Welcome to the AppalachianTrailCafe.net!
Take a moment and register and then join the conversation

Plantar Fasciitis

    This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy.

    • Plantar Fasciitis

      Anyone tried hiking long with Plantar Fasciitis?
      I only have six weeks for it to clear up. I kept thinking it was just a bruised heel and would rest it some, but then when I started walking more it would come back. The worst thing I probably did for it was walking a lot barefoot on the hardwood floors when it was raining a lot recently.
      Went to the foot doctor almost two weeks ago and he had me change shoes and gave me six days worth of anti-inflamatory medicine. Trying to ice it, which is certainly not much fun. Going back to see him Monday. Really want to finish NH-ME this summer.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Do you have a tennis ball, lacrosse ball, foam roller, anything like that? My completely used-to-be-a-professional-but-no-longer-do-that-kind-of-therapy opinion is to try rolling your foot and calf on it for 20 seconds at a time off and on throughout the day. Keep at it with the ice and try adding some passive movements, like tracing out the alphabet (upper and lower case) with your foot. Nothing is going to miraculously cure it but if you can strengthen your stabilizers and relieve some tension in your calf so it isn't pulling on your Achilles, which then pulls on the sole (plantar) portion of your foot, it should help.
      “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” - T. S. Eliot
    • Ewok11 wrote:

      Do you have a tennis ball, lacrosse ball, foam roller, anything like that? My completely used-to-be-a-professional-but-no-longer-do-that-kind-of-therapy opinion is to try rolling your foot and calf on it for 20 seconds at a time off and on throughout the day. Keep at it with the ice and try adding some passive movements, like tracing out the alphabet (upper and lower case) with your foot. Nothing is going to miraculously cure it but if you can strengthen your stabilizers and relieve some tension in your calf so it isn't pulling on your Achilles, which then pulls on the sole (plantar) portion of your foot, it should help.
      Thanks!
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Unless it was an impact injury, realistically, without a steroid injection you have little to no chance of a 6 week recovery. Even with the injection, your chances are slim. Once the plantar ligament sheath becomes inflamed, it is very difficult to resolve because of the need to ambulate. The steroid injection really knocks down the inflammation in a hurry.

      For me, it took more than 6 months to resolve. I had to have the foot in a pneumo isolation boot for six weeks, so I just can't see your case being fully resolved in 6 weeks...

      Massage therapy is somewhat useful, but the most useful mechanical intervention is with a chiro to keep your spine in alignment during all the limping so that you don't wind up with a back/hip or opposite leg/foot issue.

      Get a night stretcher brace to use while you sleep. Get some rope and start stretching your calves by pulling on the ball of your foot towards your shin with the rope. Get a bucket and ice and water and start cold therapy to quiet the ligament down. Freeze a liter bottle of water and then stand with it under the arch of the bad foot and roll back and forth. Back and forth.....repeat until you can't feel your toes....

      It's a beotch getting old...
    • Same diagnosis I got for the ball of my foot....have a hunch I'll just have to learn to live with it...the feeling that my socks are bunched under my toes may be worse than the pain, at least now I know what it is and won't stop every 10' trying to un-bunch socks that are not bunched.
      I may grow old but I'll never grow up.
    • Drybones wrote:

      Same diagnosis I got for the ball of my foot....have a hunch I'll just have to learn to live with it...the feeling that my socks are bunched under my toes may be worse than the pain, at least now I know what it is and won't stop every 10' trying to un-bunch socks that are not bunched.
      I actually have that sensation once in a while. It is only in the left foot, and it feels like it is folded between the ball and pinky ball(?) !
      Another strangeness is when I am dehydrated I get 'toe-lock' in my right foot and cramps in my left thigh......and only in those 2 places!

      Astro and I spoke today about my remedy......I hope it works for him.
      Cheesecake> Ramen :thumbsup: