My plantar fasciitis is getting worse
Posted , 69 users are following.
I am a very active and sporty female who has had plantar fasciitis for a month now. It all started with me sitting in a chair and trying to curl my toes upwards when I suddenly felt a stabbing pain in my left heel. At first I thought that it was a cracked heel but was puzzled at how on earth it would have happened with me taking a good care of my feet and doing regular pedicures.
And then I immediately thought about plantar fasciitis because I have two friends who have had it. I was waiting for a week for it to go away, hoping that I was wrong but that didn't happened. Went to my doctor who confirmed what I suspected - plantar fasciitis. I was devastated as I love going for long walks, running and doing boot camp style circuits several times per week as well as regular personal training sessions. I work as a housekeeper in a private home, so most of my day is spent being on my feet. This was the worst possible condition I could get!
I spent 3 weeks feeling utterly miserable and depressed. Lost my appetite, lost 3kg of my weight and had nightmares about dead bodies.
Meanwhile my personal trainer tried to persuade me to see a physiotherapist in a clinic where he used to work. I went there 3 days ago and regained my peace of mind. I am lucky in that respect that I caught it early, I knew what it was right away and stopped running and exercising except for walking. I had a full gait analysis and the results were quite shocking for me. Apparently my lower back muscles are very weak and cannot support my pelvis when I walk or run. Also I have a tight calf muscle (soleus) in my left leg. Both these things combined make me pronate inwards heavily while walking and running. The stress of it was too much for my plantar fascia and it resulted in a mechanical trauma.
The physiotherapist was quite optimistic about my recovery and even advised me to continue exercising including running but avoid jumping. I am not sure about running but I am happy that I can continue my daily walks and not worry about causing any further damage to my foot. I will also have to do exercises to strenghen my lower back muscles and release the tension in my left calf.
I also did a research about dietary requirements with this condition and herbal remedies. I am against synthetic drugs. Haven't taken anything since I was 17! Apparently, we should eat lots of salmon, sardines and pineapples. Luckily I love all these things and am very well stocked up on them now.
From the list of herbal remedies stinging nettles caught my eye. Four years ago I cured my lower back pain by placing nettles straight on my back. So, now I am putting them on my foot inside the sock. I am also drinking bucketloads of nettle tea and even soaking my feet in it. It might be just psychological or a placebo effect but all my pain and discomfort is gone.
I am not saying that everybody should try it but it certainly helps me. I definitely think that it is worthwhile having your gait analysed. As resting and not exercising alone will not cure the root problem.
Unfortunately, this thing is getting worse for me. Been in pain for 4 days, cannot put the heel to the ground, so I am half limping half tiptoeing around at work.
Needless to say it's making me depressed and miserable again. I am ready to try anything if it helps! If there is somebody who jas succesfully got rid of this condition, please, please, let me know how you did it!
Thanks for reading and good luck to you all!
4 likes, 163 replies
jazz04834 yasmiina
Posted
Calf self massage & stretch - For SUPER tight calves .. YouTube.
Thanks for sharing. Mine is almost three months. I agree totally staying positive and believe it will heal.
Check the iron level as the inflammation depleting the iron as that can get you tired and depressed
thank again!
Time will heal anything!!
Not it a friend of custom insole. It make you feel better but learning to walk with healthy gait in right alignment get you go further.
On the healing journey
cedrik35203 yasmiina
Posted
1) get wedge high heal sandals and shoes you want to make sure that they support your feet. make sure that they are no higher than 2 inches.
if one inch makes your feet feel better ware them.
make sure that you ware them any time you are on your feet even in the house.
this will stop your from tearing that tendon any more.
2) take an anti inflammatory your choice
3) stretching exercises use heat before hand to make sure that the tendons are soft. either use a heating pad or hot water bottle. use the heat for 10 to 15 min's
the stretching you want to do are as follows
A) while sitting on a chair bring your foot back so it is under the chair keeping your toes flat on the ground lift up your heal like you are taking a step make sure that you do not stretch too far (it should not hurt) hold for 15 sec's repeat 4 more times do this with both feet 3 times a day.
B) using a tennis ball or a soup can (on it's side)
put your foot on the can or ball in the arch of your foot again while sitting put some weight on it and roll it back and fourth. this will stretch out the tendon
use ice 15 min's after stretching it will help with the swelling
4) use ice the best way is to get some of those small paper cups fill half full with water and freeze them. when you use them peel back the paper and rub on area make sure to keep it moving so you do not hurt the skin.
5) keep your feet up. and try to stay off them as much as possible.
6) go to the pharmacy and buy arch suports they will help also buy heal spur pads the ones that have a spot in the middle of the heal that you can take out this will help to releave pain.
all of this will take months to make your pain to go away
7) if the above does not help you can go to your family doc and get an injection of cortazone in your heal.
8) if all else fails and the doc's do beleive that you do have a spur you will have to have it filed off.
