Plantar Fascitis

[Tamara]

Has anyone any expereience in treating Plantar Fascitis? It's a very painful condition of the foot. Takes a long time to heal. Has anyone had this or have known someone who's been diagnosed with it?

Tamara

[Arrowyn]

I have it. I'll be interested to read anyone's success story. Mine isn't. My doctor's advice (which didn't completely work) was: Take tons of Advil (12-16 per day), do stretching exercises to stretch the calf muscles, buy new shoes that are specially fitted for this problem. Soooo, later after massive amounts of Advil, stretching many times a day (helps somewhat), and $180 shoes, I still hurt. In fact, I hurt less when I started wearing my old shoes again. Haven't gone back to the doctor yet. I'm discouraged, so I'll be looking forward to new information.

[Anonymous]

Been there, Know the feeling. Have you tried putting a benGay patch on the bottom of your foot? Wear one with cotton socks and sneakers. Have you tried ice on the sore areas(yes, stand on an ice bag). Also, if it hurts when you first get up in the morning, flex your foot for a few minutes before you stand on it.

Shadow

P.S. Everything suggested I have tried on myself.....with no regrets

[Anonymous]

Oh yeah, one more thing.

12-16 Advil???????? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND???

a rather nasty side effect form anti inflamitories(SP?) is internal bleeding. I am dealing with colitis right now becase I just finished going down the road you are traveling now.(Blood loss due to internal bleeding).

You don't want to go there

Shadow

[Gr8hands]

I've had plantar's fascitis before. It felt like I was walking on broken glass!

The plantar's fascia connects on the heel bone and attaches to the toe bones (in plain English). If it gets too tight it will pull away from the heel bone the body sends calcium deposits to the tear to "fix" it, this is called a bone spur. The bone spur then irritates the surrounding tissue causing inflammation and pain. It's usually worse when you first walk on it after prolonged rest, but the pain should lessen with use.

Freeze a little bottle of water and roll the bottom of your foot on it. This serves several purposes. The ice is good for the inflammation. (Only apply ice for 20 minutes at a time. 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off. I've seen people give themselves frost bite from too much ice. [xx(] ) It also helps to stretch the plantar's fascia.

Don't put heat on it. With any type of inflammation heat will only make it worse.

Massage is also VERY GOOD for this condition. DO NOT RUB DIRECTLY ON THE BONE SPUR! OUCH! Rub along the plantar's fascia, you'll feel a taut band on the bottom of your foot. Rub gently at first going deeper with time. Also rub the Achilles tendon and the calf of your leg. Better yet, go to a therapeutic massage therapist for treatment. Ask if they know how to treat it, if in doubt. Plus, it feels better to have someone else do it, that exchange of energy is so nice!

Good orthodics in your shoes will help. Good shoes will also help, forget the cheap shoes with little or no support in them.

Stretch the plantar's fascia and the calf muscles by pointing your toe up on a wall, heel on the floor and gently stretch it by leaning into it. Gently! The no pain no gain theory is not the right approach. If this hurts too much from putting weight on the heel, do it sitting down by placing a towel under the ball of the foot and pulling up gently until you feel the stretch.

Mine went away when I broke my knee and couldn't put my foot on the floor for 4 months. I don't suggest that treatment!

For those of you who don't have this,the stretching and rolling exercises here will help you to not get it.

I these suggestions help you Tamara.

~ Susie, LMT, NCTMB

[GrannySam]

Tamara,

Sorry to hear you have Plantar Fasciitis. Been there...done that. Unfortunately I went toe NSAIDs route, with the special shoe inserts, as it was before my wise Woman days. It healed, but oh so slowly!

My sister has it now, and I'm helping her with it, plus she's done a lot of research on her own. I'll summarise what she's doing, and she's getting some relief.

