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Original poster

Plantar Faciitis

109 replies

RosesandPumpkins · 26/06/2021 20:11

Help me please!

I’ve tried everything. Straps, insoles, heel pads, physio, massage, stretching, yoga, laying off the running and doing swimming and cycling instead.

But it still hurts. I’m at my wits end!!!

I’ve done 3 yoga classes this week and I’m still in pain ffs.

What is wrong with me?!

OP posts:
Planttrees · 26/06/2021 21:12

Rolling a tennis ball all the time whilst sat at my desk worked for me. It did take several weeks of doing it daily and I still do it when I remember now.

ThursdayLastWeek · 26/06/2021 21:12

The variety of answers on this thread should encourage you to get YOUR feet seen by someone with expertise!

Miranda15110 · 26/06/2021 21:12

Acupuncture sorted mine.

Interested in this thread?

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Exercise & fitness Fitness General health
Original poster
RosesandPumpkins · 26/06/2021 21:13

I’ve had it for 15 months now. I am over weight although I have lost some since it started.

I have been wearing asics or sketchers or one pair of boots with gel heel inserts. I don’t wear anything else. Ever.
I’m never barefoot.

The physio wondered if it was fat pad inflammation rather than PF because the pain is 100% in my heels only and never goes towards my plantar or arch.

It’s one specific point on my heel but my fuck is it sore.
My feet hurt even when I’m wearing sketchers, they just hurt slightly less.

I do the rolling with a ball thing and I’ve been taking ibuprofen too.

Next step at physio is a foot scan to see what’s actually going on which I will do but I really wanted to cure it myself!!

OP posts:
ThePontiacBandit · 26/06/2021 21:13

Sketchers set mine off in the first place! Avoid if you’re a half size.

Mine were cured by:

  • never going barefoot in the house (I bought fitflop slippers)
  • wore my running trainers all the time
however what really made the difference was the sexy socks see here see the problem with PF is that your foot drops overnight and that’s why it hurts so much in the morning. These socks stop that drop and they cured me within about 4 weeks.
Panda368 · 26/06/2021 21:14

Get your dr to refer you for and ultrasound guided cortisone injection. The ONLY thing that fixed me.

That and being very careful about my running footwear for years afterwards

Staywithmemyblood · 26/06/2021 21:15

Poor you @RosesandPumpkins 💐

I started getting plantar fasciitis a couple of years ago, and it got really bad during the first lockdown. Tried various stretches, threw away my ballet pumps, stopped wearing converse and tried different ‘comfy’ trainers but nothing helped.

Last summer I bought a pair of Josef Siebel clogs (which my teenage DD thinks are the ugliest shoes ever 🙈) which I wear for driving and work. I wear Birkenstock’s round the house. After a few months my PF improved and has pretty much gone now. I think the wee heel on the clogs has made the difference.

I’m still searching for the perfect trainers. I recently bought a pair of Nike wearalldays but they’re rubbing my heels 😬

Good luck OP - you may have to embrace the ugly shoes!

Adifferentstory2 · 26/06/2021 21:26

Ibruprofen (with food and not if you have stomach issues)
No barefoot - ever and certainly no cold floors
Cushioned soles (sketchers etc)
Massage - if you can curl your foot into your lap, use a bit of oil and rub your thumbs up and down quite firmly
Really horrible so sympathy to you

inmyslippers · 26/06/2021 21:32

I second fit flops.

Eleoura · 26/06/2021 21:33

I've had it 18mths, then suddenly, it stopped! I get the odd twinge now, but nothing like it was.

I had physio for months and did all the exercises, a gait assessment and bought new trainers, lost 10kg and nothing helped at all!

The physio stopped, since lockdown I've put the 10kg + more on again, and woke up one day and the tearing, pain had gone!!! No idea why, or whether the physio was exacerbating it, but I'm glad its eased. I'm still awaiting to actually see a specialist about it- 2yrs on!

HandlebarLadyTash · 26/06/2021 21:36

@thepontiacbandit super sexy socks 😍 they were on my list to try. All my day today sock are sports type ones with a support band where the arch is.

VerticalHorizon · 26/06/2021 21:37

I used to sit, stretch out my leg, and then point my toes towards my knees as much as I could until it felt like I was at my limit and hold that position for 30 seconds. Then repeat 5 times. It fixed it for me after about a week.

