The most common symptom of Plantar Fasciitis is a pain in the heel or arch area in the morning or after prolonged periods of rest. This pain is caused by the excessive stretching of the plantar fascia which is a band of fibro...
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.
I can't believe I wrote a long post only for it to get downvoted
That's not complete. Complete would include ALL the therapies, exercises, treatments, shoe changes, etc that you tried, and for how long. And how you were responding to each. And what running you were doing at each point along the timeline.
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 can't believe I wrote a long post only for it to get downvoted
Everyone is downvoting you because you don't take any action based on posts by others - some of who also wrote long posts.
Every post you make is just another report on the injury continuing.
You haven't followed one poster's advice to fruition.
You haven't even followed your doctor's advice. Your doctor told you not to run - so really that should be it. You need to try swimming, cycling, or kayaking. Maybe try them all for a couple months then go to which one you like best. I imagine once you make your choice, another board will be the best place to go to for training advice. That's all there really is to it - thread should be closed. You can come back in a few months and tell us how much better your life is now that you are listening to your doctor and cycling 20 miles a day and I'm sure you'll get a few upvotes - but really you should find that a trivial activity compared to getting out the door for your weekday 15 mile ride or whatever.
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.
How do I find the cause? Physical therapy and orthotics don't help
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.
How do I find the cause? Physical therapy and orthotics don't help
You don't. You accept that its just a thing that is happening and live your life around it. "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change."
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 tried that both in physical therapy, and it didn't help
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 tried that both in physical therapy, and it didn't help
You wasted your time unfortunately. The only productive use of your time is going to be trying the sports I outlined above.
Have you tried running barefoot or in vibrams? That might strengthen your feet and fix the pain.Another thing you could try is dry needling. I had relentless, awful foot pain for four months, and the dry needling guy stuck a couple needles straight into the foot and wiggled them around, and the pain went away 70% instantly, then vanished over the next couple days.
The problem with option two is you need someone who really knows what they're doing, and a lot of pts who do dry needling don't.
OP did you try these suggestions? If not, you have not 'tried everything'.
Forget doctors. Take your shoes off and walk around on sand or grass. Start small & gradually increase the time. Work on strengthening your kinetic chain. A good running coach with a background in strength training can help with this. All most doctors will do is put you in “custom” orthotics and charge you a lot of money.
OP have you tried either of these 2 things? If not you have not tried everything.
You're probably just not wearing big enough shoes. You need to get some big puffers. Yes I know you are already wearing big puffy shoes. But you gotta trust me. Get em twice as big. You'll thank me later. The bigger the shoes the better. And plus the ladies like a guy in big shoes. I would say at the very least get a pair a shoes 6X as big as the shoes you are wearing now. You'll love 'em. Just bounce on down to your local friendly shoe store and your friends gonna hook you up with the perfect big shoe for your feet. They got em in all sizes. Big, bigger, huge, humongous, and super large.
Hope that helps
This may look like a joke but there is good advice here. OP have you tried toe spacers? And shoes large enough to let your toes splay?
How do I find the cause? Physical therapy and orthotics don't help
You wrote... "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." Let's assume the MRI was correct, but that the doctor's advice was incomplete.
IF the MRI diagnosis was correct and my guess is that it was, the cause was excessive flexing of the talonavicular joint. That could be caused by wearing shoes that are too flexible, worn out, wrong fitting shoes, the foot flexing too much inside the shoe, or even stepping in a rut. The cast *should* have given the injury enough time to heal, but if you returned to training too soon or in the same shoes, the injury reoccurred, possibly because you returned to running too hard too soon, but most likely it's the shoes.
All the PF stuff you've tried isn't helping because the PF is NOT the problem and the PF exercises might even be making the problem worse.
The bad news is that by the talonavicular arthritis going untreated for so long, you now might have bone on bone grinding or calcium build up on the bones that doesn't go away on its own. It's unlikely that you can fix it with any exercises or rehab or shoes.
Now, the good news... talonavicular arthritis can be successfully treated with surgery. My suggestions would be as follows.
1. See a doctor and get another MRI. Be sure to mention that you are in constant pain and often can't walk normally. It's one of the criteria for your insurance to authorize surgery.
2. Follow the doctor's instructions during the surgical recovery and rehab phases, but keep in mind that your doctor knows very little about running, so you might need to double-check his post surgical advice.
3. When you can return to running... assuming you can... wear a supportive shoe that doesn't flex. Most of the supershoes have almost no flex at all. You can find shoes with limited flexion by searching RunRepeatDotCom. That's exactly how I picked out the supershoes that are helping me with a related problem.
For more information, do a search for talonavicular arthritis surgery and read up on what is your likely injury. If you look at that joint and visualize how it moves and what it does and then do the same thing for the plantar fascia, you should understand why the PF rehab isn't working for you. The PF exercises not only don't work, but they might even be making the talonavicular arthritis problem worse by excessively moving the talonavicular joint.
