Plantar Fasciitis

[lilactime]

pf is in heel or just in front of heel . took me 18 months to get rid

[cockermouth?]

hello

I seem to have this condition. Symptoms are heel pain which has spread to under sole of foot. I have not noticed the pain being particularly bad when get out of bed as various websites tell me I should.

Not that bad I guess compared to some.

I'm still running but its hurting more. I am icing my foot with a frozen bottle and doing calf stretches all the time. I have decided to stop running for 2 weeks but is there anything else I can do? Any other advice please?

want to get running for the borrowdale if poss.

ta

[A.P.E Knott]

I am still suffering from this injury after over 6 months with not much hope of recovery in the near furure.
My advise to you is to cut back on your running and to use that time to determine what may have caused the injury.
Tim Noakes in The Lore of Running says that in almost all cases a injury means a change of shoes.
If your injury is a a relativly new one then this would be my first port of call.
I honestly do believe that the best hope with this injury is catching it early .
Mine hung around untill it was to late for me to find out the root cause so i am now clutching at any straws that i can find.
So in your case (a) Ease of
(b) New shoes
(C) Most importantly, do not underestimate this injury.
Good luck and keep us posted.

[Chicken]

I'm up to 3 months now with not a blind bit of difference, 2 months not running, I wish I had stopped the second I had a vague twinge in my foot. Anyone had success with the injection route? I am in the system to get one if things don't improve but chicken by name chicken by nature, sounds painful to me!

[cockermouth?]

bugger

sounds like I'd better stop running for a bit longer than 2 weeks.

Thanks for answers. There's nowt the physio can do I imagine?

[Leeds Rhino]

I had it for around 3 month, and although it was not too bad actually running it hurt like hell getting out of bed in the morning.
fingers crossed, it appears to have gone now.

A few people told me to roll my foot around over a golf ball as hard as I could stand it.

[nikalas]

Having done lots of research on the subject of barefoot running for an article I'm writing, I've come across quite a few cases of folks who've had PF, been through ever more expensive shoes, orthotics, physio etc and have tried barefooting as a last roll of the dice and come up smiling.... worth trying?? Have a look at the Fivefingers thread in Equipment.

[Twister]

So in your case (a) Ease of
(b) New shoes
(C) Most importantly, do not underestimate this injury.
Good luck and keep us posted.

While I am not going to disagree with this advice I wonder if you might consider a "radical" alternative. A lot of people are finding that barefoot running has helped with plantar fasciitis. It is also worth considering a more minimal approach to running shoes and to try and learn a softer way of running. Far too many people strike the ground far to hard as they believe that 13mm cushioning in their shoe will somehow make them immune from injury. The body has natural shock absorption built in - if you jump off a step shoeless you will use it with out thinking - you will bend your knees! You will also land more on the front of your feet and not at all on your heels. Personally I have used barefoot running as part of my training in the last 6 months to re-habilitate an ankle injury, my 4th injury in as many years, that sidelined me for 3 months. I have completely changed my style of running, landing more underneath my hips and continuing forward without a breaking motion. Over the last 6 months I have noticed a visable change in my arch, (I am no longer flat footed!) The strength of it and overall strength in my feet.

If you are interested in this approach you may consider reading Born to run by Chris Mcdougall, a runner that had severe PF and cured it with the minimalist approach - he went from not being able to run 3 miles to competing in copers canyon ultra marathon.

Further info:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv4Se5ka9Pk
http://groups.google.com/group/huaraches
http://runningbarefoot.org/

[Twister]

Sorry didn't see that nikalas had got here before me!

[cockermouth?]

Thanks for suggestions. Have checked the links and barefoot is certainly intriguing. I think I'd settle for getting back to "normal" running and then try barefoot. But mebbe that's short sighted.

I have unhappy knees as well (doesn't everyone?). Maybe they'd like barefoot too. Hmmm

So if I was going to try barefoot what surface would you recommend first? Footie pitch? road? hellvelyn?