PF and all that

[A.P.E Knott]

Still have it.
Can,t run a step .
Tried cycling and ended up in James Cook Hospital Mbro A&E for three hours (Missed Coronation St and Waterloo road) and came out with seven stitches to my knee.
Tried again this week ,cycled down a steep farm track ,hit a log and went head first over the handle bars.
Oh joy.
Thank the lord for the t20 cricket world cup and at least i have the ashes to look forward to.
If Trog is out there ,are you doing the Cleveland relay ?what leg.
Love you all

[lilactime]

still got mine as well . had cortisone injection which cleared it for 6 months , even managed some halfs , came back overnite . getting good on the bike thou !

[Trog]

If Trog is out there ,are you doing the Cleveland relay ?what leg.

Hi mate, sorry to hear that you are not on the road to recovery yet. My PF is 99% ok now, it still feels a little stiff first thing in the morning but it is runable.

I am running the RHB to Whitby leg, and expect to spectate at a few other changeovers.

[A.P.E Knott]

Hi mate, sorry to hear that you are not on the road to recovery yet. My PF is 99% ok now, it still feels a little stiff first thing in the morning but it is runable.

I am running the RHB to Whitby leg, and expect to spectate at a few other changeovers.

Trog
If you have them can you pm me with the ETAs and ETDs
for the RHB to Gribdale legs
Thanks
APE

[Chicken]

I have been reading the PF threads for months now ... I am lucky enough to have a local GP who used to be Agony Uncle for runner's world and I finally saw him yesterday. He sent me away with a compliments slip which says:

Spenco orthotic arch support 3/4
shoe size
credit card number
tel 0161 678 0233.

Will it work? I do hope so! Worth a go he certainly knows his stuff.

[A.P.E Knott]

Tried a run tonight ,a little better but still a long way to go ,i need to know if these supports are any good !!!

[hopey]

Am I not right in thinking that supporting your foot for PF is the wrong thing to do?

[Alexandra]

Mine is 98% better, but still lurking, just waiting for me to increase my mileage? Pf stole 2 years of my life. My dilemma was that it seemed my foot needed support, but all the orthotics available (NHS or private) were too hard for my painful heel to tolerate. No professional seemed able to understand that what I needed was not cushioning between my foot and the ground, but between my foot and the shoe / orthotic. I even tried gel-soled socks - expensive but useless. I have just got back to using my NHS orthotics after years of stuffing my shoes with Sorbothane + Noene insoles - soft but not supportive enough.

I had a breakthrough when Steve Hodgson (super-physio in Sheffield) taped my foot. This was only a temporary expedient, but it seems to have given my foot a rest and enabled it to heal (ish). You can tape your foot yourself, but you need 2 types of tape, not easy to buy, instructions from a book or the net, and some suppleness. I did it myself when a flare up seemed to be starting. Side effect - the sticky gunge from the tape ruined my sock. If anyone knows how to remove glue from a polyurethane sock?

Finally, I hope this isn't libellous, but I have met many honest physios but very few honest podiatrists - and she was working for the NHS.

[Graham Chapman]

I'm new here and viewing this thread has prompted me to pass on some info about my own (long) experience with plantar fasciitis. Hopefully, at least, it'll be a bit interesting, even better if it actually helps (APE & Chicken especially). Sorry if it's a bit wordy, reading it is not compulsory. I also acknowledge that I am reiterating what some others have mentioned.

I've had it (PF), in varying degrees, for longer than I can remember, certainly at least 3 years. I tried resting (in desperation, for 3 months), that didn't work. Neither has: physio, cross frictions, calf stretching, changing shoes, golf balls, tennis balls, wooden roller thing, and a few more I can't (or choose not to) remember. Although I never succumbed to the needle.
Until recently, the one thing that gave me almost instant relief was an arch-supporting orthotic. Do I recommend that route? No. Why? Because it stopped the pf but caused other problems: my ankles didn't feel 'right', eventually leading to ankle pain especially if I didn't put my orthotics in every pair of shoes I wore. But, more importantly, it's a remedy, a prop, or a mask — like taking aspirin for a headache caused by stress.
What made my pf worse was wearing flat shoes or sandals. That's no surprise, because that's what most people say will happen.
Yet, there was a clue, and Hopey (post no. 7), is right on the money.

I'd noticed, quite recently that running long distances in my Inov8s Terrocs (not much cushioning or support there) didn't make things any worse; if anything, it was slightly better. So, to cut a long story just a little bit shorter, I started to read about alternatives (ideas that seemed diametrically opposed to conventional wisdom) and subsequently found a nice hard road, dumped the shoes and socks, and went for a 2 mile run.
The results? Well, some blisters of course, but almost immediately, and certainly within a few days (and a little more daft running), miraculous reduction in PF symptoms. Some 5 weeks later with about 5% of my running being done barefoot, the improvement continues.
I now spend as much time as possible out of shoes. My barefoot running is minimal (you can't do much early on), but the new found strength already apparent in my feet seems to be doing the trick.

The answer (for me anyway) was in the feet. Don't shield them or protect them, get them working, let them feel the ground you stamp on, and they'll show you how to stamp no more. But do take it easy.

And if it doesn't work? Then you can try the bat's wee.

[SLovatt]

Is PF definately a heel thing,I have aches only in the arch of the foot, just came on today after a 9 mile road run. My arch became painfull on the inside of my left foot on the walk home from uni about 6 hours later. Its one thing to the next at the moment.