PRP for Plantar Fascitis

If you have not, make sure you get advice on the electric shock wave treatment (ESWT) for chronic plantar fascitis. I did this after about 6 months of the traditional treatment progression. It is fairly non-intrusive, no cutting involved, not painful, walked away from office after the procedure and back running in less than 3 weeks.

Many doctors don't suggest it because insurance does not typically cover and it is new compared to some of the other treatments. Cost me $1000, well worth it in my case.

Like the previous poster, I also had the electric shock wave treatment, and it was also successful. I was very skeptical, but gave it a shot, and it worked! Check it out before you get cut.

I had the same injury. Took me the best part of the year to get over it. Went to physio every week for most of that year and the thing that worked for me was laser surgery.

The reason my injury took so long to heal was because they could not break the scar tissue down with standard physio treatment.

I was sent for laser surgery and within two days it was fixed. I had it in Ireland and was cheap enough (€100). I would definately recommend it as I know what your going through. You will probably need a referral from your doc or physio before you go.

Good luck

I've had both the ESWT and the PRP on both my plantar fascia. I had ESWT on my right in 2005 and ESWT and PRP on my left in 2009.

In 2005 I was still in college and took 6 weeks off after the procedure. Started running slowly back up after 6 weeks, although there was still some pain and stiffness for a while that slowly went away. After maybe 2 months of building back up I was running 100 mile weeks and doing lots of workouts in flats again. It would be sore once in a while but not like it used to. I have not had a hint of pain from it since January 2007. Don't sleep with a splint and have done some pretty thrashing workouts in spikes.

In 2008 I started developing PF in my left foot. Ran through it like an idiot, had a cortizone shot in May of 2009 and in July 2009 I wrecked it so bad at a race I literally couldn't put any weight on it for four days. Did every type of PT for it possible bc insurance wouldn't cover the ESWT until I had 6 months of therapy (bastards). When the 6 months were up I still couldn't walk without pain. I scheduled the ESWT and then had the PRP scheduled two weeks after. The PRP was March 09. I started running again May 1. It was sensitive when starting back up but I took it slow. I am now on my 6th consecutive 90ish mile week and have done quite a few workouts in flats. At this point there is no pain at all. Even after a tough workout on the track in flats I don't feel it.

The procedures worked amazing wonders for me. It is a shame the insurance companies are hesitant to cover it. Obviously, it cost them much less to have a dr do a corizone shot and let unactive people feel better. I had to front the money for the surgery both times and then fight to get reimbursed from the insurance company. The first time, they ok'd the surgery and it took them 8 months to issue my refund. Even if they didn't, the money was worth the price of running again.

Sorry for the long post. Hope it helped.

to the posters who have had the ESWT done. where and by whom did the procedure? I have checked in my area, and nobody does it around here. I have 5 months of Plantar that is similar in pain to what Jeff Gaudette has described. I did a run 3 weeks ago and could hardly walk for a week afterwards. I've done cortisone, crappy orthotics to walk around in, rolfing, i even sat in sweat lodge and had a native american dude chant at the thing and it still hurts.

suggestions?

Before you step out of bed in the morning, you need to put on your supportive shoes. This is not a cure of course but I think it helps with the initial morning pain and may prevent further aggravating the injury in the morning when its most painful. It cost nothing and may help. Good luck.

Thanks for all the replies guys! I actually feel really good about my chances for a speedy recovery. I was wondering if just one treatment would help much because they say a person could need up to 4-6 procedures spread 4 weeks apart to rid of all pain. I hope this works, and I will NEVER be so hardheaded and run through something like this again b/c it has been a nightmare!

I'll try to refer back to this thread and let yall know how it goes over the next 6 weeks.

XCcollegeAA wrote:

Thanks for all the replies guys! I actually feel really good about my chances for a speedy recovery. I was wondering if just one treatment would help much because they say a person could need up to 4-6 procedures spread 4 weeks apart to rid of all pain. I hope this works, and I will NEVER be so hardheaded and run through something like this again b/c it has been a nightmare!

I'll try to refer back to this thread and let yall know how it goes over the next 6 weeks.

