Plantar fasciitis

Worked pretty much instantly for me. I'd done the socks the boot the golf ball, inserts which all helped but this got rid of it and does if I ever feel it coming back

I suffer too. I have knobbly, bone shaped massager next the bed to roll my foot on before I get going in the morning and stretch most days. I've had it on and off for 7 years, it started when I trained for a marathon.

Strangely, I was doing a bit of trail work yesterday and pushed down hard on a large rock with my bad foot and it hurt so much that I actually shouted in pain. Today it feels better than ity has for ages 🙂

I am sure that cycling isn't helping and its especially bad if I walk any distance in walking boots. I suspect its something to dop with the stiffness so I've bought some new boots with a more flexible sole.

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What really helped me was a night splint which kept my foot at a right angle.  It helps as when the micro tears heal overnight they do so in the stretched rather than contracted position. If they heal in the contracted position then as soon as you put your foot down in the morning they tear again.

First job is buy some plantar insoles, and pop them in your shoes. That did the trick for me and I now have 4 or 5 sets in various shoes. Prevents further flare ups.

Rolling a tennis ball under my foot also helped when it was acute.

Flip flops for home. Superfeet insoles for shoes

Try stretching your calves using the standard "one leg back, one leg forward, push to a wall" technique, but cross your forward leg well over to the opposite side. You need to make sure your back foot stays straight, but it worked for me. Seems to stretch a different set of muscles in my calf, which helped with plantar.

Thanks folks. That video is highly relevant I suspect, tight calves is a definite issue for me

Insoles don't solve the inherent problem.  I had it for ages and what worked was regular stretching and strengthening exercises.

Not sure about cures, but with regard to stopping reoccurrence I found a pair of Oofos flip flops were great around the house. They are expensive for flip flops but on the other hand I’ve had them for a good few years and the problem hasn’t come back.

Partial tear of mine when the guy behind trod on my heel as I jumped a curb in a race. Shock wave treatment combined with a night splint were effective, and time. About three years to running comfortably again.

As for stretching, I reckoned that was counter productive. The doc advised against.

The best advice from the doc was to walk a distance that didn't result in more pain the next day, every day, and build up with the objective of being able to walk normally after a year. Even if it was only a few hundred metres to start with. By the end of the year I could walk up to 40km and tentatively started jogging again.

Fine now 30 years on.

Lingering PF (9 months) was cured for me as a side effect of large doses of ibuprofen suggested by minor injury nurse for treating a badly sprained  wrist.   I had tried ibuprofen but only for a couple of days at a time and at the packet dose rather than a larger dose to allow for 16/17 stone body weight. I think I took it for a 5 or 6 days.

Mrs DB suffered from this, she has the foot-roller doo-dah but what really helps is wearing maximal cushioned shoes and boots like Hoka - track and paths here are very stony and rocky, quite hard on the feet.

I have this - it seems to be caused by my Anyklosing Spondylitis.  Things that help (a bit)

Stretches as above - physio advised me to do that one where you stand on the edge of a step (facing up the stairs) and lower your heels down below the level of your toes

Stretches with a Theraband (a reasonably low resistance one) - wrap it round your foot while you're on the sofa, stretch your leg out and flex your foot up and down

Massage gun into the arch of the foot

One of these under my work desk during the day

and probably the big one -

60mg etoricoxib every morning

Between that lot, I keep it just about in check. Still have to hop to the bathroom in the mornings, and the first hour of the day is pretty painful. I think cycling (not too hard) helps me though - I think it puts a modest, but regular, amount of motion through the foot and ankle.

Rollering the arch of my foot fairly intensely with a fridge cold glass bottle of beer made all the difference to mine, and sorts it out when a flare up feels imminent.  Also gives me a (rather fizzy) beer to drink once I've done rollering!

Other thing was strengthening my feet/arches by removing as much support as possible from shoes.  Minimalist shoes, removed insoles where possible and walking barefoot where I can.  I understand that this second part is somewhat controversial, but seems much more logical as a long term solution than supporting the damaged area

Other thing was strengthening my feet/arches by removing as much support as possible from shoes.  Minimalist shoes, removed insoles where possible and walking barefoot where I can.  I understand that this second part is somewhat controversial, but seems much more logical as a long term solution than supporting the damaged area

Spot on.  I now have arthritis in my big toe so given up on the barefoot shoes, but my feet are much stronger.

^ first paragraph was in quotes, doesn't seen to have worked...

my Anyklosing Spondylitis.

That's easy for you to say.

😀

But seriously, looks like you can pick an opinion from here and run (pun intended) with it OP.  Seems like there are various effective ways to get shot of it.

PF is an all encompassing diagnosis a bit like IBS.

I suffered for years, tried soft orthotics, hard orthotics, rolling golf balls, rolling frozen water bottles, calf stretches, etc etc.

Several years back, I transitioned to barefoot, natural shoes. Took a while for my feet to get stronger but I've not had any PF for years.

Correct Toes silicon toe spacers and injinji toe socks really helped with the transition as well. Not my big toe actually does its job. As an aside, my knees feel better, I didn't even know they were a problem but I guess my knees are better aligned now my feet do their job better.

PS, don't get injinji socks with NuWool or merino, the soles wear through in next to no time.

It’s a tough one to treat as none of us can stop walking but the  reduction in the activity what actually caused the injury is really important. Mine was triggered by walking and impact.

To treat it , I made sure always to wear cushioned soles, and found Crocs indoors very good. Orthopaedic Insoles worked we for me. I bought a number of relatively cheap ones for all my shoes . The insole arch seemed a bit big at first but I guess it had a bit of a massaging effect too. Mine took about 9months to go and hasn’t returned since a few years ago. If I’m walking any distance now I make sure I’m wearing proper walking shoes.

I Should also add my best wishes to OP for a swift recovery as it’s a painful condition and not a thing that gets better fast as it’s really hard to give the plantar fascia enough rest to recover .

What really helped me was a night splint which kept my foot at a right angle

This worked for me, not had a recurrence for 8-9 years.