Plantar Faciitis is slowing my progress!

GladImTall
GladImTall Posts: 65 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've really been hitting it hard at the gym the last 40ish days and was doing great until a really hard training class a week ago about crippled me with a Plantar Faciitis flare up. I've had it in the past, although it's been extremely mild and was always able to control it with good stretching and some rest.

I'm trying to do alternative workouts, but I just can't get the cardio aspect going right now. I've been swimming, etc- but I really want to get back to running as I was making good progress in distance and time.

I', doing the night splint (borrowed from a friend), bought some orthodics with the help of an ortho-trainer dude, and am icing and stretching as often as possible.

My questions are these:
1. What other therapies have worked for you if you've got/had Plantar faciitis?
2. What variations of cardio do you do while it's too painful to run (or even elliptical depending on the day)?

I could handle the pain if it were a shoulder or upper body injury- but man, I gotta walk! :)
Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Replies

  • CarsonRuns
    CarsonRuns Posts: 3,039 Member
    ART worked for me. Knocked it out in about 4 weeks.

    http://activereleasetechnique.com/
  • EReeves2
    EReeves2 Posts: 34 Member
    Plantars Faciitis is killer!!! I had it a couple of years ago & it was a full 6 months before I felt complete relief!
  • BigBoneSista
    BigBoneSista Posts: 2,389 Member
    I just went to the foot doctor about mine. He told me to only wear those rocker type shoes that suppose to build up the glutes. I believe skeechers has a line of them. He said that were originally patent by a company that studied the walking patterns of a tribe in Africa and how pressure was placed on certain areas of the feet. These shoes suppose to mimic the nature of how these people walk and it suppose to help us with the discomfort by taking the pressure off certain areas of our foot.
  • coylelaura
    coylelaura Posts: 8 Member
    Do the exercises, plus get some really good arch supports for your shoes.
  • stew774
    stew774 Posts: 17 Member
    I have had this too - and it took over year to heal. But most of that was my fault because I didn't go to a podiatrist for about 10 mos of them! If only I had gone sooner!!!

    She took me off cardio completely for a couple of weeks. She taped the bottom of my foot and I had to do stretching exercises + roll my feet on a tennis ball, and take ibuprofen. She also told me to make sure I only wore shoes with lots of support. Meaning the soles should not be able to bend vertically or horizontally.

    Now that I'm healed, I listen to my feet. If they even start to feel anything like PF, I go back to wearing my danskos regularly. I make sure I get new sneakers regularly for workouts. There is nothing like being crippled with PF! Hang in there!
  • theartichoke
    theartichoke Posts: 816 Member
    I had plantar faciitis a few years back(I spent 2 months looking ridiculous in thick foamy flip flops)...it's awful and I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this. I wasn't able to do any cardio so I did Pilates and weight lifting instead. Maybe a temporary shift in the way you workout would help. I hope you heal soon!
  • bizgirl26
    bizgirl26 Posts: 1,795 Member
    I just went to the foot doctor about mine. He told me to only wear those rocker type shoes that suppose to build up the glutes. I believe skeechers has a line of them. He said that were originally patent by a company that studied the walking patterns of a tribe in Africa and how pressure was placed on certain areas of the feet. These shoes suppose to mimic the nature of how these people walk and it suppose to help us with the discomfort by taking the pressure off certain areas of our foot.

    This is weird, my doctor blamed those shoes fopr my plantar faciitis. I guess it depends on your stride though. I think the main thing is rest, rest , rest. I know its hard but I suffered for 9 months. They wanted to give me cortisone but I refused. I had physio ( didnt work) , shock wave treatment ( didnt work). Its hard. I found stretching and rolling my foot on a squishy ball helped but even when you feel better take it easy or it will flare up again,
  • BigBoneSista
    BigBoneSista Posts: 2,389 Member
    I just went to the foot doctor about mine. He told me to only wear those rocker type shoes that suppose to build up the glutes. I believe skeechers has a line of them. He said that were originally patent by a company that studied the walking patterns of a tribe in Africa and how pressure was placed on certain areas of the feet. These shoes suppose to mimic the nature of how these people walk and it suppose to help us with the discomfort by taking the pressure off certain areas of our foot.

    This is weird, my doctor blamed those shoes fopr my plantar faciitis. I guess it depends on your stride though. I think the main thing is rest, rest , rest. I know its hard but I suffered for 9 months. They wanted to give me cortisone but I refused. I had physio ( didnt work) , shock wave treatment ( didnt work). Its hard. I found stretching and rolling my foot on a squishy ball helped but even when you feel better take it easy or it will flare up again,

    I'm extremely flat footed so that could be the determining factor.
  • Tangerine302
    Tangerine302 Posts: 1,509 Member
    If you look up an excerise for plantar faciitis it does wonders. It was just a simple stretch of taking your toes and stretching them toward your body a few times a day. Really helped take care of it! Very easy too! Good luck! :) (They said to use a band, but I did with my hand.) No more pain.
  • dtpss188
    dtpss188 Posts: 85
    Stretch your calves daily. Once the PF resolves, do not stop stretching, make it part of your life long routine. Important, when stretching your calf muscles make sure that your movement is coming from the ankle joint, do not stretch your forefoot. So try not to bend your toes upward when stretching - rather keep the foot flat and isolate the movement to the ankle.

    Hold your stretches at least 30 seconds, do both feet not just the affected foot. Taping is awesome if you have someone who can do it correctly. I always liked the taping technique that Brian Mulligan taught. Usually makes my folks pain free.

