Per mention in other threads, I am pretty sure I have the start of some minor Plantar Fasciitis. A variety of friends have dealt with similar, so I decided to start a dedicated thread.
Based on reading and discussions so far, it seems like my heel pain is PF. One article on the topic…
Per helpful CC friends, I’ve started wearing Oofos cushioned flip flops around the house (they fit me better than other styles I tried). That avoids impact on hard floors, where I felt the initial sharp pain on bottom of my right heel.
For now I’m on a rest from running but have restarted my lower body stretch video workouts and cycling. Have done a sampling of exercises suggested online but would welcome any suggestions here.
I have PF too. I can’t go barefoot anymore and wear b zees slip ons as my “slippers”.
The air pillow slippers help. I also use a roller for my feet. Buy better shoes. Worth every penny.
Occasionally my wife gets injections. She’s on her feet a lot at work. I’m trying to avoid that situation.
I struggled with Plantar Fasciitis in both feet for a year after I had my second son. It didn’t clear up until I finally went to physical therapy, and then it cleared up quickly. The exercises were really easy, like going up and down on your toes on the edge of a step. I wish I’d started them early. Definitely recommend PT or researching exercises that help with Plantar Fasciitis.
I have been plagued with Achilles issues, and my PT was quite helpful (in a way my orthopedic guy was not!) He explained how everything from the bottom of your foot through the Achilles is connected, so you need to care for the whole lot if you want to recover.
His advice: stretch your feet and ankles before stepping out of bed. Put on cushioned sneakers with a bit of heel lift before taking even one step. No walking barefoot, no flip flops. The slight lift reduces the pull on the achilles and in turn on the bottom of the foot.
No ballet flats and no shoes without good arches.
Okay to take ibuprofen to manage pain and inflammation.
I don’t know if this will work for you, but it helped me a lot although my problem was different.
Thanks! I have been doing that, based on a hint from CC pals. It seems helpful to do that before putting weight on foot.
There is rare pain, partly because I’ve become accustomed to lifting my foot before bending over. Perhaps there has been some healing over the past 10 days because it no longer hurts sitting down standing up in bathroom (but credit there may go to the Oofos I wear at home)
I’ve started bagging up my old, worn shoes (DSW gives small credit, one pair per vist / week).
In addition to my new Oofos, I did get these shoes. They are intended for indoor slippers (especially when colder) and sometimes outdoors. Kohls reviews said they run small, so I ordered two sizes and will return the larger one today. (Usually I am 7.5 or 8/narrow … ordered 8 and 8.5)
I posted recently that I started experiencing arch pain. Now that we’ve been working from home, I am barefoot most of the time. We also changed to hardwood floors upstairs earlier this year. Was wondering if that contributed to my sudden pain.
On the advice of folks here, I got a Vionics relax slipper - the leopard print was on sale and so I just got that. It does seem to have helped. H kids that I clomp around now with the shoes and that’s about the only annoying thing with these and the hardwood floors.
Just ordered an OOFOS shoe last night - will see how good those are.
I suffer from PF and was sidelined for many weeks this summer, mostly because I couldn’t bear to rest it long enough. In my case, it seems to be caused/aggravated by super tight calf muscles. Once I’m in a flare, I need to rest it, but as a measure of daily maintenance, I find making sure my calf muscles are super stretched out a couple of times a day really helps keep it in check.
Besides Oofos and well-fitted, supportive shoes I recommend rolling your soleus, the area of the calf above the ankle. It was suggested to me by an employee at a well-respected running store where I live.
Any time my foot starts to hurt I roll the soleus area and it usually helps quite a bit. If there is a specific spot that hurts as you roll, be sure to gently focus on it. I find that when my foot isn’t hurting, rolling the soleus isn’t painful. When I’m experiencing foot pain, it does.
I bought a calf stretcher and I use a foam roller as well. Better quality shoes and no barefoot or flip flops helped tremendously.
I am a Podiatrist. You need to stretch from the hip down. When I send someone to PT all my groups know that this is a must. Definitely the calf and PF. Sit with your leg crossed over the opposite. Grab gently your toes and bring your ankle and toes up/backwards (Toes to your nose… Lol), get some lotion or better over the counter Voltaren. With the toes going backwards use your opposite thumb and start at the ball of the foot and “deeply” rub down towards your heel. Start inside and work outside. Spend time on the painful area. Do this like 10 times. Daily at one sitting.
Also before getting out of bed do this modified with bringing your toes up towards your nose (ankle up), do this like 10 times. You get tight at night and have to stretch and wake up your tissue.
Professionally made orthotics really do work but you have to reduce the pain first.
Take some motrin or the like to help.
BTW - most of you don’t have plantar fascitiis. You most likely have a more chronic form that scars in. Cortisone injections don’t work for that and we rarely use cortisone anyway. The shift is away from it since it weakens the tissues and can actually create tears. If bad we use Biologic injections that work much better anyway.
I typically wrap the foot and put into a walking boot for a week. People coming to my sports medicine injury office usually have been to others and want to get back quickly. This relieves about 60-80 %of the pain with anti-inflammatory meds for a week.
Good luck.
Very helpful!
Interesting that a boot helps so much.
What is the name of the more chronic form?
I just have a small amount of intermittent heel pain. It goes away if I wear running shoes. I can tell that my foot is not as stretchy as it once was. Getting old is for the birds!
It’s not just the boot but the soft cast also with anti-inflammatory meds etc. Then a stretching program after or /and physical therapy but you have to reduce the pain sensors first.
Plantar fasciosis
I have been around the block with this. The most helpful thing for me has been PT with something called Astym. It is scraping technique that gets protein deposits out of the muscle fibers. Also, Epsom salt soaks, Birkenstocks in the house and by the bed, OTC boots and socks at night that pull toe toward the knee, icing, rolling on a tennis ball, regular ankle circles, and slowly raising to tip toe while balancing on one foot, every other day. Hold on to a chair or counter. Per my PT, this is researched to help by strengthening and loading the muscles.
Knowsstuff, interesting about the Plantar fasciosis. Googling, it looks to be a chronic form of fasciitis?
I started having a problem with this last summer, but it is largely resolved now. I realized I needed to stop walking barefoot all the time in the house, so I bought a pair of Birkenstock sandals. I will confess I always had a rather disdainful attitude towards Birkenstocks, but it turned out they were extremely comfortable, and I realized when I looked around that they are actually in style these days (I was going to say “in style again,” but I am not sure they were ever actually in style before). In any event, I bought another pair for outdoors. I also did stretches every morning when I woke up for a while. At this point, I can walk barefoot and wear regular shoes without any pain, but I think I will try to stay in the habit of wearing shoes indoors to avoid any recurrence.
I wear crocs with arch supporting inserts around the house. I also use the same inserts in all my regular shoes. That has greatly reduced my foot pain.
Most of us lose a lot of flexibility as we age. I am still pretty flexible, but I have lost flexibility in my ankles and I think that contributes to my intermittent plantar fasciitis. I do a little bit of yoga every once in awhile and I noticed that while I have no problem touching my toes or doing a forward fold with my hands on the floor I cannot squat (malasana) with my heels touching the floor, but my bum hovering. I think I have lost that flexibility in my Achilles that would allow that squat and my plantar fascia to some degree. I think my Achilles is actually the worse culprit.