Odisia · 26/06/2021 21:38

Mine comes and goes, and has been awful. It's ok now. I only have one tip -
-never walk around the house or anywhere else in bare feet. The only time i walk barefoot is on the beach on holiday.

blametheparents · 26/06/2021 21:41

Electro shockwave therapy.
Only thing that worked for me. Amazing.
Painful to have done, and generally you need three treatments one week apart, but definitely worth it. Some physios now offer this and so it is getting cheaper than when I had it done by a consultant. A local physio offers it at 3 sessions at £110 each.

Secretsout · 26/06/2021 21:41

I literally tried everything, stretches, rolling, ice, wearing a special boot, insoles. I could not get rid of it.

Was booked for a steroid injection when I read somewhere to try Fit Flops, the ugly ones. My god, I was totally cured within 2 weeks and it had been going on for a year.

ThePontiacBandit · 26/06/2021 22:13

handlebarladytash I know right?! But they really did make the difference!

Didiplanthis · 26/06/2021 22:26

The injections are really a last resort now. They used to be bog standard GP treatment, quick and easy to do although bloody painful to have. However the recent evidence shows that they can do more harm than good as there are potentially quite serious although rare side effects. There was also little evidence for long term benefit. As with all these things some people will do very well with injections, but in many people who it appeared to work in, it would have gone away anyway . As medicine increasingly has more evidence on traditional treatments, proceedures and drugs which used to be common place have become less so, as they have to be defensible.. there is still a definite place for injections in resistant cases but they are invariably ultrasound guided now to get to point of maximal inflammation so are not usually done in GP surgeries as you need a skilled uss technician.

stayathomer · 26/06/2021 22:33

My son has this, after seeing a physio and doctor now every night he sits and rolls a bottle of water under his feet for five minutes. He has specialised insoles fitted for him in the sports shop and was told to wear the runners anytime he's even moving around the house. Definitely keep looking for a specialist who can help you, his has improved so much

Lemonlady22 · 26/06/2021 22:33

I had a steroid injection...in the sole of my foot....it hurt!

Kona84 · 26/06/2021 22:46

Bare foot walking is the only thing that worked for me.
I had this along with shin splints- I couldn’t walk far and would wake up with calf cramps so bad that I would scream and cry.
I dealt with this for about 2 years like you I had physio, special insoles.
Stretched several times a day, iced them. Heated them. Everything.
Then I read an article about barefoot running which corrected over or under probation.
My physio has used that terminology before said I was an over pronator- so I tried it.
It took a few months- I would walk up and down my street with my dog in just socks. I would make sure that the majority of my day was with no shoes. It’s been about 5 years now since my last flare up and the flare was due to me walking up old man conniston with rigid hiking boots.

Kona84 · 26/06/2021 22:48

I think the reason it worked for me is that my foot muscles got stronger and my feet were allowed to move through their natural range of motion without a shoe restricting them

Sotiredandhangry · 26/06/2021 22:50

I cannot wear sketchers atall. They are too soft and make my pf worse. Fit Flops all the way for me. I wear lace up fitflops at work, 12 hour shifts on my feet all day and couldn't cope without them.
I've just bought some fitflop mules for around the house, so comfy!

Wallywobbles · 26/06/2021 22:55

Vionic inner soles in everything. Birkentixk flipflops. That's all that's left to you from now to forever.

Do you have very tight calves? Because you can work on them.

Skybubble · 26/06/2021 22:59

A tens machine from Argos works for me and rolling my foot over a plastic dog bone shape toy from wilkos 😊

IseeScottishhills · 26/06/2021 23:09

My husband cured his which he had for over 18 months by buying very expensive ASICS trainers. He’s mid fifties the last time he’d worn trainers was when he was at school. He walks badly at the best of times he wears his shoes out only on one side and has low arches it took me many months to persuade him to buy some but he was only saying today that he was forced to admit they have cured it; on the odd day occasions he gets a twinge of it coming back it’s because he’s not worm his trainers but normal shoes. He hates the look of his trainers but accepts that they cured his planter tendon fasciitis.
I stand on my feet all day average 17-25 000 steps a day and have arthritis in my feet end have had episode of planter tendon fasciitis in the past and found that trainers which provide good support and a thick gel soles ( top end ASICS are the best IME) give me the biggest relief of symptoms.