    Good luck.
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,228 Member
    The stretching and icing is the only thing that worked for me. I liked freezing a water bottle and rolling it around under my foot. Perhaps a soak in an Epsom salt bath might help.
  • shonovo
    shonovo Posts: 104
    it really hinders me,,, but i get great workouts on the elliptical... treat it as a treadmill... run on it... burn calories and i find me feet dont hurt at all on elliptical.. i also wear orthotics and supportive shoes like asics... mine only flares up when im running... any other exercise is great... i learned its because i walk in an improper way so im working on correcting that and hoping it goes away! it sucks!!
  • CarsonRuns
    CarsonRuns Posts: 3,039 Member
    I just went to the foot doctor about mine. He told me to only wear those rocker type shoes that suppose to build up the glutes. I believe skeechers has a line of them. He said that were originally patent by a company that studied the walking patterns of a tribe in Africa and how pressure was placed on certain areas of the feet. These shoes suppose to mimic the nature of how these people walk and it suppose to help us with the discomfort by taking the pressure off certain areas of our foot.

    This is weird, my doctor blamed those shoes fopr my plantar faciitis. I guess it depends on your stride though. I think the main thing is rest, rest , rest. I know its hard but I suffered for 9 months. They wanted to give me cortisone but I refused. I had physio ( didnt work) , shock wave treatment ( didnt work). Its hard. I found stretching and rolling my foot on a squishy ball helped but even when you feel better take it easy or it will flare up again,

    My ART practitioner encouraged me to turn through it while I was getting twice a week treatments. Rest wasn't necessary. My symptoms were gone in a month. I had to do the other things too, like icing, always wearing shoes and stretching the calves, but the ART is what did it. I swear by as do many of my runner friends.

    http://activereleasetechnique.com/
  • mbts08
    mbts08 Posts: 284 Member
    I struggle with it also. I have had several injection and inserts. Pain is in my toes and the rest of my foot. Actually, just mentioned to foot dr today, see what he says. I had a severe strain years ago and I believe these are complications from it.
  • tsh0ck
    tsh0ck Posts: 1,970 Member
    any of the low-impact cardio might work. elliptical is one option, but there is also the arc trainer or AMT. even a recumbent bike, maybe, would work, or a rowing machine?

    all of these, of course, have some kind of foot involvement, so it would be dependent upon how bad the flare is that day. just don't push it. it's frustrating, but you have to give it time to heal or it will just make everything worse.
  • kit_katty
    kit_katty Posts: 992 Member
    I have very flat feet, so I got some of those Dr. Scholes insoles, from one of those kiosks that measure your feet. I wore inside shoes with those insoles and in my regular walking shoes too. My runners already have arch support. I'm feeling better!
  • GladImTall
    GladImTall Posts: 65 Member
    Thanks everyone! What great feedback and support! Some great suggestions that I'll give a try!
  • AEROBICVIC
    AEROBICVIC Posts: 159 Member
    Hello! I teach aerobics and Zumba several times a week..... and just had a bout with PF again....i've had it several times in the 15 years of teaching. I know my body well and can feel it coming on when it does. Over training, teaching, running does it every time. I can not stop teaching because of this so what I did to enable my foot to heal and still workout was to modify what irritates it the most. Bouncing on the ball of my foot along with over stretching (like doing power lunges) are the 2 that bother it the most. I did back off some of my Zumba classes and had my friend sub for me. When i couldn't get a sub i would teach "low-version" of moves and have one of the girls who take my classes a lot and knows the routines demonstrate the "hi version" (the more bouncy moves, jumping jacks, ect). For my aerobics classes, I taught kickboxing and wt training more than the "old school hi/low". I can still put a ton of power in punches and kicks without a bunch of bounce. I also do MMA (mixed martial arts) training with cage fighters, wrestlers and boxers. I had to modify some of what we do in class to accomodate my PF but for the last 5-7 weeks I let my foot heal without giving up my workouts. The other thing that works for me is wearing Nike Shox for everything i do, even clean the house. The slight elevation of the heel works perfect for my problem. of course, the stretching and foot exercises are a must for me too. i hope this gives you some ideas of what to try so you don't miss out much.
  • EReeves2
    EReeves2 Posts: 34 Member
    Ok, for those of you who've dealt with it, tell me your opinion of the shoes that lots of people are wearing now. I can't think of what they're called, but I know 1 brand of them is called Vibrams. They are the shoes that look like you're barefoot.

    After dealing with PF a couple of years ago, I can't wrap my brain around how I could ever wear those things because the biggest thing for me (to heal) was rest & wearing supportive shoes. But my friends who have them swear that they're supposed to be more like the way our feet were "meant to work" and claim that they've been told they would prevent injuries like PF. Thoughts??
  • missy_1975
    missy_1975 Posts: 244 Member
    Emmett technique works a treat for me. I had been having issues with my knee from long distance running and also niggling (and occasionally excruciating) pain in my right achillies. Emmett technique sorted it like a dream. Not widely available in the US (yet), but is available in UK, Ireland, Singapore, Europe and Australia.:

    http://www.emmett-uk.com/

    I may be a tad biased as I'm involved with the technique, but after training in everything from Traditional Acupuncture to massage, this is the one that does the trick pretty much instantly.
  • aliciakay3086
    aliciakay3086 Posts: 61 Member
    What helped for me was to roll a tennis ball or golf ball under my foot several times a day as a massage - feels so good and loosens up those tight tendons - anytime I was just sitting around. I was a runner, but I believe I got PF from wearing flat shoes too much - flat flip-flops, ballet flats. Completely flat shoes are terrible for your feet - much worse than being barefoot. So wear shoes with arch support.

    For exercise, try a bike. A real one, or in the gym.

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