GP tonight, and suspects I have this, which is also leading to a weird “wet foot” feeling in the arch.
Anyone had good result with easing it? I suspect that my daily “power walks” with the pooch aren’t helping, nor is taking a bit of hammering through the 5.10s.
It’s a nuisance I suppose, could be worse, but crikey it’s annoying.
When I had it, it was incredibly painful. I found the exercises in this video to have the most lasting effect - worth a look imho.
Good luck
I struggled with it for a while. It went away after I rested it properly (no walking beyond around the house/bike racks at work to desk) for a couple of weeks before easing back into it in superboost style trainers with lots of heel cushioning.
I used to roll my foot over a tennis ball to help massage/stretch the foot sole. Not sure it did a whole lot, just seemed to take time to get better.
For me, arch support foot beds sorted it.
Squashy flat trainers were the worst. Even well supported leather shoes were better, and I’m on my feet all day.
Sport pursuit have some insoles.
Every morning stretched feet by scrunching up then opening up. Rolling your foot on a tennis ball or can of pop is meant to help.
Oh yeah,forgot about those^^^. I got Arch supports for my shoes.
Calf stretches mainly will assist to ease it. Usual bent front knee but cross your legs over so right leg forward and left leg behind to the right hand side , you will feel it stretching into your foot. Then loads of calf raises. I’ve honestly only ever heard of relief this way. Your foot structures are all influenced by what is upstream. This is a good vid
I have it from time to time. It started when I was working abroad and didn’t wear shoes for years. Long sea kayaking trips also make it worse.
In addition to the stretching/physio advice, one of the things that makes a difference for me is to wear arch support when walking around the house and stuff. For me that generally means wearing Birkenstock sandals/shoes a lot of the time and using good insoles in walking boots.
When it’s really bad I make sure that I stick my Birkenstocks on as soon as I get up and when I come in after a ride/walk!
Had it mildly last year - the link NZCOl posted and the exercises within helped mine. Maybe arch supports help when the issue is very acute but surely it’s better to strengthen calf muscles and the tendons that run into the foot?
First things first, plantar fascitis is a bit if a catch all term so it might be worth seeing a professional to fund out what the actual cause is.
For immediate relief, I had two 500ml bottles of water in the freezer and rolled my feet on them under my desk at work.
Core exercises combined with custom orthotics helped.
However, fast forward a few years and I've not transitioned to barefoot shoes and toe spacers called correct toes. My feet are so much stronger now and no more PF.
Had it for ages. So bad could barely walk out of bed in the morning and after any time sat at the desk. I found that calf stretches helped, particularly standing on step on front half of feet and dropping back half down.
However, as mentioned above inserts were the game changer for me. Cheap ones from Aldi too that cost about £3 per pair. Have them in all my shoes and PF basically no longer exists for me. Absolutely incredible, it's like a distant bad dream. Worth a punt I'd say..
Sport, my earlier post should say "now transitioned to barefoot..."
I has a treatment called shockwave therapy on my Achilles and it cured it after six months of physio stretches didn't touch it. It can be used to treat PF as well. Based on my experience if I got PF id be straight down the clinic getting Shockwave
I’ve had it a couple of times. A foot brace/sock worn in bed really helped both times (was the game changer for me). When you sleep your foot naturally points down which contracts the ligaments, they start to heal in this position, getting out of bed and putting your feet on the floor stretches and opens the micro tears again. The foot brace helps them heal in the right position, I noticed the change almost immediately after several months of pain. .
I used arch supports until my feet were strong enough to support themselves. 3-4months IIRC.
Sleeping in a brace cured mine.
Not had an issue since it cleared up (5+ years ago).
Also flip flops with arch support for round the house help fix it. We have hard floor everywhere. Vionics I think
https://www.vionicshoes.co.uk/men/sandals/men-s-tide.html?76=195
Custom orthotics sorted out mine, but it'll depend on the cause (over pronation in my case). GP wasn't much use so I went to a specialist clinic (Rebound in Settle). I'd suggest giving over the counter insoles a go first - that Vionics site above has some.
The fastest and easiest way to cure this is by taping your foot with zinc oxide or climbing tape. This supports the arch allowing the foot to heal in the same way that the nighttime boot method works. Taping is better as it stays on 24/7 for about 7-10 days. If you tape it correctly you can exercise and shower for 2-3 days before you need to re-tape.
