Plantar Fasciitis

What is plantar fasciitis?

Plantar fasciitis is a condition in which the plantar fascia on the bottom of your foot becomes inflamed, causing pain in the heel. The plantar fascia is a band of thick inelastic fibrous tissue that starts at your heel and ends at your toes, and it supports the arch of your foot.

If the plantar fascia becomes overstressed, irritated or stiff, this can lead to heel pain and inflammation known as plantar fasciitis.

What causes plantar fasciitis?

This form of heel pain is rarely caused by a single incident/trauma to the foot. Some common causes of plantar fasciitis include:

• Having flat feet, where your arch is in contact with the ground more than it should
• Wearing shoes that don’t support your feet adequately
• Soft sole shoes or have poor arch support
• Having high arches
• Walking on hard surfaces barefoot or in unsupportive footwear such as flip-flops
• Having a job that requires you to be on your feet all day
• Running without adequate preparation or to excess
• Tight calf muscles and tight Achilles tendon
• Being overweight or obese

Your feet have to carry the weight of your entire body, so being overweight, not supporting your feet with appropriate footwear, and not giving your feet enough rest can add to the strain on the plantar fascia. Not taking good care of your feet can cause several painful foot problems apart from plantar fasciitis.

What are the symptoms of plantar fasciitis?

There are many different symptoms that relate to plantar fasciitis with pain to the bottom of the heel being the most common. The pain can also travel along the bottom of your foot, which corresponds to the course of the plantar fascia. This can lead to arch pain. Other symptoms include:

• Heel pain in the morning
• Heel pain when walking
• Sudden heel pain
• Pain after sitting for a while but eases as one gets moving
• Sharp or “tearing feeling” pain
• Heel pain when climbing stairs or participating in higher impact activities
• Advanced symptoms can include pain with activity, and at days end

Is there anything I can do to ease the pain of plantar fasciitis?

There are several ways in which you can ease the pain of plantar fasciitis. Rolling a frozen water bottle helps soothe inflammation, and you should rest the foot as much as you can without being immobile.

Stretching your calf muscles helps to strengthen your heels, and you should always wear footwear that supports your feet correctly. You can also purchase supportive over-the-counter insoles or, better yet, get custom orthotics that help relieve the pain of plantar fasciitis and support your feet. We urge you to be cautious with purchasing over the counter orthosis. Just because they say plantar fasciitis on the box doesn’t mean that is a device we would recommend. If you have questions you can bring them to your visit.

Is there heel pain treatment associated with plantar fasciitis?

If you’ve tried home treatments and you’re not getting relief from the pain, don’t delay in contacting a foot specialist at Kalmar Family Podiatry. There are many sources of heel pain and not all cases are plantar fasciitis. As a result, in order to effectively treat your pain, it is critical to determine the cause of the problem. The experienced team of podiatrists will appropriately diagnose your heel pain and then offer customized treatments geared towards becoming pain-free.

• Heel pain exercises
• Over-the-counter orthotics
• Custom made orthotics
• Steroid injections
• Night Splint
• Ice and heat therapy
• Anti-inflammatory medicine
• Physical Therapy
• Shockwave therapy
• PRP (platelet-rich plasma injections)
• Minimally invasive surgery

If you have heel pain, let the caring team at Kalmar Family Podiatry ease your discomfort and find a permanent solution to the problem. Call the office today, or book an appointment online.