Has anyone else dealt with plantar fasciitis?

Mine bothered me for about 2 years (sometimes worse than others) but it did eventually disappear. In my case I wasn’t overweight when I got it so it wasn’t something I could lose weight to help with.

I didn’t find anything that consistently helped although somethings (like rolling) seemed to help at times.

I had it bad years ago--I was thinner and younger, so not overweight. I had pain for over a year and saw a doctor for it . He sad to take ibuprofen 4 times a day for 2 weeks and that it would take awhile to heal. A friend of mine (husband a doctor, she a nurse) told me to do stretching exercises before getting out of bed--toes pointed, count to 10, toes turned back, count to 10 (repeat 10 times). I started doing these stretches 4 times a day and got better fast. I have kept them up as a precaution at least 3 times a week when I do my stretches and yoga. I'm 65 now and don't want it back. I also noticed that every year when I switched to flat summer sandles, it started to come back. Shoes and support make all the difference. I now buy sandles with an arch support (usually Sketchers) and the same with walking and exercise shoes. No problems for years.

I've dealt with plantar fasciitis for years. I put arch support in everything that doesn't have it, even slippers and pool shoes, and only wear shoes with good arch support. I buy inserts from https://www.theinsolestore.com/

Sadly, you will probably need to kiss cheap shoes goodbye. You don't need to pay list price, however. Once you figure out which shoes work for you do aggressive online shopping to find good shoes that work for you cheap. For example, walking shoes from Earth Shoes do well for me. I watched their sales and got a $100 walking shoe for $40.

Rigid arches work for me. My feet are flat like a duck but I still got plantar fasciitis and need to wear shoes with effective arch support. Work on finding the orthotics or shoes that work for you. For me, I wear Sanita Professionals (clogs). Other brands that work for me are Dansko, Earth, and Mephisto but only styles with rigid arch support. I find cork inserts from Berkinstock works well for me even though I can't wear their sandals. You will need to figure out what works for you.

Don't expect this to go away fast or permanently. The pain, however, does go away if you are careful about what shoes you wear and are aware when you're feet start to act up because you haven't been diligent about arch support. Going barefoot is my guilty pleasure that stresses my fascia. Sigh.

You need rest for a period of time. During this time you need to wear proper shoes, plantar fasciitis exercises and plantar fasciitis messages.
Give it time!

A year.

1 year to recover after many many years of almost allowing it but then doing too much and getting a setback.

A month off was never a enough, gently started up again was never enough.

Finally got custom inserts in all shoes worn so the tendon didn't have to provide any support and continue to wear and tear.
Like any tendon with problems, it needs time to heal while not being used. If it's used it takes longer. Being in the foot, it's being used to some degree.

1 from podiatrists, 2 much more cheaper ones from online doing my own imprint and thin carbon, another from local running store much cheaper.

I could keep biking with the stiff bike shoes with insert, no standing. I could walk with inserts. After 6 months I could backpack during winter with them.

After about 9 months I could start jog/walk intervals, leading into barefoot walking around house as much as possible to start strengthening back up, leading to removing any inserts from truly flexible shoes that moved with the foot (kept in rigid ones).

At 1 year had started to barefoot jog/walk and kept that up until 20 min barefoot jogging - super strong foot system.
Had to stop due to aggravating unequal leg length issue that required shoe insert.

I'll still put an insert into rigid shoes that don't allow the foot to work the way it is meant to, but anything flexible enough arch doesn't matter.

durhammfp wrote: »

Definitely, a good physical therapist is worth her weight in gold. When you go to that first appointment ask her if eccentric heel drops might help. They have worked wonders for me.

https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/15/heel-pain-treatment/

That is a good protocol for Achilles tendon issues, actually about the only studied protocol to have good results.

But where the tendons attach mean it doesn't involve the plantar. Achilles attaches at heel.

Any benefit to the plantar could probably be improved with something specific to it.
Which low blood flow and slow repair and misaligned fibers all apply the same.

I had it once quite a few years ago. Got orthotics and it got better. A few years later I got it in my other foot. I had it from Jan-Aug. It was awful. It was before I lost weight and got in shape. I took ibuprofen every day almost. New orthotics. Massaging. Stretching. I was considering some alternative treatments/injections. Anything. I stumbled upon this video and share it with everyone when we talk about PF. I can only attribute it to this because it helped pretty much immediately. I don’t personally believe in orthotics anymore. Not for me and this issue anyway. Good luck!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GQhtavGoL6A

My husband has it. He finally went to a physio therapist and she had it pretty well reversed in 6 weeks.

Physio helped mine heal quickly. Also the rolling of it worked a treat, stretching too. Having shoes that are good help for sure. I got just a simple tensor wrap from the drugstore that had a bit of an arch support in it. That helped a lot too

Over the course of about 3 months I got cortisone shots, did daily stretches, and got a custom orthotic. The pain slowly went away. Now I still stretch daily and wear the orthotic for my walks.