UKC

Just back from the GP who has diagnosed Plantar Fasciitis (pain in the heel)

Am supposed to be starting the John Muir Trail in 4 weeks time. Does anyone have any advice and good or bad stories regarding recovery. Will phsio help? NHS have advised rest and stretching.

Many thanks

In reply to Pedro50:

Bummer! PF can linger for a long time. Rolling the base of the foot on a tennis ball or bottle of ice can help. Don't overdo it - a couple of minutes at a time will suffice. Too much will make things worse.
Stretching the calf muscles will help in the long term, but I'd be surprised if you got much benefit in the next 4 weeks.

In reply to tony:

Thanks Tony - yes that exercise is on the NHS leaflet

In reply to Pedro50:

strange but i found the ball rolling and frozen bottle made things worse for me.

I find direct stretching of the pf the best for me, pushing your toes towards your shin bones, combined with calf stretching and foam rolling the ITBS and losing weight helped too.

good luck, despite not being able to walk much, try keep up your conditioning sit ups, chip ups and press ups...

In reply to goldmember:

Thanks, an ideal time to get the bike tyres pumped up again.

In reply to Pedro50:

Again cycling for me hurt like hell, but give it a go. Whenever i was pottering around the house i used crocs, they given me loads of cushioning from the hard floor.

In reply to Pedro50:


I had this some years ago and couldn't walk properly on it, I like to boulder quite a bit so fell back on that for a few weeks and the Bouldering had fixed the problem. So you could try some Bouldering at around VB0-V0 if you've got some rocks about your way. I found for myself the action of the Bouldering moves stretched the Plantar in a way that seemed to help.

I also found B1 boots helped as well while out walking.

L

In reply to Pedro50:

The single most important stretch is first thing in the morning - BEFORE you get out of bed. That characteristic heel pain you get when you first get out of bed is you tearing the ligament - again(!). Overnight everything will have contracted and tightened. You need to stretch properly for a good 5 minutes by lying on your back and pulling your foot back towards you in a deep stretch until you feel it become more supple. If you don't do this before you get out of bed you're loading your full body weight on to a tight & damaged ligament - so damaging it further...before your day has even started.

Unfortunately, proper recovery will take many months, even years - and only if you are committed to stretching properly & regularly. Getting better should be your priority.

The other thing that helped me tremendously was having proper custom moulded insoles made for my shoes (they go in all my boots, shoes, trainers). Cheap off-the-shelf ones are a waste of time & money. I can suggest somewhere to go for this (will cost you about £80) if you want - they guy knew more about Plantar Fasciitis than my GP did (who coincidentally also suffered from it). I could barely walk before I went to see him...and there was an instant huge improvement when I used the insoles.

In reply to lone:

I've had on off PF for ages, but it's more in the centre of the feet. For me it was caused by hyperextending the fascia by hiking rough terrain in soft boots. If it's rocky I pretty much always wear my lightweight B2's, helps a lot.

In reply to 99ster:

Thanks 99ster and everyone else, that sound really useful especially the early morning bit.

In reply to Pedro50:

Hi
I had the same injury for some time and while stretching will help I found the best thing was to stop the tendon shortening overnight in the first place. you can get a foot splint off line which will set the foot so the tendon will not stiffen overnight. I had to wear it for a number of weeks put it did the trick for me.

ian

In reply to Pedro50:
I'd defo see a physio. I'd never trust a GP for an issue like that.

It's also probably other issues which could be addressed. I had it, amongst other issues, from tight calfs

In reply to Roadrunner5:

Well I'm 100% convinced the GP diagnosis was correct, but of course the NHS ability to help is limited.

In reply to Pedro50:

They have almost no training on such issues, my wife's an MD, US trained but I doubt the UK is that different, she'd have little idea about soft tissues injuries and remediation excercises and treatment. She would probably know PF but not how to sort it out..

