Plantar fasciitis

[LuckyLuckyWoman]

Suffering with constant pain, which is really getting me down now.

How did you treat yours and how long till you saw some improvement?

Mine was worst first thing in the morning. Doing some point & flex exercises in bed each morning before putting my foot to the ground in the morning was the first thing that actually helped in the short term.

Longer term I started reading Katy's https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/product/simple-steps-to-foot-pain-relief/

It all sounded a bit counter intuitive but calf stretches basically sorted me out.

Hope you find what you need.

I really, really struggled with this a couple of years ago. It's so painful! I think it continued for well over a year. I invested in shoes with good arch support - this helped a bit but I think the biggest thing that made a difference in the end was losing weight. The pain has completely gone now and is a distant memory thankfully.

In the short term, I used ice packs to help alleviate the pain, massaged my feet and followed the foot exercises that I found online.

I stopped drinking Coke, Diet Coke and coffee and only wear arched shoes or Birkenstock’s. It literally stopped overnight. If I have a can of Diet Coke because I get complacent then the inflammation comes back. I had years of constant foot pain.

Do not go in barefoot ever, no flat shoes like ballet pumps or converse.
Wear crocs indoors where possible
Buy some Tulys gel heel cups on Amazon for your shoes.
And calf stretches off bottom step.
It took about 6 months to get rid of mine
All this advice was from occupational health at work

That's so interesting @ParisNext. How did you find out that coke was the culprit?

If you can, see a physio who specialises in foot issues or a podiatrist. I got custom made orthotics and it's the only thing that completely got rid of mine.

Highly recommend you make an appointment with a good podiatrist if you can. One who specialises is musculoskeletal issues and not just toenails.

Mine is much better since I've been wearing supportive shoes round the house, upon my pods recommendation, but if it hadn't improved there was possibility of shoe insoles (made specifically for me after gait analysis etc) Those did wonders for my mum's sciatica.
Interested in the coke/coffee link Paris
Good luck OP

I had to give up caffeine as my sleep was very broken and after about a week my husband noticed that I didn’t put my house Birkenstock’s on when I got out of bed! I use the previous summers pair as slippers as it was so bad I never went barefoot. Since then it’s been a dramatic improvement so much so that I actually thought about starting a thread with my discovery for other sufferers! I have since had the odd can of diet or zero coke and found it comes back within a few hours so I’m strictly on the wagon now. I think Diet Coke must be pretty bad as I found the same when ttc and struggled until I gave it up so it must cause some sort of imbalance or inflammation. Without Birkenstock’s (and now they do winter boots) I would probably still have some problems though. It’s miserable and can’t be explained unless you’ve experienced it. Good luck.

@ParisNext

I stopped drinking Coke, Diet Coke and coffee and only wear arched shoes or Birkenstock’s. It literally stopped overnight. If I have a can of Diet Coke because I get complacent then the inflammation comes back. I had years of constant foot pain.

That's really interesting - I've had it in some form for 13 years now!

Useful info @ParisNext, thanks!

I found acupuncture as helpful as anything - calf stretching and rolling a golf ball under my foot as well. It can ages to clear up. Best of luck.

I do think I might do a thread on my “discovery”! I found that wearing Birkenstocks morning and night is the same as doing the exercises. Then addressed the inflammation. I do think it is inflammation as I ate a bag of tangy cheap sweets at a children’s party and they had a similar effect!

Now, I consider myself something of an expert, having been in agony with both feet at the same time and tried everything.

The way I eventually recovered was:

• every morning before first putting foot to the ground, stretch calf and foot using a strap (dressing gown belt) around foot and pulling towards you. Hold seconds. Do this several times.
• also before first standing roll on a rolling pin for several minutes. I didn't find the frozen bottle helpful because you can't keep it up for long enough without it becoming too uncomfortable.
• Ice. Rest the sole of your foot on frozen peas for as long as you can bear as often as you can possibly manage during the day. I mean a lot. Peas are good because they mould to the shape of your foot.
• keep stretching calf throughout the day. I did it everytime I used the loo

So, for me, basically all the things people usually suggest but much more often than seems reasonable.

I paid a lot for custom made shoe inserts that didn't help at all.

I suffered for long time but once I started taking my rehab seriously, like this, improvement was quite quick.

Since then I've stretched my calves regularly, ice at the slightest twinge and (fingers crossed) it's stayed away for 2 years now.

*Hold 30 seconds. These exercises help whatever time of day you do them but first thing seemed to have a lasting effect throughout the day.

I agree @LegendaryReady I hammered everything I got told inc ice packing it any moment I could too.

I had it in both feet for about 2 years. I saw a podiatrist who recommended exercises (most of which I felt I was doing fairly regularly anyway - I practice yoga, so lots of calf lengthening via downward dog), but then realised my calves were super tight. Started having them massaged (OUCH!), and then massaged myself every morning once I worked out how hard to press and general technique from the proper massage. That's what sorted it out. I still massage calves regularly, but not nearly as often as I was when suffering.

I have shortened tendons in my calves etc from years of high heel wearing but it's also lead to PF. It all came to a head about 7 years ago when I could hardly get out of bed without hanging onto the wall. My feet would just burn all day, even when I was sitting or lying down and were so tender I could hardly bear to rest one on top of the other in bed. I made an appointment with a private physio after hearing horror stories about waiting on NHS and she sorted me out in a few sessions of ultrasound and horribly painful massage. The calf massages seriously made me want to cry but it did seem to work. I'd go private if you can afford it. My nerve pain and burning sensation had begun to progress up into my legs and groin so I'm glad I got it sorted sooner rather than later and although I'm still stiff sometimes, its never been as bad again.

For me, wearing orthotics (from a podiatrist but off the shelf not custom made) in trainers plus calf stretches and massage, ice roller, massage on a spiky physio ball shifted mine, I still wear orthotics some of the time and Birkenstocks a lot of the time but only get the odd twinge now and can walk around barefoot quite happily again.

The podiatrist specifically told me to avoid shoes with soft soles such as Crocs and the Skechers with memory foam soles, I have kept my crocs for the garden but can't wear them for any length of time to walk in otherwise the twinges start back up again.

As PPs suggested, do some stretches before getting up, also do a lot of calf stretches. The thing that helped me most though was using arch support soles in all my shoes. Good luck, I hope you feel better soon.

Just to agree, yes, calf stretches and wearing Birkenstocks or Fitflops (including the shoes for work - I have quite the selection now) sorted mine out.

I use a foam slant board (a triangle of polystyrene) to stretch my calves, as doing stretches on a step made my feet hurt more.

Birkenstocks fixed it for me. I wore them constantly when acute and now I still wear them most days (I live in a hot country) but sometimes also wear flats.
At home. I wear them all the time.
I did not need anything else although a spiky dildo looking foot massager helped a bit; you simply rolled it under your foot.

yes to physio.

also agree with pp wrt shoes. nothing entirely flat and preferably something with a deep footbed (birkenstock type)
trainers are ok as long as not skecher's memory foam or converse type (other brands are available.

take a magnesium supplement.

I wore an ankle support sock and still wear it sometimes at night. I did calf stretches frequently and still do them once a day. It improved a lot with this and wearing sensible supportive lace up shoes outdoors. The pain only went when I started wearing the same style shoes indoors as well as out.

Can anyone recommend shoes for an office job? Needs to be smart - my go to are black ballet pumps (I know, I know), black court shoes or black boots. I don’t like being open toed in the office. Would somewhere like
M&S be a good shout?

Fitflops