Anyone with plantar fasciitis?

[itri]

InTheClouds: Thanks for the wonderful praise. You're very kind. It WAS one of the most wonderful times of my life and I will never get it back. :( Sometimes even I'm embarrased to tell "others" how long it lasted though.

Absolutely NOTHING to be embarrassed about! What a wonderful gift you were able to give your children...and good for you, too (greatly decreases the risk of breast cancer, ya know)! My DS weaned himself at 20.5 months when he got a cold and couldn't breathe through his nose. I was so sad, it kinda felt like he didn't "need" me anymore, kwim? I had kinda hoped to make it to 2, but we still did pretty darn good!

Back to the subject at hand...I have no personal experience with PF, but as a certified athletic trainer, I can tell you that you have received quite a bit of good advice here. It sounds like you have caught it fairly early, so please do everything you can to take care of it now. It can really hang around and be practically impossible to get rid of if you don't. A couple of additional thoughts I have that I didn't see mentioned yet...

Shoes: If at all possible, go to a specialty running store. As in, they put you on a treadmill and see what your foot is doing in a shoe to see if it's the right shoe for you. A store like this will also usually take a shoe back and exchange it if you buy it and it's just not working for you. Most larger towns/cities will have at least one good specialty running store.

Stretching: The night socks/splints are great and can be very, very helpful for PF. In addition, one thing you should absolutely do is to make sure that the first thing you do in the morning is to stretch. Before you set a foot on the floor. Keep a towel or a dog leash by the bed, and when you wake up, do a seated calf stretch before you get up. Just sit with your legs extended and loop the towel or leash around your foot and gently pull back to stretch your calf and bottom of your foot. Most people tend to sleep in the fetal position, all curled up with muscles shortened. Stretching when you first wake up will help to counteract that a bit. Another thing that can help is doing can rolls. Grab a can (pretty much anything works, soup, hair spray, whatever) and from either a seated or standing position (depending on your pain level...seated will be less intense), gently massage your foot by rolling it back and forth on the can.

PT: Obviously up to your doctor, but physical therapy can do a lot of good for PF. They can do some soft tissue work, ultrasound, and other treatments that can help quite a bit.

Good luck!

 

[Christy]

Just dug this up and it was super helpful! Never dealt with PF before and now I'm convinced it's because I now work at home and spend so much time in bare feet or socks, on wood floors. Just ordered slippers with arch support. It's not terrible yet; hopefully I can keep it from getting terrible.

 

[Jenny]

Well, in the last 11 years I've gotten over myself as far as how Birkenstocks look on my feet. Wore a pair all summer long, because the residual weird feeling in my toes (on the ankle surgery foot) don’t bother me at all when I’m in sandals. Now I just don’t care much how it looks, but am all about how it feels.

I've found the slant board I bought and use daily, since a recurrence 2 years ago, along with all the additional years of yoga and other stretching seem to have helped the PF. And, continuing to wear good slippers and shoes.

Good luck with yours @Christy.

 

[VickiK]

I had PF for a while. I never did pinpoint what caused it and what made it go away. I know I tried various things, switched shoes, did stretches. For a while I thought my heavier weight. At some time, it went away and hasn't returned.

 

[sibhusky]

I used to have that issue, as recently as a year ago. Being retired, I spend a ton of time at home and we have a no shoe rule inside, so I was wearing shearling slippers all the time with no arch support. (When I was younger I went barefoot most summers both inside and outside unless i was running errands or at work.) I replaced them with slippers from Haflinger with a very supportive sole and I'm cured. I went from unable to walk ten feet without pain to having not thought about the problem for one instant since then.

 

[Christy]

I used to have that issue, as recently as a year ago. Being retired, I spend a ton of time at home and we have a no shoe rule inside, so I was wearing shearling slippers all the time with no arch support. (When I was younger I went barefoot most summers both inside and outside unless i was running errands or at work.) I replaced them with slippers from Haflinger with a very supportive sole and I'm cured. I went from unable to walk ten feet without pain to having not thought about the problem for one instant since then.

That's quite a testimonial. I hope this is my experience. Which Haflinger did you get? I saw those were highly recommended but I went with another brand that was considerably cheaper that people also seem to like for PF.

 

[sibhusky]

I just bought my second pair. I do think they are pricey. The first pair got a one inch slit right along the junction between the boiled wool and the sole near the heel. They still look fine, but I felt my heel was less stable. I am keeping them the way you keep socks or gloves, hoping the second pair fails on the OTHER shoe so that I can make a new set some day.

Haflinger Women's Atb Slip-On Loafer,Grey Speckle,41 M EU / 10 B(M) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001IIRUCY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_taa_iYzMDb5YGYQV1

For comparison purposes I take a 25.5 ski boot shell. Lol! I wear these with socks. I initially thought they might wear through at the toe, but that did not happen.

 

[Christy]

Thanks. Those would work well for me because they have a back. I don't like the slip on/mule style.

 

[Jenny]

Oh, I like those. Mine are Stegman, but they're the slip on kind. And now I know that they’re pretty old, since I had them back when this thread was new. Maybe new ones for Christmas.

I'm also in a 25.5 ski boot and size 41 for European sized stuff. Except Birkenstocks, for some reason. Those are 40s.

 

[liquidfeet]

This talk about Stegmans and Haflingers is bringing back pleasant old memories.

