PF Help: Keep running? Cortisone shot?

I personally wouldn't have one, unless there was one really major thing that had to be done, then I'm still not sure.

Try lots of walking with cushioned shoes (I walk in trail running shoes off road) on varied terrain. Walk every day at least 5k. Introduce running again, very slow every 3 days, on very cushioned shoes, like your GTS's. Do some gentle calf stretches and eccentric heel drops/raises. You can also try a night sock or support to keep your feet flexed at night. Make sure you walk to warm up at least 10 mins before running.

Walking is your friend. I would avoid hill workouts for the moment, you may be ok with some shorter speedwork after a time.

For me when I have a flare up of PF I find stretching the arch of my foot several times a day is crucial. Like pressing my foot over the edge of wooden stair, with socks. Or rolling with the arch of my foot a small 5 lb dumbbell on a carpet, back and forth. Also change your shoes for something more supportive, like basic marathon trainers. Your body is telling you that you are doing something wrong, if you take a cortisone shot it will just cover up what your body is telling you.

There was a thread that had some great advice, not that long ago.

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=9584091

This from Athlean X is very helpful. Great angled calf stretch can give some quick relief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72p58Iy6u7M

And this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72p58Iy6u7M

Try some barefoot/vff running.

If you run fine when warmed up, then running is fine. It's the cold feet and legs, tight muscles that gives pain. Don't run with pain. It's good that you are catching this early.

Are your shoes tight? Your big toes need to be spaced out so you can use them to push off, preventing your arch from collapsing. And if you are running and walking with soft shoes, they can allow your arch to collapse. Vibram five fingers/barefoot have helped me get awareness of how I am using my feet. Try the angled calf stretch in Athlean X vid first.

The only thing more convoluted on LR than a diet thread is a PF thread.

Too many different degrees and reasons for having it. Some people tape for a day or a week, or throw in some inserts, and it's gone and some people take a year off and it never goes away.

I don't believe in the shortcuts, the surgeries and the the shots. But each to their own.

I did have a shot, arch support inserts, and probably a bunch or stretching and whatnot get me through the first case. There was very little time off from running and no issues for a long time. In a subsequent case I have been able to run through it by doing a lot of foot exercises and stretching. In the current case where it just won't go away, there seem to be serious training errors(trying to ignore getting older), imbalances and gait decay (also in part due to aging.), I am really having to work and will possibly never go back to a "serious" training cycle.

Anyway, as someone else said, there are a lot of good threads. Hope you can sort it out.

I developed PF last summer while marathon training. I couldn't beat it after 3-4 weeks of cross-training, ART, and shockwave treatment. (I also the the sock, splint, etc.) I decided to have a cortisone shot (ultrasound guided), no running for 2 weeks, then eased back into training. It definitely helped in my case and I was able to return to training in time for my race. Unfortunately my symptoms returned 6 months later and I had to DNS my next marathon. Since then I've had many Graston treatments, along with a renewed focus on strength/stability of the hips, feet, arches, and ankles. The combination of the Graston and the foot/arch strengthening has really helped, and I've been basically symptom-free for last 6 months. My current marathon build-up has had no setbacks and my PF is under control (knock on wood...).

For me, the cortisone shot definitely helped, but it didn't address the root cause, so my PF returned. I have no regrets about getting the shot. It was the right decision at the time. But along the way I realized that my problems were coming from some biomechanical weakness, so they were bound to return if I continued to train without addressing the root causes.

Good luck! CIM is still a few months out, right? I got my shot last August and my race was in October.

Do. Not. Get. The. Shot.

As your doc said “you can run as long as it doesn’t get worse.” Guess what the shot does? It completely masks your ability to know if it’s getting worse. Make sense?

The above poster is a perfect example. It came back six months later. Not surprising and in the ball park of when a cortisone shot would wear off. Maybe a little past.

PF is a nagging, hard to kick injury that is more of a symptom of some other issue. The fix will be different for each. Overpronaters can get orthotics and strengthen the foot. If that’s not you then a simple shoe fix won’t help. I personally had terrible mobility in my ankle and achilles. Lots of deep stretching and massage helped loosen the ankle up which helped but did not cure the pf.

You need to find a doctor who can diagnosis your specific cause. You should use your LR and nikeman connection to get seen by an expert who deals with runners. If not then you need to try everything.

a couple of things to try:

1. yoga toes

https://yogatoes.com/

2. work on ankle mobility: google the third world squat and ankle mobility exercises for skiers

3. kneel, put a hard foam roller on your calves, and sit on it.

If you can loosen up all of the muscles around the PF, it might allow the thing to heal.

Regenexx Patient wrote:

https://regenexx.com/blog/5-ways-to-treat-plantar-fasciitis-that-your-doctor-never-told-you-about/https://regenexx.com/blog/prp-vs-steroids-for-plantar-fasciitis/

Spam ^^^^

In any case it doesn't deal with all the causes or even pretend to address them, unless you have a bulging disc, which a lot of people do. If yourdisc is giving you spasms in your calf by all means work on it, but PRP is questionable and this poster is shilling. Advertising as better than Cortisone... all the either the old way / or our new way tricks of charlatans.

I have no financial interest in Regenexx. I am a patient and advocate of their techniques as an alternative to the Stone Age quackery of treatment modalities like steroid shots. PRP is far superior because it actually facilitates tissue healing, whereas irresponsibly cortisone shots only mask the pain by shutting down the part of one’s biochemistry responsible for normal healing and maintenance. Anyone who recommends steroid shots to runners is an idiot.

Beat the sh*t out of it with a small massage ball or golf ball during the day ( I have a small massage ball underneath my desk at work and massage mine during the day when it gives me issues).

When it’s really bad, be careful in the morning, don’t just get right out of bed, move the foot around slowly for a bit first, then, moving your foot as little as possible, get some sturdy runners on, don’t walk around barefoot. Makes a big difference.

Dr Ho speaks the truth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO5s_f9DRWo

these are good. roll your feet when watching tv et. my pf comes and goes , if you take a shot, take time off.

https://www.rei.com/media/product/706082

Try shockwave therapy on it

The "cure" for PF is whatever you tried just before it went away on its own. That's why there are so many of them.

There are taping techniques that can prop up the arch and eliminate pain, but those as likely to cause you injury somewhere else as prevent PF injury.

Bad Wigins wrote:

The "cure" for PF is whatever you tried just before it went away on its own. That's why there are so many of them.

There are taping techniques that can prop up the arch and eliminate pain, but those as likely to cause you injury somewhere else as prevent PF injury.

Sure enough , possibly get the achilles tendon injured.

heyyo wrote:

The above poster is a perfect example. It came back six months later. Not surprising and in the ball park of when a cortisone shot would wear off. Maybe a little past.

The shot definitely got me out of the acute PF phase. Prior to the shot, I did 3-4 weeks of cross-training (minimal running) and twice-weekly shockwave treatments, but I still wasn't able to train. The shot got me through that, but it definitely wasn't a cure. At the time I was too narrow-minded to get to the root cause of my issues, and started ramping up for another marathon build-up when my issues returned.

For me, the shot wasn't a cure, but without it, who knows how long it would have been before my PF calmed down? Another 3-4 weeks? In hindsight, I should have worked on foot/arch/ankle/calf/soleus strength and mobility after getting the shot, and my PF probably wouldn't have returned 6 months post-injection.

Now that I've had dozens of Graston sessions and focused on strength/stability, I'm basically symptom-free. But I have zero regrets about getting the shot. (Although it hurt like a MF...)

Bull. I got the shot and it completely helped and didn’t get worse after it.

Every person is different.