Does plantar fascitis ever go away?

going on just over 2yrs with this GD PF. it is killing me.

nothing has worked....and i mean nothing. i have tried every conventional method in the book, was religious about it all (stretching, night plint, accupuncture, deep tissue massage, icing, everything) and none has worked. took an entire year off from running. didn't help.

met with an orthopedic surgeon a couple of weeks ago who wants to do the release surgery on me. really hesitant about doing that. also looking into ESWT and some new procedure called TOPAZ that is less evasive than surgery and getting more and more common for non-accute PF.

it sucks. i am miserable, fat, self loathing and desperate to do anything to make it better.

i hope you have better luck than i have. i wouldn't wish this upon anyone.

also, for the record, i tried 3 cortisone shots and custom orthotics and they didn't help either. i still use the orthotics, but think the superfeet insoles actually work and feel better when i do my crippled shuffle of 4 miles 3x a week.screw the cortisone shots....all they do is mask things, not fix them.

crippled runner wrote:

going on just over 2yrs with this GD PF. it is killing me.

nothing has worked....and i mean nothing. i have tried every conventional method in the book, was religious about it all (stretching, night plint, accupuncture, deep tissue massage, icing, everything) and none has worked. took an entire year off from running. didn't help.

met with an orthopedic surgeon a couple of weeks ago who wants to do the release surgery on me. really hesitant about doing that. also looking into ESWT and some new procedure called TOPAZ that is less evasive than surgery and getting more and more common for non-accute PF.

it sucks. i am miserable, fat, self loathing and desperate to do anything to make it better.

i hope you have better luck than i have. i wouldn't wish this upon anyone.

many times pf is caused by some that overpronates wearing a neutral shoe or a racing flat to train in. If this is the case a shoe with a medial post (stability or motion control depending on the degree of the overpronation) should correct this and the pf shuld go away within a month because the pf is not being constantly tugged on during your runs.

That blows holes in the theory of minimalism.

Love running wrote:

Sometimes it takes up to a year

Only if you're lucky.

biomechanics expert wrote:

many times pf is caused by some that overpronates wearing a neutral shoe or a racing flat to train in. If this is the case a shoe with a medial post (stability or motion control depending on the degree of the overpronation) should correct this and the pf shuld go away within a month because the pf is not being constantly tugged on during your runs.

AKA people with weak feet/lower legs! If you jump into flats and start doing all your training in them you're bound to get PF or tendinitis somewhere else. You have to give your body time to adapt and be persistent, especially if your feet haven't had to support themselves in a long time.

PF was my first serious running injury. That was in 1985. I've dealt with it off and on (more on than off) since then. I've read many of these PF threads on this site, and come to the conclusion that it's caused by a number of different circumstances and biomechanical issues, so one has to experiment to find out what will work for them. I'd avoid the shots, though. Have seen bad results with those.

I've found staying off hard surfaces, reasonable mileage and ice to work best for me. Also like shoes with better than average cushioning, but not too much.

[quote]Register a login name wrote:

I'd avoid the shots, though. Have seen bad results with those.

a series of cortisone shots in both arches over a 2-3 year period helped immensly. They cleared up the inflamation and I got a 'fresh start'. I eventually got orthotics, to keep the p.f. from coming back. I must have had 5-6 shots over a 3 year period, while in college. No long term effects....that was 30 years ago. my college career was limited in time. I rested for 3 months one time and the p.f. didn't get any better at all. If you are in college, with big goals, you don't have time to sit around for a year. If I was 33 years old when it happened, I probably wouldn't have been as aggressive with the shots.

After about a year of various treatment (including podiatrist who administered steroids and custom orthotics), what got mine to go away is stretching with a device called a ProStretch (

http://heelspurs.com/aaa.cgi?w=pro

) and the foot circles / point flexes from Pete Egoscue's book Pain Free.

I am a 30 MPW fat gallowalker though so YMMV.

After about a year of various treatment (including podiatrist who administered steroids and custom orthotics), what got mine to go away is stretching with a device called a ProStretch (

http://heelspurs.com/aaa.cgi?w=pro

) and the foot circles / point flexes from Pete Egoscue's book Pain Free.

I am a 30 MPW fat gallowalker though so YMMV.

I had it for 3 years after college and could not run over 30 minutes. I was advised to put pegboard in my shoes, cut the shape of the insole and go right to the base of the metatarsals. It worked and cleared up in less than a week - after having it for 3 years.

I wore the pegboard for years, had my f-i-law cut them for me on his saw. Then one day, stopped, but have never been bothered by it since.

I think you need to strengthen the ankle and stretch the calves.

I had a very bad case several years ago. The walk to the bathroom in the morning would bring tears to my eyes it hurt so bad.

I tried all the various "cures" and it just never went away but I could "manage" it, and by manage I mean only run on flat ground and no real speedwork or anything with toe-off.

I got a good PT to look at it and test me for a few things and it turned out my calves were strong and tight, shins were weak, and every step I was taking was causing a battle that the plantar would lose.

I did two things to address the problem that cleared up in about 8 weeks (after several months other efforts). First off I started a series of exercises described by the PT to strengthen my shins and resolve the muscle imbalance. Next I had a massage theropist work the calves and directly on the plantar to break up the shething and loosen tha calves. Needless to say the last part was particularly unpleasant for the first month (once a week).

According to my podiatrist, once you have it tends to recur.

I have the same problem and resolved it with custom made orthotics. Expensive but well worth it.

I can't help wondering if most runners who suffer from plantar fasciitis don't have a healthy balance between running and walking.

What I mean is that if you are running a lot and landing mostly on your forefoot and not doing much walking where you heelstrike mostly, then this is too much stress for the plantar fascia. Whenever I get the pain, I stop running and walk and it goes away in a day or two.

As it is always good to hear the good stories, I can add that I have fought it off for about two years with good success. I have found the calf stretching to be the most effective. I have stopped icing out of a combination of laziness and the fact that somewhere on these posts someone suggested that icing was not as important as for AT.

I had it for about 8 months and nothing worked... i got soft orthodics, 2 cortisone shots, and did all the thearapy that i could handle... and nada...

I had the release surgery, couldn't run for about 3 months, but slowly built back up, after the scar tissue broke down, I haven't had a problem since and had a 100% recovery.

I would recomend not getting the surgery unless you absolutely have too. I had no other choice or else I would have forgone my last year of college running due to the pain. Like an above poster, the most dreaded part of the day was the first 10 minutes out of bed. I had a 2 month old sprained ankle from walking on the outside of my foot to avoid the pain... it was the worst thing i've ever dealt with running wise...

best of luck...

Take off your shoes. First walk barefoot and then progress to running barefoot. Look at your street shoes-- do they contrast significantly compared to your running shoes (~elevated heel, inflexible)? Resigning your old running shoes into your street shoes may not be the best idea.

A very good form of massage therapy with active isolated stretching. Up to 97% effective.

Owwwwwwwww wrote:

Does plantar fascitis ever go away?

NO, it never goes away. Take up cycling, swimming, speed skating or target shooting.