9) to prevent this from happening in the future you will need to get good walking shoes ones that keep your heal slightly higher than the ball of your foot and have good arch suports.
ben57424 yasmiina
Edited
The foot doctor taped my foot in a strange way
This is the first day no pain
He also gave me prescription Advil
I go back to him next Monday
I hope it's all gone by then
I ordered some special shoes for this problem and will be wearing them for now on
I'm a carpet layer and has been quiet painful
ben57424 yasmiina
Edited
Eventually it disappeared
Nothing really helped just letting it heal worked
tre26560 yasmiina
Posted
trainers help with insoles from then physio but waiting for podiatrist.
Are there any painkillers that have helped you or others.
I hope you are much better,
yasmiina tre26560
Posted
I am sorry to hear about your 10 months of pain. As far as I remember I started getting better after 3-4 months. I didn't do anything special, just soaking my feet in warm water with peppermint tea and salt, stretching my calves 3 times per day for 30 sec and resting. When the pain was at its worst I took Ibuprophene. Can't say it helped much though. I have now been totally sympthome free for more than 3 years. I can wear whatever shoes I like, I go for long walks daily but I never run or jump.
I think the most important thing is to believe that you will become better and recover. No matter how hard it is when you are in so much pain that you want to chop your feet off, when you can't sleep at night because of the pain, you still have to pick yourself up and tell yourself that you will live through this and recover. Our bodies are amazing self-healing machines and I believe that stayig positive helps in the process.
Take care & God bless!
tre26560 yasmiina
Posted
sinshassan yasmiina
Edited
I'm very glad I found this discussion. My name is Czl, I am 19 years old, and I live in Costa Rica.
This starts around three years ago. I've always loved hiking and walking and jogging, and was always walking around town. I loved hearing the trees and the birds and watching sunsets from hills. San Jose is not a flat city. I usually compare it to San Francisco. There's nowhere flat, and everything is cement.
Almost two years ago I started working at a bakery. It was 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. I worked there for a little over a year. While there, I started working also at a restaurant, where I began to feel exhausted and get back pain and feet pain. So I stopped working there after a month.
I quit my job and started working on my own, freelancing from home.
I went back to living with my mother and we opened up a cafe and shake bar in a gym, where I currently work (it's been about six months). I wear running shoes, sneakers, training shoes.
Three months ago, give or take, I began feeling PF in my heels, first right then left, and ever since it has only gotten worse. It feels like I stood on huge rusty nails and they go up from the middle-back of my heel upward, and also like walking on fire (at the same time). I wear gel heel pads every day, and one thing I have noticed helps me is wearing different shoes every day (running-sneakers-training-running-sneakers-training...)
I started working out at the gym a week ago, paying strongly attention to not standing, running, jumping. I do most exercises on the floor or sitting. My coach has helped me adjust the workouts to my needs.
But I still stand while I work, about 4 hours, on and off; I walk around the house, I stand to make my food and wash my teeth and shower, feed my cat, etc. What hurts the most is probably the shower, because I have to stand barefoot on the ceramic floor.
I feel desperate. I had nightmares where my feet turned black and fell off, or where there were scorpions eating away my feet. The worse was probably one where I was shopping for prosthetics, because my feet actually fell off. It's depressing. I feel trapped and locked up, I can't just walk up a mountain anymore. I also feel I'm too young to be here. I felt gross, which is why I started working out last week. I love sweating and letting out my feelings through intense effort.
I think I will have to quit my job. I hope I can keep working out, because it really helps, specially the psychological part.
I don't really know what to do. I have no idea how long this will last, if it will ever stop. I feel pressure in my chest because I just want to be outside and run in the grass and jump and roll around the floor like I used to.
I would really love to know if it got better for you. How long did it last? What did you do to heal it?
Thank you.
yasmiina sinshassan
Posted
I am sorry to hear about your feet trouble at such a young age! I know exactly what you're feeling and going through! I also had nightmares about dead bodies, I woke up at night and I couldn't sleep because my feet were hurting too much and pain killers didn't help.
I wanted to chop my feet off and get new ones instead. I was ready to sell my soul to the devil if it would stop the pain.
But the good news is I got better. It didn't happen overnight, was rather a slow and gradual process. The best thing you can do is to get off your feet as much as possible and rest. Some people ice their feet but I found that soaking them in warm water with mint tea and salt helped. I did calf stretching 3 times per day, not too much, just 30sec at a time.
I quit my job and decided to give myself all the time I need to recover and get better. Luckily, I could afford that, was off work for a year. Started feeling better in 3-4 months time. I didn't do anything special apart from strectching, soaking my feet and resting. And trying to stay positive and tell myself that I will recover and be fine.
You are very young and this is your advantage. Your body has lots of life energy to repair and heal itself.
Now I am totally sympthom free, I can wear whatever shoes I want and go for long walks. Having said that I never run or jump, in summer I swim a lot.
You will be fine, have faith and don't give up! Tell your feet that you love them, thank them for carrying you through life.
