plantar fasciitis, the last 10%

[Formidilosus]

I can see some wisdom in strengthening the foot to prevent PF but don't see how adding stress will heal an already injured foot. That goes against everything I know about how the body heals. You wouldn't apply that same logic to a sprained ankle, torn ligament or muscle or broken bone. Instead you immobilize them and protect them so they can heal and you don't keep reinjuring in the process..

Actually... depending on the injury, they may start using it again within a few days. Atrophy, scar tissue, and lack of oxygen all contribute to the damage. The best sports physiologists are/have moved to getting it moving and using sooner rather than later. A sprained ankle? If nothing torn usually with 3 days they start exercising it. Torn muscles within 2-3 days they will start actually doing lifts (light, but lifting). The sooner you get oxygenated blood to the injury and movement, the less scar tissue and atrophy set in.


As a general thing if there aren't torn ligaments and tendons (and sometimes if there are)- once over the initial hump and swelling starts to go down, I'm starting to move, strengthen, and work it loose. A couple months ago we had a person with a serious tear of the left pec and two broken ribs. Conventional thought would be 6-8 weeks before any use. Within 7 days he was benching light weight, high reps. Inside of two weeks he was at about 80%. By one month he was lifting normal again.

The one one and only time I got PF was from using supportive insoles for the first time during a month long rucking course. It lasted for months, but within two weeks of going completely barefoot and rehab I could run again. After a couplemonths it went away completely.

 

[Odell]

Actually... depending on the injury, they may start using it again within a few days. Atrophy, scar tissue, and lack of oxygen all contribute to the damage. The best sports physiologists are/have moved to getting it moving and using sooner rather than later. A sprained ankle? If nothing torn usually with 3 days they start exercising it. Torn muscles within 2-3 days they will start actually doing lifts (light, but lifting). The sooner you get oxygenated blood to the injury and movement, the less scar tissue and atrophy set in.


As a general thing if there aren't torn ligaments and tendons (and sometimes if there are)- once over the initial hump and swelling starts to go down, I'm starting to move, strengthen, and work it loose. A couple months ago we had a person with a serious tear of the left pec and two broken ribs. Conventional thought would be 6-8 weeks before any use. Within 7 days he was benching light weight, high reps. Inside of two weeks he was at about 80%. By one month he was lifting normal again.

The one one and only time I got PF was from using supportive insoles for the first time during a month long rucking course. It lasted for months, but within two weeks of going completely barefoot and rehab I could run again. After a couplemonths it went away completely.

So like i said, rest and then rehab. We agree. The thing about PF is that going barefoot is the very thing that keeps it from resting.

I think you are spot on with strengthening it in the future. If i can’t shake it in two more months I’ll give your approach a try even though it goes against almost all the stories and medical advice. Can’t hurt to try especially if nothing else works




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jeff Martin]

.

The one one and only time I got PF was from using supportive insoles for the first time during a month long rucking course. It lasted for months, but within two weeks of going completely barefoot and rehab I could run again. After a couplemonths it went away completely.

I got PF for using insoles and my doctors agrees. It weakened my feet and now I can not get rid of it. For those tribes that are barefoot as a people, PF does not exist. To suggest our creator made us to where we can NEVER go barefoot is nonsense. Insoles 100% and not going barefoot (even in the shower) is a symptom relief, like meds, not a solution. I agree with you and the doctors I am working with want me moving as they use shock waves to tear up the scar tissue. I know people have differences of opinions on this, but i agree with you


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Formidilosus]

I'm not making declarative statements, just saying what I have seen for the last decade and a half of relatively high level fitness demands and injuries that follow.


Regardless of ones approach, there is zero doubt that our bodies were made to walk without shoes and support. Anything we do that changes our stance and gait from the bio mechanically correct way is going to lead to problems. My main point is to train your feet and legs to not need supportive shoes. While for some it may take a while, you will be better off for it.

100% of people that I have seen that go the "insole/support/stiff shoe" way have never fixed their problems- they are stuck with it for life. Conversely, 100% of people that I have seen who have rehabbed aggressively and weened themselves off of supports and into minimal shoes and boots have recovered completely.

 

[xl mammal]

No plugs for the Strassburg Sock? Fixed my (granted, relatively mild) case of PF in about a month. The Strassburg Sock™ | Heel Pain Relief | Official Manufacturer Website

Sleeping with it takes some getting used to, though.

 

[sandhillhunter]

No plugs for the Strassburg Sock? Fixed my (granted, relatively mild) case of PF in about a month. The Strassburg Sock | Heel Pain Relief | Official Manufacturer Website

Sleeping with it takes some getting used to, though.

I’m a big fan of the Strassburg. Had PF for months following a couple of 1/2 marathons. I never used to stretch after runs which is what I think caused it.

Rest, stretching, special insoles from podiatrist, foam rollers and frozen water bottles helped some, but wearing the sock at night made the biggest difference to me.

I’m back to running 1/2 marathons and mountain hiking hasn’t bothered me at all.

The barefoot idea has merit, but it takes time to retrain and strengthen your feet and legs.

