I would try the standard of care as I outlined. Assuming you have the right diagnosis. PF often require the kitchen sink, not doing one thing here and there you heard online. I have found Birks to be counterproductive btw. Wear your running shoes indoors and out until you get everything figured out. Avoid flat like the plague for now. If you are resting, avoiding flat shoes/barefeet/flipflops, stretching icing, +/- a cortisone injection and get NO relief, I would strongly question the diagnosis. If you are getting some relief but not durable, and have the right diagnosis, there are the non invasive (semi invasive) alt modalities I Iisted and surgery.
I would try the standard of care as I outlined. Assuming you have the right diagnosis. PF often require the kitchen sink, not doing one thing here and there you heard online. I have found Birks to be counterproductive btw. Wear your running shoes indoors and out until you get everything figured out. Avoid flat like the plague for now. If you are resting, avoiding flat shoes/barefeet/flipflops, stretching icing, +/- a cortisone injection and get NO relief, I would strongly question the diagnosis. If you are getting some relief but not durable, and have the right diagnosis, there are the non invasive (semi invasive) alt modalities I Iisted and surgery.
Well podiatrists still insist it's PF
Umm, it’s been a few days please pay attention to me again. I’ve done nothing and said nothing new but I deserve your pity.
Last summer I asked if you had tried the Athlean-X stretch, night boots, or Birkenstocks for walking at home. Your answer was as follows: "Yes to calf stretch I haven't tried night boots or Birkenstocks" It's 8 months later. Have you tried them? And have you tried walking and/or running barefoot on GRASS or SAND (NOT indoors on carpet)?
bump, since you did not reply fully. Birkenstocks? And have you tried walking and/or running barefoot on GRASS or SAND (NOT indoors on carpet)?
Rookie- give your whole history. What have you actually done? Not these 1 sentence throw away comments that you've done everything and went to doctors.
Umm, it’s been a few days please pay attention to me again. I’ve done nothing and said nothing new but I deserve your pity.
Thanks for your attention to this matter.
Well, I am still in pain and nothing works. I don't know what else to say
Good point, as several people have advised just shut up. "I don't know what else to say.." Then why do you keep posting the same thing for 6ish years?
There is no sudden quick fix. It will take years of slowly trying to get better. YEARS. There is no one easy thing that will fix it in a year. You have to spend 30 minutes a day for 4 years running and another 30 minutes per day minimum on PT and if after spending at least an hour a day for four years training and doing PT then come detail what you did and share it with an actual Dr. not a running message board.
"...KD [Ketogenic Diet] appears to have the broad anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties. The KD exerts anti-inflammatory action against a variety of experimental models of neurological disorders including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, pain, and spinal cord injury. Anti-inflammatory action of KD appears to be mediated by multiple mechanisms. Ketones bodies, caloric restriction, polyunsaturated fatty acids and gut microbiota modifications might be involved in the modulation of inflammation by the KD."
Rookie- give your whole history. What have you actually done? Not these 1 sentence throw away comments that you've done everything and went to doctors.
I started running in the summer of 2019 when I was 17 years old. I did too much too soon, and I ended up with a stress fracture. It healed by the early 2020, so I tried to start running again. This time, I was much more gradual with how much I ramped up mileage. I got up to around 15-20 miles per week by the summer, but I started developing sharp feet pain. I saw a doctor who gave me orthotics, but the pain still remained. I stopped running at the end of 2020 and waited for the feet to heal.
By the summer of 2021, the pain was still present, so I went to physical therapy. I was in physical therapy for several months, but the pain remained so I went to another doctor. I got a MRI that showed I had talonavicular arthritis in the right foot, so I was in a cast for around 6 weeks. After recovery, my doctor said I could try to run short distances again, so I started running again by around April 2022. The sharp feet pain was still present, but I basically tolerated it and continued to run until the summer of 2023. Again, I was around 15-20 miles per week for much of this time period. Unfortunately, the pain got so bad that I had to stop again. I waited for around a year, and the pain didn't improve still. I saw a podiatrist at the end of 2024 who said I had plantar fasciitis told me to stop running. I got a steroid injection in early 2026, but it didn't help much. This is where I am at now.
