plantar faciitis will not go away! Any tricks you used to get rid of it?

I got rid of mine in about 6 weeks with the frozen bottle treatment and lots of dorsiflexing of the foot. Don't let your heels hang off the edge of the bed (like I was doing). Had to change the insoles in ALL of my shoes. Found out that the best insoles for me had the most gel and some arch support. I had a friend of mine tell me that basicly plantar fasciitis is a collapsed arch. When I changed to insoles with arch support (soft! No hard plastic!) along with the rest it fixed the problem. Now I'm afraid to ever use shoes without them. My running has stayed the same-no bad results from the insoles. That is what worked for me. Good Luck.

I had some ART sessions on my calf and achilles, some bottle rolling, always made sure I wasn't walking around barefood, dorsiflexing...and back to normal in a couple/few weeks

also read some good info on how your toes need to be splayed to keep blood flow going...worth a look into as well

Strassburg sock really helps at night but the very best thing was learning how to tape my foot for runs. Even with lots of therapy the best thing was the taping. I had to tape it for 6-8 months before I could get completely away from taping it but it was worth it because I could run virtually pain free. Also, I learned that I needed to remove the tape when just walking around, etc.

tape it. If you read about Frank Shorter's racing days. They did mention he religiously taped his foot before racing. Like you know what boxers do with their hands before a fight.

I had it bad enough several years ago that the walk to the bathroom in the morning would bring tears to my eyes. Went on for months, got worse and worse.

I tried orthotics, splints, golf balls, etc. All the various "home" remedies basically got it to a truce, it wasn't getting worse, and it wasn't getting better either. I could run on a track or on flat surfaces, nothing on hills.

Broke down and went to a physical therapist. Turns out weak shins are common in older runners, and the combination of weak shins and overly strong (and tight) calves was putting constant pressure on the fascia. Doing exercises to reduce the muscle imbalance by strengthening the shins, along with continuing work on breaking up the fascia and loosening the calves and the problem was nearly done in about 6 weeks.

I had a Chiropractor adjust it and she did some intense massage on it too. Pain free the last 3 years since...

I feel your pain. I had PF for 2 years. Mine would not heal because my job required me to be on my feet constantly lifting and stepping up and down. But I too ended up wearing a night boot and stopped running all together. It was the worst 2 yrs of my life. I gained 25 lbs. My mile time went from 5:02 to 5:45. It really sucked. Ive never been back to 5:00 since. Just give it time - thats all i can say.

Should you ever stop running/training? I have had this for a couple of weeks now. For me, the pain is more in the middle of the arch, on the inside of the foot. When it first started, I took 4 or 5 days pretty much completely off, only to start running again and it still hurt. Then recently I took Christmas day off, then ran pretty much pain free the next day, only felt it a little bit. Next day, it's back again. Bought some Dr. Scholl's arch-pain orthodics. They feel great for walking around. However, ran this morning: it hurt pretty bad the first 5 minutes or so, then gradually got a bit better, but could still feel it.

Do I take time off? I've been doing different stretches, icing it, etc. and it hasn't gotten any better. I only just got the orthodics, so perhaps those will help. Any suggestions?

Many will disagree with this but a shot of cortisone placed by a podiatrist who specializes in runners fixed mine and several other runners I know. Was only $100. One shot, one time, and pain free within 2 days. Best $100 I ever spent.

I am dealing with plantar fasciitis for more than a year now and I understood that treatment efficiency is very individual. If something works for one it may not work for the other. There are many treatment techniques that you can try. Did you try Taping? I have found it very useful.

Read the article in the following link -

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/96375/duct_tape_cured_my_plantar_fasciitis.html?cat=50

There are a few Taping techniques you can find in YouTube - just type "Plantar Fasciitis Taping" in YouTube search.

I found a very informative website with many treatments in:

http://www.plantar-fasciitis-elrofeet.com

Actually this site is for people like you.

Take care & Good luck

You need to get the alignment of your foot checked out. The cuboid bone in your foot is likely out of alignment and is putting excessive stretch and strain on the plantar fasciia.

I quit running. That pretty much did it.

I walk, hit the weights and ride a recumbent exercise bike now. It takes more time for sure, but I don't limp so much now.

I missed being in good running shape badly for awhile, until I became strong enough to pick up (by myself) some heavy items at my jobs' storge area.

I run a mile as fast as I feel like 5x weekly and do one longer run of 30-minutes on the weekend.

I never race beyond 5K, other than for one fall relay event.

I'm over 55 so your experience may be different.

I had chronic PF for years, nothing really worked. I finally had a non-surgical procedure called extracorporeal shock wave therapy. It fixed the problem permanently.

btw - PF is misnamed. It is not caused by inflammation, but by degeneration of the tissue.

http://www.japmaonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/93/3/234

I only took days off when it actually stopped me from running. The pain was overwhelming to the point that I couldn't force myself to run normally. 6 months later it still hurts a bit most days and some days pretty bad. I wear the Dr. Scholl's 3/4 length heel and arch things all the time, walking, running, racing, skiing... If i try to run without them it flares up pretty bad. At this point I'm accepting that it may never get better, but I'm happy it's not worse.

countingdown54321 wrote:

Do I take time off? I've been doing different stretches, icing it, etc. and it hasn't gotten any better. I only just got the orthodics, so perhaps those will help. Any suggestions?

I ran mostly through mine, but it was very slow miles until I got used to the orthotics. My orthotics are soft pliable kind w/a firm arch support, no heel lift and are pretty thin--almost like a size of a regular shoe insert. Finding a flexible shoe worked the best for me and I haven't had any problems. Running better than ever.

Also if you're still having pain with the PF, you might want to ice it right after a workout and right before bed time. Icing right before bed time seemed to help the most. Rolling it on a frozen bottle never really helped but soaking the feet in a pan full of cold water and ice cubes did. This is what has worked for me. Maybe not for everyone. Good Luck.

SHOCK WAVE THERAPY

I had intense pain for over a year and a half...did everything. I thought I'd never walk without pain again, let alone run.

SWT is a one time procedure. Only had to rest a few weeks and it has been 3 years and I haven't felt pain since.

I had that for the past two seasons. Once I put in new higher arch insoles it got rid of them in under a week. I hope this helps

I did a few things for mine

1. deep tissue massage

2. ART Therapy

3. Stretching - calf raises and legs overall

4. Splayed the toes, some ancillary stuff I read about don't know if it worked..but had these sort of gel brass knuckles that kept the toes wider..

5. did the usual ice rolling