Tips for Plantar Fascia??

[cutter77]

Plantar fascia and high arches...........what a "pain".

Would appreciate any tips on dealing with it since I'll be hoofing it through the airports pretty soon.

Had a cortisone injection a year ago and that helped a lot but a little gunshy about doing that again...reading conflicting info on effects.

[keyshunter]

Over the years, I have had several bouts with plantar fasciaitis. Best long term relief I found was custom orthotics, followed closely by otc gel arch inserts.

[Lulubelle]

Orthotics, good supportive shoes, a strasborg sock (can get at some athletic stores...Athlete's Foot is where I got mine) to wear at night, a strap/belt that you can use to do a good stretch before you get out of bed.

[snagel]

My assistant has this problem and went through the injections and spent a ton of money on special shoe inserts. In the end, she told me she uses a small ball to stretch out the tendon occasionally and it seems to help the best. She says it hurts at first but when she starts getting flare-ups she puts the ball on the ground and steps on it rolling it back and forth until the tendon gets stretched out.

Snagel

[Cheddarchick]

I feel your pain...If I don't do stretches before I step out of bed I come crashing down with the pain. If I do them, it is only a dull ache...My question is if God had made us bare footed, why do we get plantar fasciaitis forcing us into hard soled inserts??? Weren't we built to be bare footed???

[Tekdivr]

I've worn hard soled orthotics for approx 20 years and they are a God send. Without them, I can barely stand up in the mornings. Highly recommend them and takes no time at all for them to take affect. Initial invest is approx $300 but well worth it. I've tried the boot, but not a fan.

[Lulubelle]

Here is the strassburg sock. The reason why using something like this is important is that your fascia tightens right back up at night when your foot is relaxed. Then when you get up and try to stand on it in the morning, it literally rips all of those little muscles again and it hurts like a @E#$!

Stretching the foot before you get out of bed is very helpful too. You can use anything, a belt, a rope, a band, just pull the foot towards you and hold it to stretch things out before you stand.

You can also stretch against a wall, on a slanted surface, a stair if you are careful but it is not ideal as it is easy to overstretch.

And for me the orthotics were helpful too. And wearing granola shoes (the horror of it) like mephistos and birks.

Not a fan of steroid injections. They can cause necrosis of the fat pad in the heel. I did it once, because it was so bad I couldn't make it through my workday just walking. But then I got more disciplined about the other stuff and eventually it got better.

Cheddarchick, I hear you. And it may be that a contributor to the problem is underdeveloped muscles in the foot, who knows. But once you HAVE PF, the orthotics are pretty important. And some of us have feet designed to hold 90 pounds of girl and are not 90 pound girls so the feet take a special beating.

THE STRASSBURG SOCK - [A simple cost effective treatment for plantar fasciitis heel pain]

[Tekdivr]

Originally Posted by Lulubelle

Here is the strassburg sock. The reason why using something like this is important is that your fascia tightens right back up at night when your foot is relaxed. Then when you get up and try to stand on it in the morning, it literally rips all of those little muscles again and it hurts like a @E#$!

Stretching the foot before you get out of bed is very helpful too. You can use anything, a belt, a rope, a band, just pull the foot towards you and hold it to stretch things out before you stand.

You can also stretch against a wall, on a slanted surface, a stair if you are careful but it is not ideal as it is easy to overstretch.

And for me the orthotics were helpful too. And wearing granola shoes (the horror of it) like mephistos and birks.

Not a fan of steroid injections. They can cause necrosis of the fat pad in the heel. I did it once, because it was so bad I couldn't make it through my workday just walking. But then I got more disciplined about the other stuff and eventually it got better.

Cheddarchick, I hear you. And it may be that a contributor to the problem is underdeveloped muscles in the foot, who knows. But once you HAVE PF, the orthotics are pretty important. And some of us have feet designed to hold 90 pounds of girl and are not 90 pound girls so the feet take a special beating.

THE STRASSBURG SOCK - [A simple cost effective treatment for plantar fasciitis heel pain]

The sock looks like it has the same action as the boot I wore, but much more sleep friendly! Thanks for the info!

[Cheddarchick]

I blame it all on flip flops.......I think my problems is all my life I have walked on my tiptoes...literally since I could walk I did it tippytoe....I think it made all the ligaments short....It's wierd. I can tell you the exact day I had my first flair up....

[DivingCRNA]

Yeah-Flip Flops are the dumbest shoe ever. I have no owned a pair, but my Mom has worn the dang things all my life and her feet really hurt.

For PF-Freeze a 20 oz. pop bottle full of water. then roll it with the sole of your bare foot back and forth on the floor. Also do the tennis ball thing mentioned and then have a pile of socks on the floor and move the pile back and forth one sock at a time with your toes.

I did these things and ran the Twin Cities Marathon with Plantar Faciitis. They work.