Planter faciitis chronic

Janet, this is a copy of an earlier response I have given on plantar fasciitis: Sorry to hear about your disorder. I am a retired physician and plantar fasciitis patient. I got plantar fasciitis around February 2016. After about four months, it completely resolved.

Here's what I think. Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the attachment of the plantar fascia to the heel bone, and/or some minimal tearing of the plantar fascia - just a few fibers - that results, naturally, in inflammation . . . like a "pulled muscle." Inflammation hurts until it heals and resolves.

So what's so difficult about curing P.F.? Well we walk on it!!! Let's say we take 5000 steps a day. Imagine inflammation of your elbow, (i.e. tennis elbow). Imagine taking your sore "tennis elbow" and wacking it against the wall, 5000 times a day. Think it would heal quickly? I don't either.

So my cure for plantar fasciitis is cushion, cushion and cushion!!! That's right - cushion the heel. Here's what I did. First, I wore the plantar fasciitis "relief bridge" gel-heel innersole in my shoes - that I got at Walgreen's for about $11. Make sure your innersoles are soft and preferably made of gel. (I plan to use mine indefinitely in my shoes.) Then I wore a pair (usually) of nice thickish sox. On my heel I wore fasciitis therapy wrap padded supports that I got on the internet for about $13. (I don't wear them any more.) So when I had my PF, under my heels I had 3 cushion layers. I wore this about 24 hours a day - except when in the shower or swimming. And after about 4 months, the PF was totally gone. And I would suggest to you, have patience, not surgery.

Janet, that's what I think. I hope this helps you and the many other sufferers of plantar fasciitis. Good Luck to you, doknabox/JerryR

Hi Janet,

I have been having problems for several years now. It started when I retired and I put it down to tight calf muscles putting a strain on the pf tissue because it was not as flexable as it had been. The pain was like a nail sticking in the front of my heel making it impossible to walk far. I found that rest followed by stretching exercises and using gel heel pads helped and the pain went away but 6 months ago it came back but was more in the instep rather than the heel. The gel heel pads enabled me to walk but after a mile it got painful so I got desperate as we were going on a walking holiday with the dog so I thought I would try shock wave treatment as we had a clinic near us so I booked 5 sessions of three types of treatment and stretching exercises. After 2 sessions the pain had gone and I was able to complete the holiday with no pain other than from my Knee which is another problem which steroid injections control.

The walks were 10 miles along rivers with walking boots on with gel heelpads in them.

I had my third session this week the day after I get back so two to go and they say it should be OK for some time and I should not have to keep repeating the treatment as long as I keep doing the exercises.

I now have to book another steroid injection to sort the knee out and hopefully that will last 6 months and cover a beach holiday in Corfu and a ski holiday in France in December.

At over 65 you have to keep active and use your legs and arms or else they seize up and you lose the ability to move, painful buisness getting old.

Try these 2 things - move your car seat so that your foot can rest flat on the gas pedal, and stop wearing certain shoes. Plantar fasciitis can be a delayed, even long-delayed, complaint from your body to something you have been doing habitually. I had noticed that my body (back, hip) complained when I used certain chairs at work, and the hand in which I held my Kindle developed intense pain in the meaty part of my thumb that went away when I quit using it. So when I developed PF out of the blue, I thought first of some kind of ergonomic issue being the cause. I thought and puzzled and researched about what could cause this horrible stabbing pain (mine was in the arch of the foot). I cured myself (and 2 of my co-workers!) by doing the following 2 things. First, when you are driving your car, do you sit so that your foot pushes the gas pedal with your toes? This means that your foot is continuously tensed at an angle. Move your seat close enough so that you can rest your entire foot flat against the pedal. If you have trouble reaching the gas pedal, there is an extender you can buy that extends the length so us short people can reach it easily. Magically, about 90-95% of my PF vanished! I went online and researched some more. Second thing that worked for me is I found some a website that said your shoes could be the problem. The only change I had made in my footwear was getting some Dansko clogs. Wore these for 5 or 6 years with no problem, but as they were radically different from my other, more ordinary, shoes, I stopped wearing them to see what would happen. PF gone and has never come back! Danskos went to Goodwill.

Janet, I've been there. I play a lot of pickleball and had a dreadful case of plantar fasciitis for about a year. Here is how I have been able to manage it so that it is no longer an issue. I say manage it because I have to do this after every time I play pickleball.

I take 1/4 of a 10mg cyclobenzaprine right after pickleball or any exercise, and then another 1/4 in about 3-4 hours and then another in 3-4 hours. I don't take it all at once as it can make me tired if I do that. Then I use a electric massager on my lower leg, below the knee, multiple times later in the day. I don't use it on my feet or anywhere else on my body - only on my lower leg. I use it on all of the muscles of my calves, the muscle in front by the shin. I try to hit all the tender places, no bones, but tender muscles.

I used to have pain every morning that was crippling and had pain throughout the day and couldn't really play or exercise to my fullest because of the plantar fasciitis. This is no longer an issue!!

For me this has been live changing!

To be clear. I take 2.5mg of cyclobenzaprine (generic flexeril) immediately after a workout and keep doing it every 3-4 hours.

Then, and this is the most important aspect, I use an electric massager on my calves and lower leg on and off every few hours for about 10 minutes each leg trying to work on spots that feel they need it. The more you massage your lower leg the better you will feel.

The plantar fasciitis is all about the lower leg muscles! Those muscles are what is causing the foot pain - remember that!!

Do this and you will definitely change your life! Let me know if you have any questions.