Rookie- give your whole history. What have you actually done? Not these 1 sentence throw away comments that you've done everything and went to doctors.
I started running in the summer of 2019 when I was 17 years old. I did too much too soon, and I ended up with a stress fracture. It healed by the early 2020, so I tried to start running again. This time, I was much more gradual with how much I ramped up mileage. I got up to around 15-20 miles per week by the summer, but I started developing sharp feet pain. I saw a doctor who gave me orthotics, but the pain still remained. I stopped running at the end of 2020 and waited for the feet to heal.
By the summer of 2021, the pain was still present, so I went to physical therapy. I was in physical therapy for several months, but the pain remained so I went to another doctor. I got a MRI that showed I had talonavicular arthritis in the right foot, so I was in a cast for around 6 weeks. After recovery, my doctor said I could try to run short distances again, so I started running again by around April 2022. The sharp feet pain was still present, but I basically tolerated it and continued to run until the summer of 2023. Again, I was around 15-20 miles per week for much of this time period. Unfortunately, the pain got so bad that I had to stop again. I waited for around a year, and the pain didn't improve still. I saw a podiatrist at the end of 2024 who said I had plantar fasciitis told me to stop running. I got a steroid injection in early 2026, but it didn't help much. This is where I am at now.
The doctors were mostly wrong except for the one that gave you the Chinese neurosis diagnosis that you too seem to have forgotten about. Problem is Chinese neurosis and remedy is whole buffalo.
So you are a guy who never got above 3 miles a day but running feels like a big part of your life anyways?
To be honest dude, I'd try swimming and maybe just come here for track coverage if you want to follow that. See what you can do for 800 or mile swim. Maybe after a couple months of just swimming laps with occasional time trials, look up a training plan for one of those distances in the pool.
So you are a guy who never got above 3 miles a day but running feels like a big part of your life anyways?
To be honest dude, I'd try swimming and maybe just come here for track coverage if you want to follow that. See what you can do for 800 or mile swim. Maybe after a couple months of just swimming laps with occasional time trials, look up a training plan for one of those distances in the pool.
Well, first he was convinced he'd be fast and that by not immediately being fast he never got to have friends and be cool in high school. Then obviously, he didn't get to run in college because we didn't give him advice that would immediately make him fast. Now I think he's counting on the lifelong comradery of army buddies but his crippling PF is keeping him out of the army.
Not sure what else I missed, but we've probably ruined the only three chances he'll have in life to be cool because we aren't fixing his made up injuries.
Rookie- give your whole history. What have you actually done? Not these 1 sentence throw away comments that you've done everything and went to doctors.
a MRI that showed I had talonavicular arthritis...
Everything so far has focused on PF. This is an entirely different injury, although I see how someone could mistake it for PF.
Your podiatrist is guessing it's PF, but the MRI provides a better diagnosis. The likely reason the problem came back when you got out of the cast is that you didn't fix what caused the injury in the first place. This is a very common mistake made by runners. EDIT: It's also a problem with doctors, but doctors spend very little time with injury prevention and have no training in how to prevent running injuries.
Your injury was most likely caused by excessive flexing of those ligaments. The cast might have immobilized them and allowed them to heal, but returning to running without fixing what is causing the flexing caused the problem to return.
At this point you have the original problem of inflammation, plus the additional problem of long-term damage from attempting to run on the foot without fixing the cause of the flexing. That long-term damage might be permanent. A doctor would have to do an MRI and tell you.
