Plantar Fasciitis

When you wake up in the morning, does one or both of your feet feel stiff but, if you walk on it a bit, it will feel better? If you sit for a long time, does the same thing happen? When you are laying down, does your foot tend to rest with your toes pointing down? Well, you might want to check with your doctor to see if you have Plantar Fasciitis.


Those were my symptoms and I kept thinking it was just stiffness from either walking too far, working too hard or not doing either of those enough (maybe my foot was stiff because it didn't get used enough). It got worse and worse until I could hardly put pressure on my foot at all. Then it got to the point where walking around for a bit wouldn't stretch it out and relieve the pain. I was in constant pain. I finally went to see my doctor on May 26.

Arch supports

Actually, I saw the nurse practitioner and she knew right away what the problem was. Plantar Fasciitis is an inflammation of the thick connective tissue that connects the heel to the toes. It doesn't just go away but you usually don't need surgery or medication (other than mild pain relievers like aspirin or ibuprofen). The nurse suggested stretching by holding a towel around the toes and pulling it toward you. But her number one recommendation was to get arch supports for my shoes. And she said that it wasn't necessary to get expensive ones. The ones they sell in running shoe stores are good enough. As you can see from the image to the left, they didn't need to be high.

Boot to keep foot from flexing

Another thing that helped me was a type of boot (picture to the right) that is worn at night and keeps the foot from flexing with the toes down. The boot keeps the fascia stretched by keeping the foot flat at night. I got the boot from a friend at work who had had the same problem. As a matter of fact, an amazing number of people I know had this problem at one time or other. One guy let it go so long that he was walking on crutches before he finally gave in and went to his doctor.

As best I can remember, I first noticed this starting in April this year and it finally felt like it was better at the beginning of this month. From what I read, that is pretty typical. They say it can take up to 2 years! I'm glad mine didn't last that long. Of all the things I did to help, it was the arch supports that did the most to help. [Update, September 24 - I added the pictures of the arch supports and the boot]