One more year of XC. forever. need PF fixed now.

This has been great from everybody. Considering I started reading letsrun because I was bored at work, I thought I would get hammered like every other thread starter. But for my first post, it turned out OK. Thanks

Oh, and I have had inserts since the winter. They were made bc I had some PF and it did go away. I also wear the night splint and take oxaprozin every morning that was given to me a couple months ago for the same issue.

I wear a pair of birkenstocks whenever I'm not wearing shoes. I only wear shoes at work and when I run. My dress shoes (since I work in an office) have higher heels, unfortunately. I'm going to try to get a flat pair though. I have been putting my running inserts in these shoes. It's been ok.

For those who work in offices, is there anything you can do while sitting that helps alot? I actually brought the night splint and wear it at work.

But again, thanks, and keep it coming. This is one of the few genuine threads I've read. I appreciate all those who sympathize and want to help.

I recommend just getting up there in milage, all the little pains dull and then you are good to go. That is what I do and it works great.

Last year I was facing the exact same PF problems and was unable to prepare for my senior year of Cross Country like I wanted to. Anyways, I felt that I had PF, but the dumb ass podiatrist that I went to see couldn’t read an x-ray and he thought that I had a stress fracture. After taking about a month off with what I thought was a stress fracture, I was finally convinced that I needed to do something else.

At that time I spoke with one of my teammates who recommended that I go see a local A.R.T. therapist. I wasn’t sure of this at first, but I was desperate and went anyways. After the first visit I could tell a huge difference and was able to run again with only slight pain and after about the third visit I have been running pain free since.

I know that some people on this board might not like this type of treatment but I thought I would just share with you what worked for me.

Go to this site to read more about the technique and to hopefully find a provider near you.

http://www.activerelease.com/

GOOD LUCK

If you're at alll serious about running (at the level you are at or on any other level ever again), don't listen to these guys. Stop running, seriously. If you try to run through it, you will at best hold off the pain for a while. But what happens when you add speed workouts, when you add races? What happens when at the big qualifier meet you tweak something and you come limpin' into the finish, minutes slower than you needed to run.

Honestly, you should take time off for this injury. Cross-Train. If you even care at all about XC, then you should be willing to cross train, not because it's the easy thing to do, but because it's the right thing.

Get serious about cross training. I would suggest bikin 7-10 hours a week (on a stationary, more if on a real bike). If you can get a heart rate monitor keep your heart rate between 70-85%). Also, get in the pool and do some swimming or some pool running. Pool run for another 8-9 hours a week.

In addition to all of this, you need to continue your massage, your icing, your stretching, etc, etc. All the therapy.

If you can't put forth the 15-20 hour commitment, well then my friend, I guess you just don't care quite enough.

Do the core work as suggested earlier. The PF is merely a symptom. Likely you have or will have IT issues and/or pirifomis / sciatica issues.

If you don't plan to run after college, just get shot up with cortisone and call it good.

Nice call. I did have IT problems in the fall.

It has come to this. wrote:

My dress shoes (since I work in an office) have higher heels, unfortunately. I'm going to try to get a flat pair though.

For those who work in offices, is there anything you can do while sitting that helps alot? I actually brought the night splint and wear it at work.

A couple things. Get a pair of work shoes with lower heals. This will really help! High heeled shoes kill your PF. Here is what I got but there are many other makes that have similar styles (I put my orthos in these):

As far as what you can do while at the office? What I did is roll my foot on a frozen water bottle under the desk. This really helped. I would scrap the golf ball and go with the frozen water bottle.

Lastly, never go barefoot (even while at home) Always wear a supportive shoe.

I did most of the stuff listed on this thread and mine eventually went away. It has now been a month or so but I still stretch the feet and calfs, use the night splint, and wear orthos so that it doesnt come back.

Good luck

For a while there, I was thinking every response on this thread was actually going to helpful. Don't know what was wrong with me. I should have known better. This is letsrun. Some pompous ass was bound to post weigh in or later.

Tape it!!!

Along with everything else

I'll put this out there as a long shot. I had PF for months. But 1 day, when doing hills and the PF bothering me as much as ever, it VANISHED while I ran my 1st hill, and never returned. It was like a miracle, as the pain left while surging the hill. I think the natural stretching of the F on the incline did it, and no doubt in my mind that it wasn't coincidental. But it'd seem risky, nonetheless.

back to normal wrote:

For a while there, I was thinking every response on this thread was actually going to helpful. Don't know what was wrong with me. I should have known better. This is letsrun. Some pompous ass was bound to post weigh in or later.

I assume that you are referring to yourself in the last sentence. The poster was offering honest advice. Apparently you like advice only when it is consistent with your preconceptions.

i'm at work too....the splint wont help there...it's only purpose is to keep the muscle from healing in the contracted position. you should try to wear shoes all the time...walking around barefoot promotes your arch to drop and overstretch the muscle. This is my last year coming up as well so i know how much you want to get better. i'm still looking for good ideas. but definetly learn to tape the plantar muscle.

It has come to this. wrote:

For those who work in offices, is there anything you can do while sitting that helps alot? I actually brought the night splint and wear it at work.

i keep a tennis ball under my desk. less brutal than the golf ball and you can stretch out the rest of the foot before you stand up. the purpose of the splint is to keep the foot at a 90 degree angle while you sleep. if you are sitting all day and are not at 90 degrees then it starts healing itself (like when you sleep) while you sit. so when you stand up, it's just like getting out of bed in the morning without wearing a split all night. so under the desk, take off the shoes, do the towel and alphabet exercises, and roll the foot on the tennis ball before you stand up.

do you have some problem understanding that you need to get to a good podiatrist and have custom made orthotics done? Forget the taping; keep heating before running and icing after running, in the meantime. Have you had any cortisone shots yet?

Ol Grumpus wrote:

The poster was offering honest advice. Apparently you like advice only when it is consistent with your preconceptions.

The poster was offering a typical letsrun pompous bullshit response. Sorry you were unable to pick up on it. Or perhaps you did and are a typical pompous letsrun bullshit artist yourself.

In case it's the former, here's the short version of his post for you:

1. Don't listen to anyone else but me

2. Half the stuff I'm telling you is what those guys told you anyway.

3. If you don't do what I tell you for as much time as I think you should you aren't a "real" runner.

hello mcfly anyone home wrote:

do you have some problem understanding that you need to get to a good podiatrist and have custom made orthotics done? Forget the taping; keep heating before running and icing after running, in the meantime. Have you had any cortisone shots yet?

Do you have some problem which prevents you from understanding that an entire world of people out there don't agree with your assessment there, Doc?

you my friend are a fool....I lived thru this problem and beat it....

So did I, dipshit

plantars a bitch ive had it for about two years

mine got a lot better once i switched shoes, but still comes back, esp with spikes and lots of miles.

here's what helped me:

its a three day cycle:

easier running day

hard running day

water run

on the easy day stretch it, ice it

after the hard run, then massage the plantar itself- this breaks up the scar tissue but will make you sore the next day, which is why you need to xtrain on the third day

also, taking ibuprofen regularly helps, but you should only take a lot for 7 to 10 days at a time

warm up longer than normal before a race-- helped me because mine was usually worst for the first 10 min or so, so make sure youre past that point.

i also found easy morning runs help make my afternoon workout better because my foot is already warmed up

good luck-- its different for everyone so you really just gotta experiment