My podiatrist said he has seen more foot problems from runners trying barefoot or low drop shoes than anything- mainly because they change too quickly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mt Al]

Had a horrible case about 10 years ago, I'm early 50's now. Did insoles, stretching, had a boot (vs. the sock) at night, started walking/treadmilling a lot more and it's been gone. Thank God. I could hardly walk down stairs in the morning, had to put my heel down first.

The only thing I did differently that the common themes on this thread is long term stretching during the day. When I was at my desk I put a big phone book sized book under the toe area of my shoes. Obviously couldn't keep it there all the time, but over the course of a day got some light, long term stretching done.

Tougher to explain, but here goes: I have a couch with arm rests at either end. Used to lie in such a manner that my heels were against the bottom of the arm rest, then would put a pillow under my toes, stretching them just a bit. If you like to read, this is easy. Bottoms of your feet are stretched lightly and long term as you read. If you're just lying there to stretch, will not be long term.

I don't doubt for a minute that the light/natural/barefoot shoes work. I have no data but think mine went away mainly due to long term stretching and much more activity/walking/hiking/tread mill.

 

[akshayv]

I have heel spur that they said the only way that I would get relief is surgery until I found these shoes. I am not kidding. Have no more problem with my spur. My wife seen what relief I was having and she got her a pair we both work on concrete for 8 hours a day. We love them. I wish you would put more styles in wide. Thank you keeps up the great work orthofeet. I have 3 pair of the men's shoes and love them.

 

[ElkElkGoose]

Ill try not to make this too long but I've had quite a bit of experience in this area. I've had an ungodly amount of soft tissue injuries over the years as a result of being a past semi pro rugby player and the recovery all seems to follow the same pattern.

I developed PF and shin splits about 5 years ago and could not get them to go away. It was a recurring cycle of flareups, rest, workout, flareup, etc. Even during the better times of this cycle it didn't completely go away. I went to Drs and PTs and had the whole "put in an orthotic etc" thing thrown at me. The orthotic helped to an extent, it took away the acute stage of it but never completely solved the issue. I also have pretty flat feet so the ortho would feel like it was punching me in the arch repeatedly when I tried to run which then caused me pain after a certain level of activity.

One thing that I started to notice was that the only time I was completely pain free was when I was walking around the house barefoot. So I got some Altra zero drop shoes and started wearing them around. When my foot started to feel sore Id swap to the insoles for the rest of the day. After a couple of weeks I wore them full time and didn't have any issues for years.

Fast forward to last week and I decided I was going to do weighted sled sprints after not working out for about 4 months and trashed my feet due to the drastic increase in activity. I went and bought superfeet and stuck them in my shoes and taped up my arches with KT tape. Ive been running this for about three days now and one foot has stopped hurting and the other one much improved. I have a PT appt on Friday where they'll needle my calves and break up recovery tissue in my Achilles and PF. Then ill do my gradual switch in and out of the inserts and lower leg strengthening.

In my experience, all soft tissue injury recovery has a few stages. Resolve the acute stage, break up scar tissue from healing, strengthen. When you stick an insert in you are solving the acute stage by taking the load off of your arches. This allows your foot to heal. But now your foot is weak and has bunched up tissue from the healing process. You take off the insert and go for a run and boom its back. So then people just leave it in forever as the solution. Well, you didn't do the last two stages for ALL injuries. You didn't break up the tissue and get it lengthened again and you didn't get the strength back for your body to do its job.

Imagine if you sprained your knee and wore a knee brace so you could maintain range of motion while healing. Your knee heals and you take off the brace and go do hurdles and it hurts again. So you put on the brace again and you think, "Well, I guess I need to wear this forever now so I can workout." No, you just skipped the last steps of your recovery.

 

[bat-cave]

I developed PF a few years back. The solution for me was a pair of custom orthotics prescribed by my Dr. Once I began using them religiously for a week, I was largely pain free and able to resume activity. During this week, I had a bunch fo work with a PT and Ice/Heat etc ... So the combination was key for me. My PT continued to work with me to strengthen my feet and after ~1 year I have ditched the orthotics altogether and am pain free.

 

[buck_shot11]

If you are currently having PF pain and cannot seem to shake it - go see a physical therapist and they will do a number of things - dry needling and A-stem to name a couple. What ultimately is the issue is, your calf. Your calf will not let go of the Plantar tendon and creates pain in the foot. What you need is direct treatment to that calf to ultimately receive 100% relief.

Once you've achieved 100% relief, there stretching and rolling are two valuable things to do in order to prevent re-occurrence.

I am no expert, but have fought plenty of calf and PF issues in the past. When I'm not hunting, I do marathon running and Ironman triathlon. I've certainly been around the corner.

 

[MNScrambler]

I have to recommend the "Foot Log" (can find it on Amazon.) Seemed to really help with breaking up the scar tissue in my heel and loosening up my feet after battling PF for a long time.

 

[lawndart]

I developed pf several years ago when I switched to minimalist shoes and pose style running. I've tried months of rehab and orthotics with little success. The pain is so severe that I can't walk across the bedroom floor without shoes and am ready to try anything to find relief. After finding this post I'm going to try the deep tissue massager route and am following the post for more suggestions.
Thanks to the OP for starting this thread!