Planters Fasciitis

[TimmyBoston]

My girlfriend has been suffering from this quite badly for a while now. I've got her doing the excercises, but they aren't doing too much good. I've been trying to get to her to go to a doctor, but her insurance wouldn't cover it so she's thus far been unwilling to go that route.

I've heard good things about the splints. Does anyone have a recommendation for one that has shown to be effective? Any other advice would be appreciated as well.

Thanks all!

[FLTiger]

This could help.

http://www.wpr.org/Zorba/resource_plantar_fasciitis.htm

[RoyalKooparillo]

Man, I feel sorry for her. I've had several clients over the years with planter fasciitis and I know it can be excruciating.

She really needs to be supporting her arches--all of the time. It's especially important in the morning when she gets out of bed. Those muscles and tendons are at their most vulnerable when they've been at rest for several hours. I recommend getting some supportive sandals to wear around the house, like Chacos. Going barefoot, even for a short period of time, can make things a lot worse.

If she can't afford to spring for custom beds for her shoes, she needs to find a footwear dealer that can fit her with Superfeet inserts. They are the only relatively inexpensive inserts I know of that support the feet properly. (Forget those cheap Dr. Scholls inserts from the drugstore, they can actually make things worse). Of crucial importance is a salesperson that can properly fit the arch to her foot (there are several different models with different-sized arches that are color-coded). Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Icing the under part of the foot can help, as can staying away from athletic activities for a little while. She should make sure her feet have time to rest (other than sleeping), and she may consider getting a night splint to keep the tendon slightly stretched at night. Unfortunately, until she sees a doctor and gets fitted for custom beds, there's not a whole lot else that can be done. Just try to keep those arches supported.

[don.putnick]

Ouch. I resemble that. I had PF for about a year. I go along with seeing a doctor, either an orthopedic surgeon or a podiatrist, even if her insurance doesn't cover it. I got hard orthotics (I ran absurd distances at the time) and a couple cortisone shots. With time, rest, and stretching it finally went away.

If she enjoys weight-bearing exercises, she'll need to switch to swimming for a while. If she's not a strong swimmer, she can use fins and a kickboard. And if she's overweight, now would be a good time to start losing.

Unless she's been medically diagnosed, it could also be a bone spur. So see a doc.

[SRock]

Man, I feel sorry for her. I've had several clients over the years with planter fasciitis and I know it can be excruciating.

She really needs to be supporting her arches--all of the time. It's especially important in the morning when she gets out of bed. Those muscles and tendons are at their most vulnerable when they've been at rest for several hours. I recommend getting some supportive sandals to wear around the house, like Chacos. Going barefoot, even for a short period of time, can make things a lot worse.

If she can't afford to spring for custom beds for her shoes, she needs to find a footwear dealer that can fit her with Superfeet inserts. They are the only relatively inexpensive inserts I know of that support the feet properly. (Forget those cheap Dr. Scholls inserts from the drugstore, they can actually make things worse). Of crucial importance is a salesperson that can properly fit the arch to her foot (there are several different models with different-sized arches that are color-coded). Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Icing the under part of the foot can help, as can staying away from athletic activities for a little while. She should make sure her feet have time to rest (other than sleeping), and she may consider getting a night splint to keep the tendon slightly stretched at night. Unfortunately, until she sees a doctor and gets fitted for custom beds, there's not a whole lot else that can be done. Just try to keep those arches supported.

Solid advice! One of my training partners when I was running in Iraq had some issues with this and he said the Superfeet helped him heal and keep him running.

[LexusAussie]

If she has had this for a while and the exercises aren't working, she should bite the bullet and see a Doctor.

I experienced what I believed to be Plantar Fasciitis and after a long period of time, it still hadn't recovered. After some tests, it was discovered that it was actually Plantar Fibroma. In short, a fibrous tumour on the underside of the foot. Symptoms are the same as Fasciitis but don't go away with Fasciitis treatment.

There are a range of treatments depending on where it was located but it can't simply be excised. In my case, treatment by injecting the tumour with cortico-steroids via ultrasound guidance resulted in the tumour shrinking and the pain going away.

[Ru4scuba?]

I'm a marathon runner and have been for years. Early on in my training, I had PF due to poor soles in my shoes.

A series of daily stretching exercises, combined with getting Superfeet insoles saved me.

I've been wearing Superfeet every time I run now for the last 8 years.

Good luck to your girlfriend...PF plain sucks and hurts like hell.

If you can't go to a doc due to costs, then it looks like someone like Royal K might be able to recommend some exercises to suit her needs.

All the best

[persco]

Royalkooparillo's advice is good. I had the same problem. I finally went to a podiatrist (foot doctor) who diagnosed me properly and fitted me for orthotics. After a few years of enduring pain, the orthotics fixed the problem. I was able to run again pain free. Start with Superfeet becuause it's the least expensive way to go first, if it doesn't work (they didn't help me) then see a podiatrist for a proper diagnosis. Some chiropractors fit people for orthotics, but I know a few people that had a bad experience going with a chircpractor for orthotics. I would stick to an actual foot doctor.