You might be able to run through it. My doctor told me that running was OK up to the point of pain which usually happens when I try to run hills or speed. Right now, I'm just putting in the long slow miles and feeling OK although the PF is still there. The long slow stuff helps to maintain and improve my base while I'm waiting for the PF to heal itself. I've tried most remedies (except surgery and shock wave) with no luck yet. I figure that this injury has a mind of its own, no one seems to have a cure, and it will heal itself on its own schedule so I'll just do the long slow stuff and wait it out. Good luck. Let us know what happens.

The procedure on my foot went really well! It was somewhat painful but good overall. I was on crutches through the weekend and I'm now in "the boot". I think by the end of this week I will be fine to walk around in a shoe. I start biking tomorrow. The foot is still very sore but over this next month while on the bike I expect to see some major imporvement.

But the procedure was very quick and easy. More to come.

UPDATE

It's been about 8 weeks sense I had the PRP procedure done on my foot. I'm happy to say that things have gone VERY well.

After the procedure I was on crutches for 1 week, then in a walking boot for 1 week. During the first week (while on crutches) I rode a stationairy bike easily for an hour a day, as to not upset my foot. Starting the second week I biked pretty hard. During the third and fourth weeks I biked VERY hard, everyday, up to 3 hours a day.

During the 5th week I started to run a little. Just 30 mins 3 times a week the first week back, followed by more biking on the days I ran and only biked the other days. I have no slowly added in more running and taken out more of the biking. I hit about 50 miles last week and only bike a total of about 2 1/2 hours.

The plantar fasciitis is still somewhat noticeable, and often times sore, but it is MUCH better and I'm happy to say I'm no longer in pain. The discomfort and soreness I feel is nothing compared to what it once was and now allows me to train better, I can only hope that it continues to stay like it now is.

Anyone thinking about getting PRP should def look into it, it has been a career saver as I'm approaching my last season of eligiblity come fall.

You may also try injections of Dextrose (sugar solution)instead of the PRP. Both injections are referred to as Prolotherapy. I've never had PRP injections, only dextrose sub-cutaneous (just below the skin), but I can run the next day. I get it done as often as every 4 weeks, or as needed. It's enabled my chronic high hamstring problem to heal while I was still training and racing. I also get ART to supplement the prolotherapy.

Interesting...can you tell me a little more about this procedure...cost? How does it work?

Also helps to have a soft rug to step on the first thing in the morning rather than a hard floor, even if you put an exercise mat down by your bed or something.

I had FOUR sessions of ESWT (The first three were once a week for three weeks in a row, and the fourth one was one month after the third session). Perhaps because my case of plantar fasciitis is pretty bad (and had been going on for three years and in both feet), but the first couple of minutes of each session were painful (then I would get kind of numb).

The fourth session was almost two months ago. Unfortunately ESWT does not appear to have worked for me...

One more thing in case someone else reads these old posts... one of the very first things the doctor told me when I was first diagnosed was to NEVER walk barefoot. Not even at home.

Some days, having something that provides good support makes the difference between being able to walk or not (because of the pain). I found two brands that have worked wonders for me and also use something from them as slippers inside my home. The first one is FitFlop. The second one is Aravon, a line of sandals and a bit dressier shoes from New Balance (for women only).

I had PF a few years ago and did nothing of the kind.

I used advice from Dr. Pribut's page, and THE most useful thing I found was simply to not walk barefoot at all (including indoors) for at least 6 weeks. I walked around everywhere in a fairly high heeled walking shoe (one of the Reebok DMX walking series) for at least a couple of months, cut my training in volume and stopped training in spikes, and the PF gradually went away. No medical intervention, not tying toes or anything, at all.

My impression is the YOU don't heal PF. You cut the damage you were doing to your body to the point that your body heals it by itself. You simply cut back what you were doing and give it some time (maybe a year or two).

I too had/have PF. I am lucky enough to work around many orthopods and podiatrists. Many are or were runners/triathletes.

With the exception of 1, they all discouraged steroid injection for fear of rupture. In non-athletes they encouraged steroid injection. Likewise with surgery. They discouraged surgery for the athletes.

Most felt PRP to be hocus pocus.