Plantar fascitis, question.

[JustinsDad]

I’m not usually a wussy but I tell you what. That steroid shot in the bottom of my foot HURT. Didn’t help much either. Good comments here. I think I’m going to get some custom hunting boots and shoes made fitted for my high instep. If anyone has any recommendations in California please let me know. This PF is really getting old.

 

[LostinOregon1]

Those cortisone shots in the heel are awesome aren't they. I used to tell the doctor he should just put gasoline on my foot and light it on fire as that probably wouldn't hurt as bad.

Rich

 

[gouch]

Stretching finally helped me, Now if I feel just a little twinge in my foot I hit the stretching hard. So far so good, It's been eight years without a problem.

 

[tarheel]

I failed to mention that in addition to the exercises and the Hoka shoes, I wear a pair of Merrill slippers around the house with orthotic inserts and the best immediate relief I ever got while the pain was present was to roll this ball around with my socks on. It works much better than the bottle of ice or anything I tried, especially after being off my feet for a while. I'd take it to work and roll my feet on it at lunch or at times when I was at a desk. I got it at an REI store for ten bucks.

 

[JoltnJoe]

I failed to mention that in addition to the exercises and the Hoka shoes, I wear a pair of Merrill slippers around the house with orthotic inserts and the best immediate relief I ever got while the pain was present was to roll this ball around with my socks on. It works much better than the bottle of ice or anything I tried, especially after being off my feet for a while. I'd take it to work and roll my feet on it at lunch or at times when I was at a desk. I got it at an REI store for ten bucks.View attachment 136437

Love that magazine NC!

 

[MtnRambler]

Stretching helped me solve a lot with my issues, although rolling a ball under my foot helped a lot when things were bad. Of all things, stretching my IT band (even thought it is nowhere near my foot) and my tibialis anterior seemed to solve the problem (after months of consistent stretching). I'm also made the switch to Hoka shoes when working out, which has been a huge help. I'm currently trail running with the Evo Mafate 2. I'm regularly getting 15-20 miles on trails over the weekends, and having no more issues.

 

[ImBillT]

This is going to sound ridiculously stupid and off base. Heck maybe it is. My plantar fasciitis seemed to flare up in sync with my eczema. I’ve had eczema flare ups without plantar fasciitis, but when I was dealing with plantar fasciitis, it’s intensity perfectly followed my eczema intensity. Obviously the plantar fasciitis issue was linked to how much I was on my feet, but if my eczema was mild that week, I could also walk more with less pain that week. Well, my eczema ridding routine eventually rid me of the plantar fasciitis as well.

Now it’s going to sound even more like rubbish. Eat things that nourish healthy gut flora and don’t eat things that don’t. Tobacco and sugar will make my eczema flare up. I gave up tobacco completely. Cut the sugar, eat raw veggies, eat yogurt with live cultures, ferment your own sauerkraut. Glutamine and ginger help your gut heal.

I came about all of this because I saw a dermatologist for almost three years for severe eczema and nothing he gave me helped(this was before all ***umab medications I see on TV). I tried every topical steroid under the sun, some non-steroidal stuff that made my skin burn, and something oral for a little while. My mom finally asked him what the Dermo thought of alternative medicine. He said “I think they’re a bunch of quacks, but what are they gonna do, charge you money and tell your son to take something that doesn’t actually help him? That’s all I’ve done.” So I saw a lady that I called “the crazy witch doctor”. A lot of her diagnostic methods seemed more intended to placebo you into thinking something was going on that clearly was not. When she was done waving bizarre things around she pronounced “he has yeast in his small intestine. Follow this diet”. Well the diet was unfollowable by a highschool athlete. After a few weeks my mother took me back to the dermo and told him about the yeast thing. He said that he’d recently seen a paper suggesting that candida overgrowth did present in a high percentage of eczema patients, but not all. He wrote me a script for diflucan. The pharmacist looked at me like something was wrong, and double checked that nothing had been misunderstood. I took it for a week or so. Six weeks later I was eczema free. I had scratched my feet with a fork multiple times a day and ruined ever sock I wore(with blood and puss) for three years. It was completely gone. I’ve had it come back a few times since then, but I immediately start focusing on gut healing and proper gut flora and it’s never gotten larger than a half dollar since. It takes 3-6 months of being very careful with my diet to become completely clear. Before I took the diflucan the entire tops of both feet, and wrapped completely around the ankles would itch and weep all day, and the entire back of my head was a mess.

I know you asked about plantar fasciitis and not eczema, but my episode of plantar fasciitis came and went with an eczema outbreak, and although that eczema outbreak was mild, the plantar fasciitis was debilitating.

