Plantar Fasciitis

Warning:  I have no medical training so do the following at your own risk.  Talk to your doctor and health experts first before doing any of the below.  Do at your own risk.

Ideally, only do the prevention steps after the repair steps have healed the plantar.  Do the repair steps as needed at the first sign of a plantar niggle.  Catch it and stop in its infancy.

Repairing plantar can take many months even if everything is done correctly.

Repair:

1.     Rest: Easy to say. The right thing to do. The hardest thing to do. We always cheat.

2.     Inserts: Hard or semi-hard inserts in everything, including the first step out of bed in the morning until you go to bed at night - including slippers and bikes.

3.     Solid Foot Brace: Not a sock brace. Sleep with it every night – all night.

4.     Roll Your Foot: Some say roll with a frozen bottle.  Ice can reduce inflammation as does ibuprofen. Some say any roller of the many sold.  Do it several times a day. Do it while you brush teeth in AM and PM.

5.     Foot Heat: Use a heating pad wrapped around your plantar for 20 minutes several times a day.  Blood is needed to heal.  Plantar does not have much blood flow.

6.     Stretching: Careful here.  Stretching an injured plantar can make it worse. Stretching your calf and hamstring can help.

Prevent:

1.     Strengthen the Plantar: Like bicep curl, do the same with your foot in bed before you open your eyes and in bed before you fall asleep.  Curl your toes down and towards you.

2.     Stretch: Plantars can pull and tear themselves or pull heal bone off when they stretch too far.  Stretch the entire back of legs from butt, hamstrings, back of knee joint, and calf.  Only stretch plantar when it is not hurt, or you may hurt it more.

3.     Run Soft: Short strides, fast turnover, don’t push off with ball of foot or toes, minimize time foot on ground (foot first touches down underneath you, and immediately allow it to recoil back up), knee pulled primarily forward with ankle following, weight more on the outside of foot not on the inside where it puts more pressure on the plantar.

4.     Kinesiology tape: Stretchable tape to support facia when exercising.

No shots or surgery, except as a last resort, after everything above has been 100% faithfully and consistently been tried for 12 months. 

Caution:

Again, this is from many hours of reading, research and several years of struggling with plantar.  I am not a medical professional of any kind.