I don't know how to help you. I've had an injury to the ligaments immediately adjacent to your injury and I resolved it by immoblizing the ligament as much as possible. I did that by switching to shoes with absolutely no flexing. That is, when I grab the heel in one hand and the toe in the other and try to bend it, it doesn't flex at all. Then, I immoblized the foot inside the shoe with orthotics I made myself. I did that to ALL my shoes and I stopped walking barefoot until it healed.
However, I did those steps within a month of getting the injury. In your case, you have been trying to run for years with the problem. You may have permanent damage... most likely calcium build up on the bones or cartilege wear so it's nearly bone on bone. An MRI should be able to tell you specifically what is the problem. By your own statement, you haven't had an MRI in five years so maybe it's time for another one.
ONE TIP: This injury is close to the surface so you can reduce the inflammation with castor oil wraps. Google it. Basically, you soak a piece of gauze with castor oil, wrap it over the entire area, wrap it with something to hold it in place, and put your foot into a grocery bag so the castor oil won't ruin your sheets. There are lots of variations of how to do this. It will probably reduce the pain in 2-3 days, and will slowly reduce the inflammation and help with healing, but it won't completely resolve the problem. I have firsthand experience with castor oil soaks. They absolutely help. I resolved a hallux rigidus problem I had for 17 years by wrapping my big toe joint nightly in a castor oil wrap. That said, it's not free-standing cure. You'll have to address the cause to fix this problem.
This post was edited 12 minutes after it was posted.
I was captain of my cross country team in high school (early 2000s) and got this injury to one foot and then both feet and it really knocked me out a long time, ruined my senior year. I had to step away from the sport for rest of high school pretty much.
What I learned and didn’t know then- If you take your thumbs and massage the arch hard with them it really helps. also stretching the Achilles really well against a wall
id been to doctors and podiatrists who did not help…they would just say things like you need orthotics (heavy ones at that and meant for dress shoes - I have memories of having to insert them into my Fila trainers / this was back when Adam Goucher was sponsored by them ) so I could not race in spikes I was told and an rx drug a podiatrist gave me for the pain made me bleed internally which made me anemic.
the first time a PT did this for me with the thumbs jt was immediate relief. It took a couple months but then plantar issues were never a problem for me going forward throughout rest of my running career, I raced in college d2 xc/track and in my 30s I ran a few marathons in the 240s
I remember I met a good massage therapist in CO, owner of his own place there and he always said plantar fasciitis is very very treatable, yet so many people suffer from it because they don’t know what to do and I couldn’t agree more
I started running in the summer of 2019 when I was 17 years old. I did too much too soon, and I ended up with a stress fracture. It healed by the early 2020, so I tried to start running again. This time, I was much more gradual with how much I ramped up mileage. I got up to around 15-20 miles per week by the summer, but I started developing sharp feet pain. I saw a doctor who gave me orthotics, but the pain still remained. I stopped running at the end of 2020 and waited for the feet to heal.
By the summer of 2021, the pain was still present, so I went to physical therapy. I was in physical therapy for several months, but the pain remained so I went to another doctor. I got a MRI that showed I had talonavicular arthritis in the right foot, so I was in a cast for around 6 weeks. After recovery, my doctor said I could try to run short distances again, so I started running again by around April 2022. The sharp feet pain was still present, but I basically tolerated it and continued to run until the summer of 2023. Again, I was around 15-20 miles per week for much of this time period. Unfortunately, the pain got so bad that I had to stop again. I waited for around a year, and the pain didn't improve still. I saw a podiatrist at the end of 2024 who said I had plantar fasciitis told me to stop running. I got a steroid injection in early 2026, but it didn't help much. This is where I am at now.
I mean honestly it sounds like you're just wishing the pain away. You went to a couple docs that have different opinions and then didn't seem to do anything besides rest and a "steroid injection."
Plantar fasciitis is one of those things where lots of rest doesn’t really do any good & it may actually make the injury seem way worse because things just stay tightened up. Backing off short term fine but you have to also be doing active rehabilitation things, stretching and strengthening foot muscles curling a towel with your toes etc