God bless!
christophe77444 sinshassan
Posted
Know how that pain feels just like you have trodden on a nail and then a burning felling along the instep. I take indometacin which works to reduce the paim and allow me to do the streching exercises to stretch the calf muscles which appear to be the cause of the problem. After 3 months the pain has almost gone and I am on one tablet a day anf thinking of stopping that and see if the pain returns but the important thing is to keep doing the exercises to keep those calf muscles stretchs elas the pf will return and do it too both feet.
tre26560 christophe77444
Posted
sinshassan yasmiina
Edited
I quit my job (well, I still go, but I sit the whole time), I've been only standing up when I seriously need to, always with good support.
I'm also stretching for about 40 minutes every morning before stepping foot on the floor.
It will definitely take some time to heal, but I think the positive mindset and love will really help me. I'm already feeling better, although I still feel very anxious. I think I might start meditating again.
I am getting quite nervous during the day because I need to move! It's so weird. Sometimes I roll my head around, or I dance with only my arms, or I lie on the floor and lift my legs, or I do push-ups on my knees. I feel I have too much energy to be sitting so much. But it's definitely better than feeling depressed and stressed. I will try to maintain this mindset. Luckily I've always been an overly happy person. That brings some dramatic and heavy depressions when they do come.
Thank you for your advice and support. I haven't really seen any through the Internet, so I think I will keep updating from time to time here, in case anyone else needs to feel understood, like I do.
Thank you!
yasmiina sinshassan
Posted
Meditating sounds like a good idea. I know what you mean about all the surplus energy you have. I felt the same because prior to PF I was running almost every day, lifting weights and doing army bootcamp sessions. And suddenly I couldn't do any of that! I tried to do some exercise laying on the floor and lifting weights in a seated position but it felt fake and I quit everything except stretching. Now I go for long walks every day.
Don't know what's your outlook in this is but I believe that all our aches and diseases have a spiritual cause. And pain in feet is our bodies signalling to us that either we are feeling stuck in life, not able moving forward or probably we have taken a wrong path somehwere along the lines. If you want to read about this just type "metaphysical causes of illnesses" in google and lots of articles will come up.
Once again, believe in yourself, you will be fine, you will recover and even forget the horrible pain. You will be able to wear whatever footwear you want, you will go for long walks and enjoy your life once again!
Take care!
sinshassan yasmiina
Posted
I really appreciate your help and the help you provide to others.
On a side note, I talked to a family member who is a physical therapist yesterday. This is for anyone who like me doesn't really know how to deal with it or what to do... She recommended soaking my feet in hot water with salt, and then massaging from my heels to the tip of my toes slowly.
After my feet are hot, some stretching: she calls it toes-heel-toes-heel. You basically stand on your tip toes, slowly descend to your heels, and lift your toes to stand on your heels, and go back slowly to your toes, and keep repeating. Do that (hot water–massage–toes heels) twice or three times a day, and avoid stretching if your feet are cold.
Good luck everyone, and I'll keep posting! And thank you!
yasmiina sinshassan
Posted
I am glad that you find my comments helpful!
About the foot massage, I used to roll either a tennis ball or at a later stage when the pain was not so intense a golf ball under my feet.
Keep up the good work! You will be fine!
sinshassan yasmiina
Edited
So it turns out I do not have plantar fasciitis!
Well, I do. Here's the thing.
It started three months ago. As a heel spur in both my feet. This led to the pain I was feeling, which wasn't so bad. But I did not treat it...
So I started walking slightly different. This caused multiple sprains in my feet and up my ankles. Inflammation in my plantar fascia. Muscle spams in most of my muscles, from my toes to my lower back. My Achilles' tendons are out of order. I have pain now in my whole body. My legs and feet are swollen and in a lot of pain. I slept with my legs up last night, but no help.
What I have to do is heal my heel Spurs and let everything else come back to normal. For this I need heel spur gel pads, which have a hole in the middle. Oral anti inflammatory for a few days. Ankle supports. Massages in my feet and legs every day with Arnica cream.
My feet are taped right now, and up on a pile of cushions. My therapist said my feet are so bad it seems I've been walking wrong my whole life. (I did get my posture and walking corrected many times, every couple of years until last year)
So here's my ultimate advice: don't trust anyone who asks you what you feel. A therapist or Doctor must tell you to take off your shoes and socks, touch everywhere and then ask where it hurts.
Because if you trust someone who says you have something else than you really have, you might spend three months just making the problem worse.
My grandmother broke a toe when she was like 17 years old and she was dismissed as a pull. Now, after seeking treatment all around the world for her painful leg and back and arm, this same therapist was the one who discovered that that little break was what made her walk bad for so many years and caused so many problems.
Anyway, thank you for your support. I will do what I need to do and get out of here because this is not my forum. I need a mistreated heel spur forum. I hope you all get better
tre26560 sinshassan
Posted
dewiski sinshassan
Posted
So where is this heel spur forum ? I have heel bone spur too...Help!!..