and rolling your foot, too. And ice it after exercise. When I was consistent with those things, the pain went away much sooner. Good luck!

Get shoes and orthotics from a Certified Shoe fitter or Podiatrist. Don't buy shoes off the net or from anywhere but from someone certified.

I also have plantar fasciitis. It started off as just my right foot, but it's also in the left now too. It stinks. There's not a lot of treatment options. I do have a pair of custom orthotics I wear in my shoes. These correct my mismatched leg lengths and provide serious arch support. They help a lot. They were expensive, though, and my insurance would not pay for them.

I wear the orthotics with most of my flat shoes. I do occasionally wear high heels (not too high, though), and find that the orthotics a) won't fit comfortably, and b) aren't really necessary in these types of shoes as I'm walking on the balls of my feet. I want to add that I do not wear heels every day, and when I do, I do it on a day when I know I won't be walking too much. I wear sneakers (or snow boots) to walk to the bus, and carry my dress shoes with me until I get to work. I also find that if I'm going to be standing for long periods of time at home (like Sunday afternoon meal prepping sessions), that it's a good ideas to throw the orthotics in my slippers.

Walking on dirt is much more comfortable to me than walking on pavement, even with orthotics in my shoes. If I have the option of an unpaved walking trail, I'll take that over a paved trail. Even so, walking isn't too bad so long as I wear comfortable shoes (can't stress that enough) and the orthotics. My feet will let me know when I've been over doing it, and I'll get that walking on a knife edge feeling. At the first signs of pain, I know that it's time to take a break for a while and let me feet heal a bit.

I've had good luck using an elliptical machine for exercise, versus simply walking. I'm not exactly sure why. I'm still standing. I know the elliptical is easier on my husband's knees, so maybe it's just less jarring to the body all the down.

When I have a flare up, one of the treatments given to me from my podiatrist is to roll a tennis ball or water bottle under the arch of my foot. A soda can works great for this. It's the perfect size and is nice and cold.

There is also a night brace I may look into getting at some point. I've been told my insurance will pay for the night brace. :shrug: I don't understand insurance. The brace basically holds your foot flexed, instead of pointed, which keeps the plantar fascia stretched. The idea is that your body will attempt to heal the tear in the plantar fascia, and keeping it stretched means that you will be less likely to re-tear the newly healed tissue when you take your first steps in the morning.

Good luck. There's not really a good way to treat plantar fasciitis without being completely off your feet for months.