Plantar Fasciitis - Anyone here had/have it?

[ChiefsFan4Life]

Anyone here who has had it certainly knows what it is.

For those who don't know what it is, it's a pain in the foot (typically happens to people who have little or no arch) that occurs when there is excessive wear and tear in an area of the foot on the underside of the heel. It makes it hard as hell to walk or run without a lot of pain and after long periods of sitting or sleeping, the first few steps are the steps from hell.

Actually, this is the injury that was hampering Albert Pujols last season and right before the postseason.

Does anyone here have this or had it and got rid of it with success? My doctor has told me to do exercises for the heel, I've received 2 cortisone (good god that is a large needle and a painful shot) shots in my heel over the course of 3 months and am wearing these arch support insert things in my shoes and it still hurts like a -----.

Has anyone successfully gotten rid of this thing and if so what did it?

I know it seems weird to ask on messae board, and obviously I'm seeing a doctor, but I am finding out more and more that this is a common problem so I figured I'd see if anyone here had success with getting rid of the pain.

[Lono]

I had it for about 7 months and just got the shot about a month ago. I feel no pain now. (damn that shot hurt) You have two options if the shot and therapy you do doesnt take care of it. 1. you can live with the pain or 2. you can have surgery. With surgery they will go in and cut the tendon that runs from your toes to your heal. That will get rid of it. But you can also get the shot and then go run and tear it yourself. This is actually better because it heals back better than if they go in and cut it. No doctor will tell you to do that but I am friends with mine lol. He said there will be really no pain tearing it yourself other than for maybe the first 5 mins or so. He actually did it himself. He said he had no bruising or pain after he did it. That was 2 years ago and he hasnt had it since. I was going to do that if the shot didnt fix mine to save on a hospital bill. Anyway good luck. Hope it gets better.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by ChiefsFan4Life

Anyone here who has had it certainly knows what it is.

For those who don't know what it is, it's a pain in the foot (typically happens to people who have little or no arch) that occurs when there is excessive wear and tear in an area of the foot on the underside of the heel. It makes it hard as hell to walk or run without a lot of pain and after long periods of sitting or sleeping, the first few steps are the steps from hell.

Actually, this is the injury that was hampering Albert Pujols last season and right before the postseason.

Does anyone here have this or had it and got rid of it with success? My doctor has told me to do exercises for the heel, I've received 2 cortisone (good god that is a large needle and a painful shot) shots in my heel over the course of 3 months and am wearing these arch support insert things in my shoes and it still hurts like a -----.

Has anyone successfully gotten rid of this thing and if so what did it?

I know it seems weird to ask on messae board, and obviously I'm seeing a doctor, but I am finding out more and more that this is a common problem so I figured I'd see if anyone here had success with getting rid of the pain.

I've got it. It's not really that bad if you are used to pain. Had days it was horrible and days it wasn't so bad (95% of the time) Rest your feet massage your feet whenever you can and I bought some Walk fit shoe inserts and it went away in 6 months or so. Also very strenous exercise seems to help ie flag football.

Dave

[ChiefsFan4Life]

Originally Posted by Lono

I had it for about 7 months and just got the shot about a month ago. I feel no pain now. (damn that shot hurt) You have two options if the shot and therapy you do doesnt take care of it. 1. you can live with the pain or 2. you can have surgery. With surgery they will go in and cut the tendon that runs from your toes to your heal. That will get rid of it. But you can also get the shot and then go run and tear it yourself. This is actually better because it heals back better than if they go in and cut it. No doctor will tell you to do that but I am friends with mine lol. He said there will be really no pain tearing it yourself other than for maybe the first 5 mins or so. He actually did it himself. He said he had no bruising or pain after he did it. That was 2 years ago and he hasnt had it since. I was going to do that if the shot didnt fix mine to save on a hospital bill. Anyway good luck. Hope it gets better.

How do you go about tearing it yourself?

[Lono]

Originally Posted by ChiefsFan4Life

How do you go about tearing it yourself?

When they give you the cortozone shot they will tell you not to run or whatever for like a two weeks because it weakens the tendon. If you do a lot of hard running or jumping right after the shot it should tear it. He said he was running down the floor playing basketball when he tore his.

[PastorMikH]

Yeah, I had a heel spur that gave me fits for years. Arch supports helped. Dr told me that stretching the tendons in the foot would do the most good. I got rid of it though as a church service. An evangelist said someone in the audience had foot problems and if they would stomp the foot down hard several times, the Lord would heal it. I know I'm a minister and all, but I'm thinking yeah, right. Anyhow, since we were standing and singing anyway, I half-heartedly stomped 3x on that heal. Never had a problem with it since.

[penguinz]

Originally Posted by ChiefsFan4Life

Plantar Fasciitis has nothing to do with any part of the extremity of the foot. As another member mentioned, it is the tendons INSIDE the foot that are affected.

Has nothing to do with tendons.

[ILikeBigTiddys]

It's the tendons ripping off your heel. If it continues you will get a heel spur. You need to stay off your feet as much as possible and wear arch supports. If you hate them plastic pieces of crap go somewhere else and get a softer pair. I work at a place where we make soft inserts that give you good arch support along with peak pressure redistribution.

[Lono]

Plantar fasciitis (inflammation of the plantar fascia) is the most common cause of heel pain seen by an orthopedist. It is common in several sub-groups of people, including runners and other athletes, people who have jobs that require a fair amount of walking or standing (especially if it is done on a hard surface), and in some cases it is seen in people who have put on weight -- either by dietary indiscretion or pregnancy.
The plantar fascia is a broad ligament-like structure that extends from the heel bone to the base of the toes, acting like a thick rubberband on the bottom arch of the foot. With a few extra pounds on board, or with activities such as exercise, the plantar fascia can develop microtrauma at its insertion into the heel bone, or anywhere along its length. This causes pain which can be quite severe at times.

One disturbing fact about plantar fasciitis is that it sometimes takes many months to resolve. Indeed, it takes approximately 6 months for 75% of people to recover from this problem. 98% of people seem to be better at 12 months.

Treatment of plantar fasciitis consists of 3 stages:

Stage 1 involves prescribing the patient a heel cushion to decrease shock absorption of the plantar fascia, as well as a short course of medication to decrease inflammation in the heel.

Stage 2 may involve cortisone injections into the heel region, if Stage 1 has failed to bring significant relief. Other modalities in Stage 2 include: orthotics, taping, physical therapy, and night splinting.

Stage 3 is for those who have had plantar fasciitis for one year or longer, whose symptoms are severe and preventing them from their job or recreation. It involves a surgical release of part of the insertion of the plantar fascia. However, this surgery is rare, as most people do have significant relief from non-surgical treatment.

Text prepared by Jonathan S. Jaivin, MD
Southern California Orthopedic Institute

[B_Ambuehl]

It is not a tendon injury it's an inflammation of the fascial tissue. It's usually caused by improper footwear and various restrictions that build up in the foot. What happens is the foot doesn't transfer stress properly so all the stress ends up congregating in your heel.

Best cure for the problem is custom made orthotics along with soft tissue release therapy which will break down the adhesions that are causing the problem. Basically if you dig your index finger into the heel and stretch the fascial tissue by moving your foot in a direction that pulls the toes up, you can often do some good on your own. If you do it right you should be able to hear it snapping and crackling as the inflamed fibers slide over your fingers. Do that same technique all over your foot and also up the back of your calf and it should help immensely.