Plantar fasciitis
 

I have had plantar fasciitis for the last 3 months. I've iced, done stretches, bought good arch support shoes with an orthotic insert & there is no improvement. I've also used motrin & had 2 steroid shots 2 weeks apart but am reluctant to get more. My doctor says I won't get rid of it without the shots. Any comments or suggestions on this. Is the only way to get rid of this to stay off my feet completely?
Jacqueline :(

My wife had this problem and it took a loooooog time to
heal. She had the shots which worked for a very short time
and did nothing to heal the injury. The only way she was
able to heal was to get a pair of professianlly made ortho
supports made TO MATCH HER FEET by an ortho doctor.

Expensive yes but she had instant relief when she put them in
her shoes. The doctor also told her to avoid cheap shoes to
wear the supports in or they would do no good.

In time my wife's injury did heal but it took over a year to
slowly heal with the ortho supports to the point where she can
go without them most of the time.

All the best.

Hi Tightwad,
Thanks for your reply. I think I will have to spend the money for orthotics. I just spent a good amount on good supportive shoes but as you say the orthotics need the good shoes to work. I like to bike ride & wonder if that is harming the foot. I try to ride on flat surfaces but it's hard to avoid some hills. I don't want to stop all exercise & since winter is coming on I will be swimming more than normal since I can't ride or walk. Glad to hear your wife had success with healing which gives me some hope. Again thanks for taking the time.
Jacqueline

I battled with PF for almost a year. What finally worked for me was rest. Obviously, you can't lay down and rest for a year so what worked for me was to tape my foot every day. Basicly you reinforce the facia of your foot (the bottom of your foot) with athletic tape. This takes the pressure off of the facia and gives it a chance to return to normal. As long as the facia is inflamed, use will continue to iritate it.

Best of luck.

BKH

Yes, you can continue to do anything you want to.....once you
dial in the ortho/shoe combo. The shoes that worked best for
my wife were Naturalizer walking or Redwing womens athletic
workshoes. Good stout womens shoes both. It takes that kind
of aggressive support to allow the foot to heal. You'll find
that with the proper combo you won't want to ,nor should you,
wear any other shoes until you are healed. My wife tried heels
just once for about 5 min till off they came in pain while
she was healing.

As to what causes this injury.......
From what we learned it's a combination of cheap/bad shoes &
overextending while in them. It would be better to overextend
barefoot than in bad shoes. Your foot will protect itself.

So get fitted for otho inserts and shoes as soon as you can
as delay may make the injury much harder to heal.

I had PF for about 2 years several years ago. Several things helped me, so maybe something here will be helpful for you:
Try using ice packs on your feet twice a day for 30-60 minutes while resting them on the couch or ottoman. Definately use the arch supports or inserts. They may not seem to be helping, but I bet they are doing more than you know.
Finally, try rolling a golf ball under the arch of your foot back and forth several times a day per foot. This helps stretch out that muscle and strengthen it. It really does work!

Finally, and this is the hard one, for me it took losing some extra weight to finally get rid of the entire problem. Weight loss is so difficult that I put it off as a last resort, even though I needed to do it much sooner. However, ultimately this made the biggest difference. Some people with PF are not overweight, so this might not be your situation, but it sure helped me.
Good Luck.

This really worked for me several years ago when I had PF in my right foot. I used a shortened piece of a 2" diameter wooden rod. That and good arch supports made the difference......no drugs, no medication.

I got prescription inserts, which almost solved the problem, but not quite. Then, I learned from an orthopedist how to REALLY stretch my Achilles tendons, which takes the pressure off the plantar fascia. I must get into a push-up position, and stretch each foot by itself. It takes much discipline to get a good stretch, and to hold the stretch for 15 to 20 seconds. I still must stretch regularly, and wear the inserts at least some of the time, of time, to keep symptoms from returning.