Plantar Fasciitis.

[HermiioneSnape02]

Newly diagnosed with this.

Looking for shoe, trainer, flip flop, sandal recommendations.

I've been told about Sketchers Go Walk, but before I spend £50 on a pair would love to have some real life reviews.

I'm waiting for an appointment for some in soles to be made, but in the meantime have bought some of Amazon, so waiting for these to come.

To add I'm a size 5.5 so this limits the shoes that are available to me too.

TOMS shoes. Really comfortable for walking.

Sizes come up big.

You really should see a physiotherapist about treating and then preventing PF. Once the initial injury & inflammation has settled down, walking barefoot around the house is an excellent preventative, together with deep stretching of the Achilles, and exercises which help you to work & articulate the very tightly-packed muscles & ligaments in your foot. Using a roller for your arch made from a small waterbottle filled with frozen water helps, as does doing what I call the "foot Olympics" - picking up tea towels (and then heavier towels) with your toes - so you develop articulation of all the intrinsic muscles in your working foot, and strength and balance in your supporting ankle & foot.

Also, shoes which are supportive around the heel, and with a slight heel - not completely flat shoes. I know others recommend trainers, but they're not actually that good for your feet ...

Google "Alfredsons drops" - great for stretching calves & Achilles. Far better to fix the cause of PF - it often comes from imbalance and bad alignment & posture - Pilates or Alexander Technique can also help, as they teach you how to live in your body in a balanced way - in the West we tend to put far too much weight back in or heels, and not work through our feet properly. Just doing the baby ballet "good toes, naughty toes" can be beneficial - anything really that teaches you how to move safely with an aligned skeleton. Most people have dreadful posture & slump down into their hops & pelvic girdle.

good advice here on the shoes - but remember to take anti-inflammatory tablets (ibubrofen) too

also, hate to say it, but my PF went away when I lost weight (not a huge amount and I was only ever mildly overweight - but going down to the middle of the normal range seemed to make all the difference). Thin people do get PF too, don't get me wrong. Just mechanically, though, it seems that being lighter is likely to be easier on the feet, and a quick google confirms that being overweight increases the risk of having PF. So for anyone who wants to lose weight anyway and has PF, maybe an extra motivation.

I suffered from.this earlier in the year when I fell awkwardly from a train platform.

It was ok in the winter because I tend to wear Chelsea boots but when the weather got warmer I couldn't wear any flat shoes.

I bought a cheap pair of plimsoll trainers from Primark and orthotics. I wear the plimsolls to work abd change into normal shoes.

The PF has almost disappeared now but I wore flip flops all weekend and could feel the tell tale pain this morning which has now gone.

I found stretching my foot helped massively.

I had terrible PF a couple of years ago. These inserts worked wonders for me: heelthatpain.com
I've kept them around just in case I need them again, but so far I haven't.

Lots of replies. Thank you.

I'm interested about the calf muscle exercises. Just lately before this flared up so badly I've been experiencing a lot of cramp in my legs and ankles. And I mean a lot. If I sit with my legs up, crossed Or if I pointed my toes in bed. Stretched a specific way in bed too.
I will look Into that thanks.

Lots of opinions on shoes. It seems to be trial and error.

I'm not sure I can bring myself to buy some crocs though sorry

I've bought a pair of sketchers. Even if they don't work for my PF. I'm always on the look out for comfortable shoes as a lot rub me.

Terrible feet I have

Believe me OP, I felt that way about my crocs too. I won't even answer the door in them
But, the relief has to be felt, to be believed.
The bliss my poor heel felt after a day at work, was worth the unstylish footwear I was sporting.

I can vouch for Birkenstocks too :)

Calf and foot stretches, especially before getting up in the morning really helped. I did look at Skechers but they looked clunky on my feet (have massive flippers anyway) so got a pair of Nike Pegasus 83 with gel insoles. Feet feel much better. I find Nikes quite padded and they don't rub.

