Plantar Fasciitis

The truth is that no one knows what causes PF and no one knows how to cure it although you will get many strong opinions. Do a Google search and experiment. Some remedies work better than others but its very individual. Most people just suffer through it and eventually it goes away. Personally, I found that I can run really slowly with the help of a heart rate monitor. I just run by time and dont worry about pace. I rationalize it by calling it base building. In the acute stage, any running is very tough but if you start out walking and gradually ease into a slow run, you might be able to put together some decent mileage. I would not get the cortisone shot. Research this and I think you'll find a lot of problems and that its seldom a cure or even a help. The other stuff is generally also useless and a waste of money. However, in an individual case, you might strike gold and find something that works for you. Again, the key is to keep experimenting and researching on the net. Sorry to be so negative. Good luck!!

Funny thing about PF is that none of the most commonly-repeated remedies ever seemed to work for anyone I know who has had it, myself included.

How do you stretch it? When I had it bad, I noticed that I could do a straight-leg calf stretch pretty well, but it felt very tight when I did a bent-leg calf stretch. Also, only stretch it when it's warm. Massage your foot and calf well before you step out of bed in the morning and before you go to bed.

The quickest improvement I ever saw was from two exercises, though I'm not sure if it was one or the other that did it. Disclaimer: none of this is based on any research or advice of any kind, only personal experimentation.

1. Deep one-legged calf raises: hang your heel off of a step and very slowly go from a stretch into a calf raise. It's a stretch and a light lift in one (add weight if you want to). You can also start small and ease into a larger range of motion as you go through each set. I did them every day after my runs on both feet just to keep balanced.

2. Toe scrunches: This is basically just the exercise where you scrunch a towel under your bare foot using only your toes. I did a different variation where, while standing barefoot on a carpet, I would lean forward slightly and drag my heels forward on the carpet by gripping it with both sets of toes. Same as the towel exercise but much more resistance.

Last I had PF was last year (ALL of last year) and the first thing I noticed after exercising it was that my arches no longer felt tight when I woke up in the morning. Then the inflammation faded away even while I was still training. Haven't had a problem with it since, although I think I'll have to get back to my exercises before it shows up again.

I posted on this before, its a horrible injury. I suffered for nearly a year with this. I had a tear in the plantar and managed to get that fixe the tear easy enough through physio and stretching exercises(work your foot with tennis ball and golf ball).

However after that I still suffered problems whenever I tried to go back running, according to the physio the plantar is made up of layers of very strong muscles and in the middle of these layers was some scar tissue that was very difficult to break down. This was only diagnosed after I went for an MRI scan and you could see the scar tissue. The only way I they could break it down was by going for laser surgery(not the laser from Physiotherapy). If you go to a laser surgeon its a much more powerful laser, your physio should be able to refer you to one. It was cheap enough to get and two days after I was good as new.

Good Luck

go to an orthopedist and get a cortisone shot in the spot where it hurts. rest for a week; then resume running, builing up slowly.