This is a good read with instructions.
I use this taping method with std 3cm climbing/non-stretch zinc oxide type tape.
If you catch the plantar fasciitis early you'll heal much faster.
@guass1777 that video is excellent and ties in with what @NZCol said. I just did that calf stretch where you swing the other leg across the body to get the heel bone moving outwards and it eased off my PF. Before that I was just doing straight calf stretches without much improvement. Nice one!
@<span class="bbp-author-name">gauss1777</span> link is what worked for me. I'd tried inserts, a support boot and compression socks. Did those calf stretches and went from struggling to walk to running with no problems. Currently do a couple of 9 mile cross country runs a week and as long as I do the stretches I have no issues at all
I used a brace in bed when it was at its worst, then cured it by doing foot crunches daily for 15 minutes using a golf ball. You can do them with a towel or similar, it's just pulling something backwards using your toes, the advantage of using a golf ball is that you can also use it to massage your foot.
I used to roll my foot over a tennis ball to help massage/stretch the foot sole
This helped me.
And definitely try insoles, there are loads of affordable, off-the-peg ones - get a few pairs and stick them in your most-worn footwear.
Massive improvement for me.
I forgot about the golf ball, I did that too. But just like the boot and the compression socks and the inserts it treats the symptom not the cause. Give those stretches a go, they'll cost you nothing, for me it was as if Jesus had come along and told me to throw away my crutches, Hallelujah 🙂
I suffered quite badly for a while. I've got high arches and walking bare foot on a hard floor will set it off pretty quickly!
Calf stretches and footbeds in my running shoes plus I always wear bikenstocks around the house now.
The really strange thing that cured it for me (in opposition to a lot of the comments above) was actually walking around a lot more barefoot.
It has strengthened my feet much more and i think some of the issues i had was from having high arches that were weak.
I do use insoles in a lot of my footwear now but probably spend 80% of my time barefoot (inc wearing barefoot shoes) and haven't had the issue for some time
I forgot about the golf ball, I did that too. But just like the boot and the compression socks and the inserts it treats the symptom not the cause.
Depends on the cause - in my case I have very flat feet, and strengthening the arch/foot (which is what the foot scrunches do, it wasn't just massage) cured it.
I used to get out of bed & could barely walk. A bloke at work had had it & said to try some Scholl insoles for it.
I did & was cured within a few days.
Back to the docs tonight to see the physio, who doesn’t think it is PF, as it is not troubling my heel area. She has suggested a metartasal dome. In the short space between the GP and physio, I’ve bought some Birkenstock footwear for round the house, hopefully the arch support thing will help help anyway.
I’ve bought some Birkenstock footwear for round the house,
If there is no heel pain then yes maybe not pf. I was forced into Crocs for round the house and have to confess that despite no reoccurrence I'm still wearing them.
All of the following has helped me, calf stretches (static and dynamic), roller message stick, massage gun with bar type hard attachment, so running/long walks.
It has taken at least 18 months for the pain to go and I just about feel ready to try a run again.
When I had PF (c.2004 - see previous post), I endured it for six months before insoles cured it in the space of a fortnight. Never came back. Three years ago I started experiencing pain in the balls of my feet - very different. I self diagnosed metatarsalgia, but popped round to a local podiatrist for a £35 consultation. She diagnosed back stiffness and lack of general flexibility, giving me a bunch of exercises to do...
...which of course I didn't. But I DID switch from the sedentary job I was doing (which coincided with the problem) to become a postie - and, counter intuitively, the issue with the ball of my foot went away, which suggests the podiatrist might've been on to something. Whatever, I honestly wouldn't bother with a GP. 'Doctor, it hurts when I do this.' 'Well, stop doing it then.' Pay for a consultation with a lower limb specialist.
A round frozen water bottle worked for me. Put a thin towel around it and roll your sole over it. Painful to start with, but it cleared up after daily rolling sessions. Fairly stiff soled shoes / trainers also helped when it was recovering.
Another plus for shoe insoles which I believe cured mine . I bough a few pairs of insoles with good arch supports and that eventually cured it for me. I think mine was brought on by poor arch support from old shoes…. A very painful condition so you have my sympathy