In reply to 99ster:

"The other thing that helped me tremendously was having proper custom moulded insoles made for my shoes (they go in all my boots, shoes, trainers). Cheap off-the-shelf ones are a waste of time & money. I can suggest somewhere to go for this (will cost you about £80) if you want - they guy knew more about Plantar Fasciitis than my GP did (who coincidentally also suffered from it). I could barely walk before I went to see him...and there was an instant huge improvement when I used the insoles."

Ditto.

I've worn custom moulded insoles for about 10 years now, and have rarely experienced any PF problems in that time, whereas previously I'd got to the point where I was in a lot of pain.

I'd recommend finding a good orthotics / podiatry place near you. Rebound Clinic in Settle has consistently excellent reviews, but looks like you may be wrong side of Pennines, may be worth the journey though if they can fit you in.

In reply to 99ster:

From personal experience I can certainly sympathise if you suffered that badly, but the OP may not be so badly afflicted. I'd an acute bout a couple of years ago, a special kind of pain and quite disabling while it lasted. But happily it resolved itself after just two or three weeks without any specific exercise or medication. What seemed like natural-response, but frequent but gentle flexing and stretching of the foot and ankle may have done the trick. My impression is that neither medics nor physios can offer any very useful solutions, or at least none that will fix the problem in most or all patients. Certainly worth experimenting with customised insoles. Anyway, best of luck to the OP and anybody that suffers from it - it's a curiously painful and puzzling condition.

In reply to Welsh Kate:
Rebound in Settle were excellent, certainly sorted out my achilles problems when I
All else had failed. He's not cheap though!

In reply to Pedro50:

As others have said tight calves... google the strassburg sock... easy to make a home version with a long sock and some velcro.

Wear at night, voila, stretched calf muscles.

Cheers
LD

In reply to 99ster:
I agree 100% on insoles I have them in all my footwear ,never go barefoot I have had it for years stretch last thing at night first thing mornings best,i still did hills just went through pain barrier ,I only have it left foot some twinges on right though but it just comes and goes now ,you could be lucky last weeks or unlucky last years ,internets full of cures non helped me just did the above it became sufferable now odd time flares up feels like its never going to go away at beginning but it will .ps I tried resting it never did me any good I thought, not sure about walking on trails though.

In reply to Pedro50:
The ligament at the bone/ fascia attachment at the heel is not well served with blood vessels and therefore natural healing nutrients.
Some time ago I had PF so bad that I could hardly walk. I certainly thought I would never run again.
My physio recommended a cortisone injection with a letter to my GP.
I had the injection at my local medical centre and about four days later the PF had disappeared completely. Like magic.
I'm not saying this is a miracle cure, but it worked for me. My doctor must have pumped that cortisone just exactly in the right spot.

In reply to Pedro50:

Hi Pedro, sorry to hear. I have PF and have managed it for the past 2 years. I can climb and surf no problem but when it comes to walking I can only do about a mile. All the advice above is good. I do all the stretching, orthotics etc. I'm sorry to say, but you should probably reconsider your JM Trail plans. Even if the PF is better in a month, a long hike will no doubt set it off again. Sorry to be Debbie Downer. Cheers, Grant

In reply to dr evil:

Thanks for everyone's advice and sympathy. After two days of stretching and ibuprofen there has been a good improvement. My Strassburg sock will arrive today, seeing a podiatrist next week. Dr Scholl heel pads in my day shoes.
Cautiously optimistic at this stage. Cheers

In reply to Welsh Kate:

Welsh Kate has the best suggestion,

I had the problem a while back now , the GP diagnosed it correclty and suggested steriod injections, they worked for the right foot but not the left, I also tried a foot splin ovver night but this was very uncomfortable.

Then by a chance conversation with a podiatrist they suggested the use of orthaheels which worked a treat, within a few weeks the pain had vanished.

Now I use the insoles in all my shoes, trainers etc but not my walking boots (Scarpa Rebel Lites) they didn't feel right and gave me some odd aches in my inner quads which I linked to the insole causing possibly superination but that is just a trial and error diagnosis.

All in all would suggest seeing a specialist

Pban