Plantain oil, massaged on the foot several times daily. Plantain leaf poultice (just wrap a plain leaf on it and put a sock over it). Reiki. Ice when it's awful. And probably the most important thing; The Fascia tends to "shrink" or "draw" overnight or when sitting for long periods. Then when you get up...OUCH! Keeping the foot flexed helps a great deal. She devised a way to wrap her ankle before she goes to bed to keep the foot slightly flexed, says she has no problems sleeping that way. It's that early morning getting up thing that undoes all the healing that took place overnight. Also, when you first get up, get a shoe on that foot before touching it to the floor. That helps a little.

Hope you get some relief soon Tamara, it's a bad feeling!

blessings,

[Arrowyn]

shadow81964 -- yes, temporary insanity! [:p] Weaned myself off and I'll hope for the best. No offense, but doesn't the BenGay smell? But since you suggested that, I thought of Traumeal instead. I'm sure I didn't spell that correctly. That's what I use on painful areas. Thanks, I didn't think about that before.

Gr8hands -- I don't know about Tamara, but I don't have a heel spur. Seems the problem doesn't always result in a spur. Doesn't matter; broken glass is a good picture of the pain.

I forgot about the ice remedy. I bought some small dixie cups, filled one with water almost to the top, and froze it. I tear off about 1/2 inch of the cup at the top and I have a nice ice pack for massage with a built-in handle. I can't stand 20 minutes, but I keep rubbing the ice cup around and over my heel until I can't stand it anymore. It certainly deadens the pain, if nothing else. I didn't know about the massage or that you could do it yourself. Thanks.

The stretching I do is: (1) stand in front of a wall and put your hands on it about shoulder height. Step back about a foot (maybe more; you'll have to find out what's comfortable) but don't kink your hips so much that you create a hip problem, keep your heel on the ground as much as you can, and lean forward for a count of 30. This stretches the calf muscle. Eventually, if you want, bend your other knee slightly to give you more of a lean. I'm told this is an exercise runners use to limber up. Don't forget to do both legs. Since I sit all day at work, I do this each time I get up before I start to walk; and (2) before you get out of bed, tilt your feet back toward you and then away from you a few times. Does that picture make sense?

As far as exercises and putting a shoe on when I first get out of bed, not so much for me. My first thing in the morning is to limp as fast as I can to the bathroom.

I was also told that rolling the ball of your foot over a tennis ball is supposed to help. Maybe, but it hurts me.

GrannySam -- interesting info about plaintain oil and leaf poultice. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Suprisingly the bengay doesn't smell that bad when using the patch, and the smell is even less when you have a sock and shoe on.

Sorry I sounded off before---gastric bleeding is no fun, and it suprises me when a Dr. would suggest something that would cause it.

shadow

[Arrowyn]

Shadow, you sound off whenever you want, at least at me! I didn't take any kind of offence. I knew that your roar came from the heart. My regular doctor is one reason that I'm shopping for a Naturopathic doctor.

[Gr8hands]

I have used the dixie cup ice method myself, which works well. But the frozen water bottle worked much better becasue your killing two birds with one stone- stretching the Plantar's fascia as well as cryotherapy to decrease the inflammation. A tip from a friend who works for a foot specialist.

Arrowyn, your right, not all plantar's fascitis results in exostosis/ bone spur, but if you don't relax it, it will result in a bone spur. And I can tell you first hand, IT HURTS! [V]If the spur has developed yet or not, there will more than likely be a point of tenderness at the plantar fascia attachment at the anterior calcaneus and possibly at the metatarsal heads of the distal plantar fascia attachment sites (where the toes attach to the ball of the foot). Again, don't apply pressure to these tender spots, it will only irritate the tissue more.

Massage does help. I've seen the results first hand with clients I have worked on.

Quoting from Functional Assessment in Massage Therapy -- "Massage can be very effective in the mangament of this condition. Deep transverse friction appled to the plantar fasica will help mobilize this tissue and break fibrous adhesions that are a result of the inflammatory process. Deep longitudinal stripping techniques will also help improve the elongation potential of the fibers."

