Plantar Fasciitis hell

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Need a hand hold, had PF since March and it's been getting steadily worse even with treatment. Currently getting weekly shockwave therapy, halfway through the course and it's gotten so bad again, I'm struggling to stay on my feet as it's so sore and they're constantly burning and painful. Doing all the recommended things, you name it I've tried it. Seem to be just burning (pun intended) money away trying to solve it. Anyone who has had it, do you just have to ride it out and it'll go on its own? Need reassurance as really struggling, have two kids under 5 and a demanding events job where I need to be on my feet for 12 hours plus at a time. I've lost a stone, not overweight, I've got autoimmune conditions but nothing drastically out the ordinary. Just looking for reassurance I'll get better eventually and idea of timescales that others experienced 🫠

Arch support inserts from a local independent foot clinic were a genuine relief for me. They were £45 including the brief consultation. It was tempting to ask for the next ‘size’ up (ie height of arch) than I needed, but the right size is better.

Later on with other foot problems I self-referred to our NHS health centre podiatrist. I booked using a link supplied by my GP surgery. They were nothing short of amazing, and made arch supports on a machine to correct my gait on the spot.

I had PF in both feet for almost 2 years.
The thing that helped me the most was wearing orthotics specifically for PF.
It alters the angle of your foot so it is not resting on the painful bit.
Like others, I live in fear of it coming back. I now wear superfeet orthotics all the time.

ASICS trainers or trainers from specialist shop (we went to one in Richmond, SW London which sold a really good brand we hadn’t seen before). Gel insoles or if you can afford it, custom made 3-D printed inner soles for your trainers.

Shoes or slippers by the bed. The little mouse thing that provides an electric current - pretty cheap and you can do it every day.

Quite a few recommendations online about other shoes that you can wear but try to stick to trainers at all times.

Lots of great physio videos on the topic of plantar fasciitis on YouTube, we love Bob and Brad. Do the exercises and get the little balls with spikes etc.

Make sure others around you know how hard it is!

… and DO UP YOUR LACES PROPERLY! All my foot people have told me that (I still don’t listen).

https://plantarcure.com/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=1774763972&gbraid=0AAAAADj2Fe2jK22ZMNKIIvJqbtMZW26CZ&gclid=EAIaIQobChMInq6ZvZiFjwMVj5NQBh2WpTemEAAYASAAEgKPgvD_BwE

As this is in shopping, here’s what I meant by little mouse thing!

The ' little mouse thing' does nothing according to my foot guy. It's not powerful enough apparently. It's a good way of making money for the manufacturer.

Mine was caused by tight calves. Someone on here recommended a calf stretcher board from Amazon and I was cured in a few weeks. I had spent months at the podiatrist and physio and spent a fortune on orthotics etc. Noone even suggested tight calves.

Or for the foot guy 🤣

I'd already bought it & his prices were very reasonable.
I'd been paying for months of ineffective shockwave at £50 a pop - every week with an absolutely useless sports physio. This guy cured me within 4 sessions of very effective specific shockwave, taping & shoe recommendations.

I had it for about six or seven months without much improvement. Lots of the things that are supposed to help made it worse: ice bottle, spiky massage balls, stretching off a step, taping, physio, those weird socks. All worse.

The two things that worked for me: Fitflops with the microwobble board sole (just one pair round the house initially, although now I have lots of pairs - all my summer sandals and my work shoes are Fitflops! but I suspect there are other shoes with good support that would do the trick) and getting a very cheap slant board to stretch my calves (similar to this one).

My conclusion was that anything I was doing to the sole of the foot was hurting it more, when it was actually my super tight calves that were pulling on the structures in the foot. So for me stretching off a step was stretching the already inflamed sole and making it worse, whereas with the slant board, the foot was supported and only the calves were being stretched.

Once I added those two things, it cleared up in less than a month. It's been at least ten years, I still use the slantboard almost daily (it's behind the sofa, so I don't have to get it in and out) and do calf raises when brushing my teeth as my calves are still ridiculously tight.

I have hEDS, POTS and coeliac's so I do think there's something in the autoimmune connection.

We cross-posted! Basically my experience too

Reformer Pilates has eliminated my PF.

I’m a teacher and I found that mine is much better when I wear supportive shoes. I found some very comfortable boots in M&S which I wore all winter at work. My feet have been much better since. My foot had good support from all sides so there was no foot rolling etc. I still had a few problems when the weather improved and I needed more summery shoes but again I found the most supportive shoes for my feet and they seem to have helped.

It's a repetitive strain injury OP and so if you're continuing to be on your feet for 12 hours a day it's probably going to struggle/take a long time to heal. You need to give it time to recover with light exercise only from what I've read.

