Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common causes of foot and heel pain. It involves inflammation of the plantar fascia, which is a band of tissue that connects from your heel to your toes on the bottom of your foot.
Taking care of your feet is important. Firstly, Homo sapiens are bipedal. And secondly, humans are active and want to run, walk, jump and play. When your feet hurt, it just does not feel good.
Here are a few things you can try to help your plantar fasciitis.
(Please note that I would suggest seeing a health care professional.)
- Icing and/or topicals
Seeing as inflammation is involved with this diagnosis, icing and topicals are a good first conservative approach to solving the problem. Make sure when you are icing your foot that you wrap your ice pack/gel pack/frozen peas in a cloth. You do not want to end up with frostnip or frostbite. You can also use topical creams or oils, such as peppermint oil, fisiocream, voltarin…to name a few. Do this for a few days to see if it works for you.
- Stretching/Exercising/Ball Rolling
There are some great stretches to help foot and ankle pain. One thing to focus on is ankle strengthening and calf stretching. (I have a blog on ankle strengthening/instability, for additional information.)
You may want to see if you have any additional tight muscles, such as in your quads or hamstrings. Stretching of your foot can be done by extending your toes back manually with your hands. You can also do toe curls. For example, you can pick up a pencil with your toes.
Stretching your calf muscles is important; they are usually tight as a result of improper biomechanics of your foot if you have foot or ankle pain. As I mentioned earlier, make sure you check if you have any other tight muscles in your lower body, such as your quads and hamstrings.
Stretching of the plantar fascia can be done with a golf ball or my favorite, warm water in a plastic water bottle, the one with ridges on it. The warm water feels good and the ridges help massage out the bottom of your foot when you roll over it. Golf balls work well because of the ridges and it is small so you can roll your foot over it easily.
- Epsom Salt Baths
If neither of these is helping, you can always try a good Epsom salt bath to soak your pretty feet in! The magnesium in the Epsom salts is good for muscle aches and pains. You may even want to try the salt bath and then stretching afterwards.
- Insoles/Orthotics
One of my favorites is orthotics or insoles. There are so many opinions on this topic, whether someone needs it, or if it solves a problem at all. One doctor may tell you yes; while another doctor may tell you that you do not need insoles.
The question is: what are you trying to solve? If it is only the pain you want to resolve, then looking at pain options maybe the answer for you.
If you are looking for proper biomechanics of the body, which starts with the fact that Homo sapiens walk on two feet, then you may want to check out how your body is functioning and decide on whether you require orthotics.
My beloved is the hip heights. Most people do not even know if their hip heights are level. That would require an x-ray to determine. If they are off, then biomechanically function is off. How would you know? And if they are off, what can you do about it? Orthotics may be a good option so you can level them and align the ankle and foot with the knee appropriately. Good biomechanics translates to better function. Research has shown that posture and physiology are related, so why not make sure your alignment is the best it can be?
Insoles or orthotics are always a hot topic. Find someone you trust and ask about your options. Remember that it is you that has to decide what is best for you depending on your goals.
Plantar fasciitis can be frustrating, especially if you have not found a solution yet. Hopefully some of these options may work for you. Or better yet, you have a little more insight and thought about what you can do, or someone you trust, that you can see about your issue. And then you can finally get your precious feet back!