[Aneurysm]

Analgesia, Local H&L (steriod/lignocaine) injections, physio e.g. exercises, good footwear.
Surgical treatment is not usually effective (from what I gather from my Orthopaedic colleagues)
So far all the advice given is pretty good.

[Bushranger]

+1. Great advice RoyalK. see a good podiatrist for fixed form orthotics and keep up with the exercises (as difficult as they actually are to do properly). Yes, I have this among others as a service related 'souvenier'. lol

[Obsessed]

She might consider getting some Birkenstock sandals. They have great arch support and were once recommeded to me by a podiatrist when I had plantar fasciitis. (He also gave me orthotics, but they obviously don't work with sandals, which I like to wear in the summer.) They have a hard cork footbed that molds to your feet over time, so you have to break them in for a bit, but once you do they're really great.

[Bushranger]

+1 my podiatrist also recommended (and uses) Birkenstock sandals.

[macabrem]

I have PF also. I need to look into those Superfeet. I looked at their website and they seem pretty amazing. I didn't want to spend $500 or so for orthotics from a podiatrist - so I've been using the Dr. Scholls and some other off brand from walmart for their arch supports. I do get some relief from these but not enough.

[Bobtrumpet]

The Alzner inserts sold by The Good Feet stores (now Foot Efx here in Dallas; footefx.com) helped me with foot pain. They don't specifically carry the Alzner, but their Symmetry product line looks identical.

Good Feet (goodfeet.com) has a couple locations in Indiana.

They do have a reputation for "more aggressive than normal" sales techniques, but they do provide a good product.

The Alzner looks a lot like the WalkFit inserts (walkfit.com), but I haven't tried the WalkFit inserts yet to see how they perform. The Alzner's can be expensive, but I bought the gel version for about $70 several years ago.

[tpoof]

OOooo. I had it bad... could barely even walk, such pain... terrible.
As a carpenter who is on his feet all day, and wearing a pouch full of tools, the stress on the ol arches was too much.
After my determination wasn't working any more from pain overload I went to a podiarist and was sent to a specialist to get fitted for custom Orthotics and also to have Physio Therapy for aprox 2 months.. Ultrasound and laser treatments along with aggressive massage therapy seemed to lessen the pain along with ice baths..
The custom Orthotics saved me and it took a few months of constant wear to get used to the new stresses of having my weight loaded differently, the sore legs and back were at first disturbing but soon the new feeling was accepted and the pain started to go away.
Now a year later it is as if I never had the problem in the first place!
I can run and climb and walk pain free!
Never thought that would happen.
I wear my custom Ortho's always.
For me, It was the answer and I would recommend it highly.
worth every penny... if you like to walk.

[Walter Sobchak]

I had it, too, in both feet. My right foot was incredibly painful. I got some velcro/cloth arch splints, took anti-inflammatories (don't know if they helped, but doc said to), and kept cans of soup in the fridge for rolling under my arches at night. The cold soup cans worked really well.

I had to stop wearing Doc Martens. Those Bouncing soles either caused or exacerbated the PF in me. Once I had shoes with support that was better suited to my feet, things got better relatively quickly.

[DunEdinRanger]

Has she tried elevating her feet slightly while sleeping? Using heel inserts in her shoes? Ice?

BTW what kind of shoes is she wearing? What's the wear pattern like?

[tpoof]

I had it, too, in both feet. My right foot was incredibly painful. I got some velcro/cloth arch splints, took anti-inflammatories (don't know if they helped, but doc said to), and kept cans of soup in the fridge for rolling under my arches at night. The cold soup cans worked really well.

I had to stop wearing Doc Martens. Those Bouncing soles either caused or exacerbated the PF in me. Once I had shoes with support that was better suited to my feet, things got better relatively quickly.

Since you posted that it reminded me of the *frozen pop bottles of water* that I used to roll under my arches...

[bordeaaj]

Solid advice! One of my training partners when I was running in Iraq had some issues with this and he said the Superfeet helped him heal and keep him running.

+ 1 for Superfeet. They helped heal me when even expensive custom orthotics did not. Rolling the bottom of the foot on a frozen bottle of water to stretch out the muscle also helped somewhat as well...but the Superfeet made all the difference. I got about 5 pairs to replace the insoles in all of my shoes a couple of years ago and still use them today to prevent it from returning. I was told to wear certain types of shoes and avoid others but by replacing the insoles with Superfeet it doesn't matter what kind of shoes I wear.

[juleswinnfield]

That sucks sorry about that. My dad had that and he got the doctor referred him to a special sole making company, and they made some expensive "Dr. Scholls" for all his shoes!