Don't waste energy blaming doctors and PTs. Every runner who has run for many years has had injuries that have been misdiagnosed by doctors. It happens because they're trained to see problems in couch potatoes and we're athletes. The couch potato who had your original injury *probably* would have been okay after wearing the boot for six weeks, but they won't run a single step!
YOU HAVE TO BE PROACTIVE! I have been told several times that I had injuries or conditions that could not be cured. I found solutions every time. You can too.
could also do range of motion calf raises. with the lightest weight imaginable. on the seated squat machine. and increment the weights over 6 weeks to 6 months in the tiniest steps imaginable. starting with less than half the weight it takes to stand on both feet.
OP did you try this, following ALL the details in the suggestion?
Have you tried taping your arch? Use white adhesive tape, aka trainer's tape, and wrap your arch. Firm, but not tight. This has worked for many of my athletes in the past. It's easy to try and very inexpensive.
I do not understand why so many want to insult you or belittle your situation.
Good luck to you.
This sounds like it might be very useful and give helpful diagnostic info for any future visit with a good PT. OP did you try it?
How do I find the cause? Physical therapy and orthotics don't help
You wrote... "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." Let's assume the MRI was correct, but that the doctor's advice was incomplete.
IF the MRI diagnosis was correct and my guess is that it was, the cause was excessive flexing of the talonavicular joint. That could be caused by wearing shoes that are too flexible, worn out, wrong fitting shoes, the foot flexing too much inside the shoe, or even stepping in a rut. The cast *should* have given the injury enough time to heal, but if you returned to training too soon or in the same shoes, the injury reoccurred, possibly because you returned to running too hard too soon, but most likely it's the shoes.
All the PF stuff you've tried isn't helping because the PF is NOT the problem and the PF exercises might even be making the problem worse.
The bad news is that by the talonavicular arthritis going untreated for so long, you now might have bone on bone grinding or calcium build up on the bones that doesn't go away on its own. It's unlikely that you can fix it with any exercises or rehab or shoes.
Now, the good news... talonavicular arthritis can be successfully treated with surgery. My suggestions would be as follows.
1. See a doctor and get another MRI. Be sure to mention that you are in constant pain and often can't walk normally. It's one of the criteria for your insurance to authorize surgery.
2. Follow the doctor's instructions during the surgical recovery and rehab phases, but keep in mind that your doctor knows very little about running, so you might need to double-check his post surgical advice.
3. When you can return to running... assuming you can... wear a supportive shoe that doesn't flex. Most of the supershoes have almost no flex at all. You can find shoes with limited flexion by searching RunRepeatDotCom. That's exactly how I picked out the supershoes that are helping me with a related problem.
For more information, do a search for talonavicular arthritis surgery and read up on what is your likely injury. If you look at that joint and visualize how it moves and what it does and then do the same thing for the plantar fascia, you should understand why the PF rehab isn't working for you. The PF exercises not only don't work, but they might even be making the talonavicular arthritis problem worse by excessively moving the talonavicular joint.
Don't waste energy blaming doctors and PTs. Every runner who has run for many years has had injuries that have been misdiagnosed by doctors. It happens because they're trained to see problems in couch potatoes and we're athletes. The couch potato who had your original injury *probably* would have been okay after wearing the boot for six weeks, but they won't run a single step!
YOU HAVE TO BE PROACTIVE! I have been told several times that I had injuries or conditions that could not be cured. I found solutions every time. You can too.
How do I know if the arthritis is a misdiagnosis or not? I did have a MRI in October 2025, and it showed a completely normal foot
This was the answer for me. I took months off, worked my way back slowly, slept in full splints at night, spent an hour or more every day on strengthening my feet, got orthotics, saw multiple doctors and trainers, and nothing made it any better. If anything, it was getting worse! Finally realized on my own that it seemed to be connected to my hip weakness/tightness. I got really serious about hip mobility and strength, and it has (mostly) gone away. I do have to be very careful about shoes, needing something fairly lightweight and flexible, but as long as I’m not getting too tight in the hip flexors, piriformis, and it band, my feet are generally fine.
OP this could be useful. What did PTs say about your hip mobility and strength? If not adequate you may be overusing feet to compensate. OP do you know or remember?
This was the answer for me. I took months off, worked my way back slowly, slept in full splints at night, spent an hour or more every day on strengthening my feet, got orthotics, saw multiple doctors and trainers, and nothing made it any better. If anything, it was getting worse! Finally realized on my own that it seemed to be connected to my hip weakness/tightness. I got really serious about hip mobility and strength, and it has (mostly) gone away. I do have to be very careful about shoes, needing something fairly lightweight and flexible, but as long as I’m not getting too tight in the hip flexors, piriformis, and it band, my feet are generally fine.
OP this could be useful. What did PTs say about your hip mobility and strength? If not adequate you may be overusing feet to compensate. OP do you know or remember?
OP this could be useful. What did PTs say about your hip mobility and strength? If not adequate you may be overusing feet to compensate. OP do you know or remember?
Hips are at normal strength and mobility
Per you, or per a qualified PT? And how about ALL the other suggestions posted above? Are you going to address them? And 'I did PT' does not specifically mean anything.