$180 shoes? Gosh! I was thinking about $60 New Balance "tennis shoes" myself, or some good orthotics.

Good luck, I hope your tooties are feeling better.
~ Susie

[Arrowyn]

Gr8hands, I was wearing New Balance sneakers when my heel started hurting. Those are the shoes I went back to when the expensive shoes hurt so much more. And now my heel doesn't hurt as much as it did before I spent the $180. Psychological?

What are "orthotics"? Are they the things you slip into your shoes? And if so, do you have to go to a foot doctor to get them?

Would you please re-describe the "tender points" in lay terms? Thanks.

[Gr8hands]

Tender spots are the places that hurt. Such as on the heel or possibley on the balls of the feet where the plantars fascia attaches to the toes. You'll know a tender spot when you touch it! You'll jump and holler OUCH! [;)] Just be very gentle with those spots. They are already inflammed and hurting, rubbing on them will only make them hurt more.

I've had several massage teachers, chiropractors and physical therapists claim that New Balance shoes are about the best ready made shoes on the market because they come in various wiidths. My friend who works for the foot specialist says her doc thinks they are wonderful too. She says to buy them from a shoe store where they measure and make sure the shoe fits your feet. That's something that I typically don't do. I buy from the cheapest place in town and now my feet are paying for it. You just can't win! LOL! I've also had shoes made for me with built in orthotics, I wasn't impressed with the quality of the shoe, I won't do that again.

Orthotics are the inserts that go into your shoes. Don't mess with Dr. Sholls and the things available in stores, they are generic, not made especially for your feet. I've had several pairs of them that a chiropractor had make for me and they have made a great deal of difference in my feet. Go to a poditrist (is that spelled right?) a foot doctor or to a chiropractor who sells inserts. They will make a cast of the bottoms of your feet and the orthotic will be made to correct what ever needs corrected. It wasn't covered by insurance at the DC's, I don't know about the foot doctor. If you don't ask it's automatically a no. Mine were about $100.

In massage school we had a teacher who did a demo with orthotics. A student stood and the teacher pushed her off balance with a light push, then the student stood on orthotics and it was much harder to push her off balance. Teacher claimed that by having the feet on the right angle is affects the entire body alignment. I think those orthotics were "off the rack" from a store called Good Feet and were very expensive.

I'm glad this topic was brought up. I've gotten my roller out and am rolling my foot on it as I type. I really don't want that problem to return and I'm NOT breaking another knee to rest the darn thing away! <smile>

Hope everyone's tootsies are feeling better!
~ Susie

[Tamara]

Thanks for all the replies. Actually it's my dear friend who has this condition, and I wanted to do something to help her. I'll send her this topic and see if these suggestions will help.
Thanks again
Tamara

[Sundew]

Has anyone tried "Birkenstock" shoes? They are suppose to form to your feet. I looked at their online Birkenstock Shoes site. They are expensive yet if I could get relief, would be worth it. I am hoping not to be a guiney pig if anyone has tried their shoes. I would have to buy new shoes with inserts to fit in anyway. My problem arose with weight gain and I want to go out and walk, work and enjoy.
thanks
Celeta

[alder]

I've dealt with PF on and off for years. It gets better for a while, then I overdo it and it's back for a few days or weeks depending on how badly I reinjured it. Once the plantar fascia has been injured, it forms scar tissue and is much easier to reinjure, as I understand it. There's a great website at http://heelspurs.com about the problem. The site owner has done surveys of visitors to the site and compiled info about what has worked for people - different things work for different people of course. I seem to have good luck with icing, massage, the "foot yoga" exercises that were posted on the heelspurs message board (http://heelspurs.com/bbs/bbv.cgi?n=152097), taping if it's really bad, and good shoes. The shoes that have worked best for my feet have been haflinger clogs, but I just got my first pair of birkenstocks to try... wore them for a couple hours last night, and I think they'll eventually work if I break them in slowly.