I've had PF on and off for the last 30 years or so. My first bad spell was fixed by getting Stegman clogs with the heels lower than the toes. I was a high school art teacher at the time and spent all day standing and walking in my classroom. I remember looking at Haflinger clogs too. The Stegman clogs had a somewhat bendable sole (not the popular solid wooden sole everpresent at the time) and an open heel. I had two pairs, each a different color of leather upper. I loved them. I may even have them still, hiding somewhere in the bottom of a closet. I wore them every day, exclusively. They got rid of the PF.

An even worst bout of PF happened to me around 8 years ago. It was crippling. I saw two podiatrists about it and was told never to go barefooted again, not even in the middle of the night going to the bathroom, and to throw away all my shoes (I was no longer wearing those Stegmans at that point). I was to wear lace-up high quality sneakers 100% of the time, or some other shoe that offers the same underfoot arch support, and never a shoe with any raised heel.

So that's what I do now. I wear my running shoes or a specific type of boot I like that has a low heel and good arch support. I have five pair of those boots in different colors, all found on eBay. I rarely wear anything else. These shoes have worked. I haven't had any sign of PF flare-ups at all since eliminating shoes that don't support my arch and stopping going barefoot. I do walk barefoot in the middle of the night, though.

 

[Skier31]

In addition to proper shoes, rolfing has helped me tremendously.

 

[Bookworm]

Also, those arch and foot strengthening exercises helps immensely.

 

[Christy]

Funny that I feel bombarded by health messages all the time but have never heard that middle aged people shouldn't be walking around barefoot/in socks too much. I thought SITTING was the big danger. Sigh.

 

[Christy]

I saw two podiatrists about it and was told never to go barefooted again, not even in the middle of the night going to the bathroom,

How are you supposed to shower???

 

[MissySki]

I find this interesting.. I had some bottom of heel pain earlier this summer when walking barefoot (or in worn out flip flops) on hard surfaces, and started getting worried it was going to be PF. I’m not sure if it was or is, I got a new pair of cushier (ie not worn to hell from literally 10 years of use.. but I really loved those flip flops..) flip flops and stayed away from being barefoot on hard surfaces for the last 6 weeks and whatever it was seems to have resolved itself for the moment.

I LOVE being barefoot, and in flip flops, and I never realized this was a problem. In fact, I recently read a bootfitting article written by, I believe, a physical therapist who stated that it was good to be barefoot and do more fitness routines barefoot to strengthen your feet to alleviate all sorts of foot ailments for being in ski boots.. I liked that advice, since it aligns with my preferences, but now I’m not sure what to think.

One thing I have had to stop for the most part is wearing taller high heels, except for dress up special occassions. After not so long it feels like I’m walking on just bone under the balls of my feet, that really really hurts! Flip flops and bare feet though? These would be MUCH harder habits to break..

 

[Christy]

I like being barefoot too. Going from being barefoot or at least in socks most of the time to wearing fuzzy supportive slippers feels like I've instantly transformed into my mother.

 

[NYC2VT]

i have pretty severe PF- i actually went to 6 months of twice-weekly PT for it about 8 years ago, since it had also traveled up my legs to give me really bad shin splints too. the stretches and exercises i learned there have helped me keep it under control since. i'm diligent about wearing shoes all the time (even just cushy flip flops in the house help me), except at my brother's house where they have a no-shoe rule. i can definitely feel it after a day or two there. PF shouldn't be taken lightly in my opinion, especially for skiers! when i was fitted for my boots, the bootfitter made sure that my heels would have plenty of room to not creep up and shorten my calves.

 

[alison wong]

I have PF as well. For slippers, I like Vionic brand, as I was told it is designed for people w/ PF, my podiatrist endorsed it.

Vionic brand slippers

It is quite pricey but the website: 6pm.com offers good deal.

 

[Zard]

Lots of good advice. I had of for over a year probably from being barefoot my entire life, weight and running hard. It became crippling after a 5k and I started PT. I tried dry needles, stretching, excersizes, rolling the arch with baseballs, tennis, and ice bottles.
What helped was cupping to release my calf muscles, massage, scraping the facia muscle and wearing very supportive shoes, sandals and ortho slippers. I highly recommend buying ofos flip flops, berkinstocks, dansko clogs, I don’t know why that hard sole and arch works but it does. Also in order to get back into running I started using Hokkas. They were literally the only sneakers I could run in for a few years.

 

[NYC2VT]

Lots of good advice. I had of for over a year probably from being barefoot my entire life, weight and running hard. It became crippling after a 5k and I started PT. I tried dry needles, stretching, excersizes, rolling the arch with baseballs, tennis, and ice bottles.
What helped was cupping to release my calf muscles, massage, scraping the facia muscle and wearing very supportive shoes, sandals and ortho slippers. I highly recommend buying ofos flip flops, berkinstocks, dansko clogs, I don’t know why that hard sole and arch works but it does. Also in order to get back into running I started using Hokkas. They were literally the only sneakers I could run in for a few years.

one good thing about PF is that i can reach it all myself to do really deep massage on the plantar fascia. i've never had scraping done, but i have used some items around the house to get a gentler version of that kind of treatment. between that and a golf ball for rolling, the relief is immediate.

i carry a ton of tension in my trapezius muscles along my neck, and wish i could get at them as easily as my feet!