If anyone else here with plantar fasciitis also has eczema/psoriasis and/or uses tobacco, I’ll feel a lot less crazy.

 

[dcopas78]

I had real bad case in 2015-16. Got cortisone shots, orthotic support, shoes, etc. Ended up tearing the perineal tendon on my right foot because of it. Left foot eventually got better with stretching and therapy. I ended up getting platelet rich plasma therapy on the right tendon and foot. I'd highly recommend looking in to that treatment before having an open surgery. The doc ended up doing injections on the tendon to heal it and on the plantar fascia as well. After therapy, home exercise, and AGGRESSIVE massage to the fascia to break up scar tissue, it is way better. You will still need to do stretches every day or it will tighten up. I used the back edge of hard plastic comb for the massage.....pressed it hard into the bottom of my arch and worked the pressure back toward the heel. Hurt like crazy, and sounded like rice krispies popping as the scar tissue was breaking up. I also to a bromelain supplement to promote natural anti-inflammatory and collagen repair.

 

[willy]

I am in my seventh year suffering from it. Have had orthotics, shots, night splints, special socks, meds, etc. Also did the stretches, rolling on a frozen wather bottle, etc. The one thing that has helped the most is Voltarin cream. It is expensive (my insurance covers it) and is by prescription only, but it keeps the pain at bay when I apply it 1x or 2x a day. It is the single most effective remedy I have tried.
I work on concrete and have to run (military) as part of my job... but only for 9 more months!

There is now generic voltaren. Much cheaper and it works just as the original. I use it for plantar as well as my herniated disk pain and it has almost been a miracle drug. I highly recommend it for pain that ibuprofen can't seem to touch.

 

[Bob-WY]

Those "spike balls" are great! Same effect as "rolling" muscles, basically tears apart the fascia so it can stretch and grow! Great for range of motion and flexibility. Rolling and massage when done right "hurt" but it breaks down the tightness

 

[VikingsGuy]

This is going to sound ridiculously stupid and off base.

There are some researchers looking into eczema having skin inflammation as a root cause, and fasciitis is an inflammation issue too. Gut health is also beginning to be correlated with inflammatory responses. I wouldn't be surprised if general inflammatory response problems played a role in multiple symptoms in some patients. So, while far from "proven", seems at least an interesting inquiry. Just remember, there are thousands of logical connections, "correlations" and personal anecdotal experiences that have proved to provide no benefit after actual detailed study.

 

[JDH]

Those "spike balls" are great! Same effect as "rolling" muscles, basically tears apart the fascia so it can stretch and grow! Great for range of motion and flexibility. Rolling and massage when done right "hurt" but it breaks down the tightness

I've only had mild cases but I would use a foam roller on my legs and also roll a racquet ball under my arches. It wasn't as firm as a gold ball but still worked. It hurt like heck for the first few seconds but would gradually stretch them out and the pain eventually went away.

 

[JDH]

There are some researchers looking into eczema having skin inflammation as a root cause, and fasciitis is an inflammation issue too. Gut health is also beginning to be correlated with inflammatory responses. I wouldn't be surprised if general inflammatory response problems played a role in multiple symptoms in some patients. So, while far from "proven", seems at least an interesting inquiry. Just remember, there are thousands of logical connections, "correlations" and personal anecdotal experiences that have proved to provide no benefit after actual detailed study.

The more I look into it, the more I believe many medical issues are linked to other issues. My wife has needed B12 shots since before I knew her because her stomach can't absorb it. She has also had stomach issues for years and it turns out she is allergic to gluten. I was able to convince her to try a gluten free diet by googling 6-7 cases of people where also had B12 deficiencies and were allergic to gluten.
I also heard about a case of a doctor who started showing symptoms of MS and completely changed his diet and is able to walk normally again.

 

[ImBillT]

There are some researchers looking into eczema having skin inflammation as a root cause, and fasciitis is an inflammation issue too. Gut health is also beginning to be correlated with inflammatory responses. I wouldn't be surprised if general inflammatory response problems played a role in multiple symptoms in some patients. So, while far from "proven", seems at least an interesting inquiry. Just remember, there are thousands of logical connections, "correlations" and personal anecdotal experiences that have proved to provide no benefit after actual detailed study.

I 100% agree that my personal experience is not proof of anything.

Interesting that some literature supports that there is at least a chance that my experience is medically plausible.


I’m not nearly claiming that my experience is certain evidence of a link between eczema/psoriasis and plantar fasciitis. I think it’s quite possible that both issues could have multiple causes and that those causes could often be completely unrelated. I would say that other than my bad bout in high school, my eczema has been limited to my feet. It could be that whatever causes the inflammation isn’t completely limited to the skin. It could be total coincidence. You can catch the covid and die of something else. An anecdote is not a data set. It’s a single data point.

