Plantar fasciitis (pronounced PLAN-tar fashee-EYE-tiss) is an inflammation of the plantar fascia. "Plantar" means the bottom of the foot, "fascia" is a type of connective tissue, and "itis" means "inflammation".
Heel spurs are soft, bendable deposits of calcium that are the result of tension and inflammation in the plantar fascia attachment to the heel. Heel spurs do not cause pain. They are only evidence (not proof) that a patient may have plantar fasciitis.
Causes of Plantar Fasciitis
The condition is usually caused by a change or increase in activities, no arch support, lack of flexibility in the calf muscles, being overweight, a sudden injury, using shoes with little cushion on hard surfaces, using shoes that do not easily bend under the ball of the foot, or spending too much time on the feet. The cause is usually unknown and mysterious to the patient.
People with plantar fasciitis are 27 times more likely to be overweight from either fat or muscle than underweight. Finding a healthy weight can be instrumental in reducing pain from plantar fasciitis.
These are the most successful treatments reported by plantar fasciitis sufferers:
- Rest was ranked as a good "treatment". It takes 12 to 36 hours for many soft-tissue injuries to reach their maximum soreness, so it's often difficult to know when you're overdoing it or which particular activity (like squatting or climbing stairs) caused the pain to increase again. Swimming is one of the few safe alternative exercises.
- Ice is a miracle cure for soft-tissue injuries. Ice is not only great for professional football players with knee or shoulder injuries, but also for desk-jockeys who can't seem to get rid of their heel pain.
Applying ice after activity or injury is crucial. It may be beneficial to apply it up to 5 times a day.
The best method of applying ice seems to be freezing a can of beans and applying it for 5 minutes. It can be reused, it doesn't melt and get things wet, and the metal transfers cold better than a plastic water bottle.
It's best to keep the injury cool as much as possible for up to 48 hours after the injury, but cooling it for only 5 minutes after the activity provides possibly 50% of the benefit. I would apply ice every evening immediately after daily activities.
Keeping a recent injury cool reduces internal "micro-bleeding" that can lead to micro-scars (and spur formation) and keeps inflammation down. Some sources say apply ice for 15 minutes, but that is too long unless there is something like plastic or cloth that is partially insulating the ice from the skin.
The tissue should be made cold, but not frozen. If the skin turns blue, it has been applied for too long.
Some effort should be made to enjoy the ritual of applying ice so that you're not discouraged from doing it.
- Stretching the calf muscles without reinjuring the fascia before getting out of bed in the morning and a few times per day is well-known to be a cure for many patients. It's difficult to explain why stretching the calf muscle helps the heel, but to state it briefly, if the calf muscles allow the foot to bend back easily then there will be less tension in the bottom of the foot when walking or running.
If the foot cannot bend back as far as needed, then it translates into excessive tension in the plantar fascia and Achilles tendon. Several visitors have emailed to say that religiously stretching after extended periods of sitting down at work and before walking was the cure.
Not stretching before walking may cause a re-injury that can take a week to overcome, so consistently stretching before walking is crucial in many cases. But stretching too much can hurt the heel and Achilles tendon.
The usual advice is to never stretch a cold muscle, but I believe this rule needs to be mostly ignored and taken as a warning against over-stretching when dealing with plantar fasciitis.
- Tape can be used to give the fascia rest without reducing activity. Athletic tape can be bought at all pharmacies. You can find diagrams on the Internet to show you how to best tape your foot.
- Arch support is often recommended by doctors and journal articles.
Author Resource:-
Jack R. Landry has worked as a podiatrist and foot surgeon for the past 14 years and written hundreds of articles about various foot conditions including plantar fasciitis.
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