I have suffered from planters fasciitis twice in the last few years. The second time was horrendous, I bought different types of insoles, and I went to physiotherapy for several weeks, I also tried acupuncture and red light therapy, nothing worked. I suffered for months and struggled to walk. In desperation I went searching for the insoles that helped the first time. I couldn't buy then in the shops but was able to order them on Amazon. Within a few weeks the pain had lessened considerably. These insoles were the only thing that worked for me. I still have pain in my heel but it's 90% better then before.
Airplus 3/4 Length Orthotic Insole for Women – Full Arch Support, Deep Heel Cup & Gel Cushion – Helps with Plantar Fasciitis, Heel, Arch, Calf, Shin & Knee Pain.

I did have it years ago and it just stopped by itself after a few months. i have now recently gotten it back tho not as bad. I bought some inserts especially for this condition (not gel lining, more of a hard arch design to your feet). It's not any worse and I walk a lot so just grinning and bearing it again until it fades.

Well possibly it was the placebo effect with DH but he found it helpful!

Yes! This. Except mine didn't tear, it cracked. Weird but after that, rapidly better.

Not read everything OP, so ignore at will. Couple of thoughts - first are regular, continuous, monotonous exercises. Often a sign off weak feet from all the cushioning and supporting of our feet we do these days.

The other thought, you have an autoimmune condition. I’ve just started some research into neurological pain in sites of previous pain linked to oversensitivity of the nervous system (often linked to flares due to stress). I have this in two parts of the body where I’ve previously had infections - infections have both long gone but at times of stress, the pain comes back just as it did when infection present and it’s debilitating. Just a thought given you’ve tried lots of things and already have a compromised immune system.

This is curious because this happened for me too. It came back as soon as I stopped taking it.

It does have anti inflammatory properties

I got PF during pregnancy (DC now aged 8) - Doc said it was caused by my rapid weight gain in pregnancy (didn't show until 7.5 mths then looked like I was carrying full term almost overnight).
Anyway I ignored it as hoped it would get better then tried gel inserts etc. It didn't get better.
Eventually was referred to a physio and I had shockwave therapy which has improved it a bit, but I feel it's left me with nerve damage as sometimes the itch feeling inside of my heel (especially at bedtime) drives me mad. Physio said that shockwave wouldn't cause nerve damage so I am only reporting on my own experience.
Whilst I've had some improvement, I still can't really be barefoot for any length of time (and we live in a warm country, all marble/tiled floors), wear flip flops/ballet pumps and predominately wear heels if at work and wedges if not.

I had this for a while and it’s awful, I feel for you. What helped me was some rest and then semi regular exercise bike use. That seems to exercise the right bits and stretch those tendons. I’ve always walked a lot and used treadmills but now I add the bike too and it’s been fine for the last 18 months

Mine probably lasted for a year I'm sorry to say. But it DID eventually get better....it just took time. I was in a very bad way though, hobbling to the bathroom in the night and when I got up in the morning. It did slowly improve over that year though by doing the following:

Never, ever go barefoot. I wore Crocs as slippers inside the house and would take them with me if visiting someone else's house. I didn't let my bare feet touch the floor ever. I even had a pair of cheap arch support plastic sliders off Amazon for wearing in the shower.

Arch support in all of your footwear. Fitflops and Skechers have both been good brands for me and I also bought arch support insoles off Amazon for any of my shoes that didn't have support built in.

Downward dog yoga stretches as often as you can and try to press your heels towards the floor. It's a really good stretch for your legs and feet.

Don't stop walking. It seems counterintuitive but you need to keep your feet moving, just with supportive footwear on.

I bought a shiatsu foot massager and used it for 20 minutes every evening sat in front of the TV. It was so, so painful at first but really seemed to help.

Doing all this really sorted it out. I can now go barefoot if I need to but I stick to wearing the supportive footwear or insoles and wearing crocs as slippers and I've had no flare ups at all. I use the foot massager a couple of times a week still or if I've done a lot of walking just to keep on top of things.

I've had it earlier this year, it's awful, but I cured myself completely by doing these exercises (though it took 3-4 months to totally get rid of it). Look at this video from 3.40 ....

All the above, plus I use a lacrosse ball not only to stretch under my arches but also to work out any crunches in my heels. Icing after walking also helped.

Another thing that I have only just twigged since the pf has improved … I have been taking collagen for the past few weeks. Not only have my back and knee twinges improved but my pf has improved immeasurably. I even managed walking around a field for 3 days at a festival last weekend without a flare up - albeit in trainers with arch inserts but they hadn’t helped much previously.

Don’t know if you are peri or menopausal but taking a collagen supplement I really think is worth a try if you are.