What I’m confident in regarding eczema is that for at least some people, it’s related to something going on in their gut. Mine is too correlated to my gut for it to be coincidence. Again, it could have other causes for other people, and the plantar fasciitis could be coincidence. I don’t intend to claim that my experience on the eczema front would be duplicated for everyone, or that my experience on the plantar fasciitis front would be duplicated for ANYONE. But I found it interesting and worth sharing.

My first and worst bout with eczema occurred before I ever used a tobacco product, but later on I noticed that dipping could trigger a flare up(I dipped on and off for about five years). I also noticed that a few other people that I knew with eczema/psoriasis were smokers. I’d be curious to know there is a statistical link there as well. Again, not claiming that it’s certain, and I definitely know for a fact that you can have eczema without ever using tobacco.

I’ve been surprised that a few people liked my post. I figured it would be thrown out as total crap from a complete whack job.

 

[ImBillT]

The more I look into it, the more I believe many medical issues are linked to other issues. My wife has needed B12 shots since before I knew her because her stomach can't absorb it. She has also had stomach issues for years and it turns out she is allergic to gluten. I was able to convince her to try a gluten free diet by googling 6-7 cases of people where also had B12 deficiencies and were allergic to gluten.
I also heard about a case of a doctor who started showing symptoms of MS and completely changed his diet and is able to walk normally again.

Interesting. My wife has some gut issues and has tested b12 deficient.

 

[JDH]

Interesting. My wife has some gut issues and has tested b12 deficient.

Google "b12 deficiency gluten intolerance". Whatever the stomach issue is can cause damage to the small intestine and it won't absorb vitamins and nutrients correctly. She still needs the shots but her stomach issues have gotten better. Just don't tell her you were openly discussing it on the internet...did that once and she wasn't too thrilled..

 

[RUT JUNKEY]

I had a bad stretch of that a little over a year ago...I used inserts, and this may sound crazy, but.....I quit drinking coke/pop etc and I haven't had any issues with it since!!

 

[ImBillT]

I had a bad stretch of that a little over a year ago...I used inserts, and this may sound crazy, but.....I quit drinking coke/pop etc and I haven't had any issues with it since!!

Lines up with my experience in that too much sugar may tilt the balance of your gut flora in the wrong direction. Still not proof, but it’s nice to hear I’m not the only one.

I’m not suggesting that it’s a definite link to ANY plantar fasciitis, and I HIGHLY DOUBT that it’s related to ALL plantar fasciitis. There have to be a lot of much more obvious causes.

 

[Runnin_Chupacabra]

There are a lot of great responses here and I may be summarizing a lot of them. I've worked in a physical therapy clinic the last four years and saw a number of plantar fascia cases. Biggest remedies I've seen work, in no specific order, is a night splint (I'm assuming first thing in the morning is the worst), rolling the bottom of the foot out on a frozen water bottle, stretching as well as strengthening.

Orthodics are great, although they are more of a "bandage" approach. Essentially orthotics act as a brace for the lack of strength in the bridge of your foot. If you have your shoulder in a brace constantly then the muscles will never develop the proper strength you need and you never make any progress, only depending on the "crutch" to get you by will by all means help, although is not the solution. Studies have shown that balancing exercises as well as strengthening exercises can serve a greater long term purpose. The lower leg is connected to the kinetic chain of the entire limb so many exercises farther up the chain ie. hip and core exercises, will increase foot stability. The weaker you are farther up the chain in the hips/core the work must be made up somewhere else in the chain, many times overloading the load the intrinsic foot muscles are made to carry leading to plantar symptoms. Some exercises that have shown to be beneficial:

Heel Raises (slow)
Single leg balancing (progressions in order of difficulty: scan the room from left to right, close eyes, balancing on a pillow then scan the room)
Sidelying clams
Planks (on knees if need be)
crab walks with a band around knees
rolling the foot out on a golf ball/frozen water bottle
Many more great exercises on youtube


Remember, don't fight through the pain. That's a great way to worsen symptoms, rather do how ever much you can then live to fight another day.

 

[bailey68]

I surely didn't expect this much response. Thank you! I'm on my second night splint and the inserts. But honestly wasn't dedicated to the stretching and will be adding some new shoes in for daily wear something other than boots my boots the last few years have been either scarpa or asolos both of which are pretty stiff. I always thought the extra support would be beneficial but maybe that's not the case. I do walk suck footed and wear the outer heal out quickly. Thanks again