I was about to post a similar thread. I'm desperately in need of smart but comfortable and non-frumpy shoes for work. Any ideas? I have lace up brogue type shoes I can wear with insoles but I need something more summery.

I live in trainers as much as poss, but will be trying out the exercises on here now thanks

I have had cortisone injections in my heel for the PF. It's meant I am now pain free in order to increase my level of exercise and lose weight to prevent a reinflamation so weight loss is a good idea as well. A shoe with a heel always helped, flats were the death!

YY to the stretches. I have had fantastic results with Fitflops. They are comfy and supportive - I wear the lace up casual ones, the ankle boots for dog walking and a pair of the thong sandals for round the house in the summer. I also wear Hotter sandals/shoes with the gel heel supports. I avoid going barefoot. Switching to the Fitflops has transformed my life - from intermittent painful episodes that occurred regularly, I now am almost entirely pain free unless I do something which will trigger it (like wearing unsuitable shoes). I also make sure I do my stretches regularly.

Agree with all these ideas. Be patient; it can take months to recover. The pain is awful and it's so debilitating. I understand that hard flooring on bare feet and flip flops are major causes, so bare that in mind..

Well I had to go out yesterday afternoon so wore these with a small heel and it's the most comfortable I've felt in 2 weeks. So obviously a small heel does work.
I'm off to have a look at fitflops now.
Thanks again everyone.

I have these www.clarks.co.uk/p/26117159 and they are more comfortable than my sketchers, not the most exciting style wise but I can walk a few miles without pain.

Thanks chuch they look good. I'm going shopping Friday for some shoes so will have a look at those.

Calf stretches, physio, rolling my foot over a cold tennis ball or can from the fridge, Birkenstocks, and, eventually, a cortisone shot into my heel. Still won't wear anything with too flat an insole in case it flares up again, though I can get away with some Nike trainers (and Brooks Ravenna for running). Fitflops for me were horrendous.

Low Swedish wedge clogs like Swedish Hasbeens and Lotta from Stockholm were/are also weirdly comfortable - I think I less need heel cushioning and more something fairly firm holding up the arch.

Aldi and Lidl often have good insoles for runners, very supportive and gem-like.

Another vote for stretching, and for strengthening your feet.

The absolute best shoes to wear are zero drop, flexible sole, barefoot style - but you need to strengthen your feet first.

"Holding up your arches" greatly weakens your feet - arches are designed to be compressed from above only - think about a stone arch and what happens when you push up at the underside. Problems occur when you transition quickly from shoes with arch support to shoes with none as your foot will have lost all of its natural strength from being splinted by the arch support.

Heels are bad for your feet, and also throw your entire body out if alignment

If you have tight calves, your hamstrings are probably really tight too - get (carefully) touching your toes

"The absolute best shoes to wear are zero drop, flexible sole, barefoot style - but you need to strengthen your feet first."

Hmm, I've talked to quite a few physios and podiatrists and that's not a universally held opinion.

I've done a lot of foot, calf, and hamstring exercises (I've had low arches since childhood), and I'm still not able to wear completely flat soled shoes. I don't care if arch supporting shoes are some kind of evil prop that greatly weaken the feet and remove their natural strength, they enable me to walk - the bout of PF that literally had me crippled for six months was from running in shoes with a flexible sole when I thought my feet were perfectly fine. Given that I don't need to prepare for being barefoot for the rest of my life, I'll stick with the Birks.

I have PF and heel spurs. I stopped wearing orthotics after months as they weren't curing the heel pain plus I had the suspicion they were actually exacerbating a knee pain problem in the same leg. At the moment I'm finding gel insoles a better alternative - using Pro11 wellbeing ones which have a material upper layer so they are not sticky.

Footwear wise I have size 9 feet which are quite narrow, limiting my options somewhat so I often wear New Balance trainers or Clarks. I might try Fitflops as I think they also do my size. I can't sleep in night splints but stretch feet before getting out of bed and that's a big help. In daytime I like the exercise where you rest your foot on the opposite knee in a sitting position and pull your toes towards you as a stretch.