Bad News re my Plantar Fasciitis (Read 363 times)

I agree. "Support" and "motion control" shoes essentially disable the complex mechanisms in your ankles and feet, that have evolved to help us walk and run.

And yet after years of wearing only minimal shoes I came down with a terrible case of PF that only now, 15 months later, is finally really improving since I started running in shoes that are slightly posted.

Whatever works.

And yet after years of wearing only minimal shoes I came down with a terrible case of PF that only now, 15 months later, is finally really improving since I started running in shoes that are slightly posted.

 

Whatever works.

Yeah, me too. IDK. I started running in minimalist shoes to correct other issues that cropped up in my hip, butt, etc., then got PF that knocked me back a good part of 2015.  Wearing Nike Zoom Pegasus now with an aftermarket insole that finally lets me run pain free most of the time, but it's lurking In the background.

Although my accumulated mileage is nowhere near some others on this site, I assume (now) that age and mileage made it somewhat inevitable.

Yeah, running worked for the first 12 years or so....

I train in shoes with adequate cushioning and a minimal (0-4mm) drop.  Most people like the idea of racing in "faster"  lightweight shoes, but I think it's a bad idea to run in "flats" when you're doing the bulk of your training in thick-heeled shoes.  All of the sudden your achilles tendon is supposed to be 1/2 an inch longer?!  That'll stress the hell out of your plantar fascia.

That sucks, sorry to hear it. Those PRP injections sound about as fun as a poke in the eye!

 

I once stopped running for several years mainly due to PF. I just got tired of my feet hurting all the time. These days I don't usually have it, but it still comes around once in a while, due to me racing in flats or running too many training miles in shoes with no arch supports.

 

At the moment I've been fighting PF in my right heel for the past 3+ weeks, since running a 12K race in unpadded racing  flats. The PF was sort of hanging around in the background for the past few weeks, but not very painful and not slowing me down much if at all. But then last Friday afternoon it suddenly flared up and was bad enough that I had to skip a planned 10k hill-climb fun run race on Saturday.  So I spent the day looking at YouTube video's on plantar faciitis and doing every stretch and exercise that was recommended by anyone. On Sunday I was able to tape my foot up and run 7x1 mile slowly on it, and that didn't seem to make it any worse. I continued doing all the PF stretches on Sunday all day and evening, and on Monday the pain was a bit less once again. I tried running a short ways without the tape on my foot and it was still too painful, so I taped it up and ran a couple of more miles. My legs were "stale" and not interested in running and I honestly think it was from all the stretching. Stretched muscles are not strong and springy muscles. But the PF continues to get better. I taped up the foot this morning and ran 2 miles on a hill, and it was not bad. My legs are still slow today, but once I dial it back on the stretching they will recover, and hopefully my PF pain will be gone. I'm avoiding running in those racing flats again for a while, and won't race as far in them when and if I do wear them again.

My experience with the horrible arrival and glorious departure of the possibly incorrectly named plantar fasciitis.

Working at a standing desk in heeled dress shoes led to awful, awful pain in both heels. Switching back to a regular desk fixed my right foot quickly. Pain in the left foot carried on for a year or so and then disappeared in the week following my first marathon. Some notes from my time:

* Barefoot shoes were a very big help. They make you so, so conscious of heel impacts that you take a lot of care when you run. My PF was right under my heel so it was the impact that was the specific issue, not general running stresses.

* Strassbourg socks are effective pain relief if you can keep them on all night. However, they're really uncomfortable and most nights I would wake up around 3/4AM and have to take it off to regain feeling in my foot.

* Minimising walking as much as possible was a big help for me. Cycling any journey that was more than 800m and generally sitting down as much as feasible.

* THE BIG ONE: weight training was an absolute godsend for me. Doing very heavy weights (2.5-3 x body weight) for very few reps and static concentric/isometric holds. Doing this 2/3 times a week or more really accelerated my recovery and surprisingly helped with pain relief. I find this active approach to any tendon injuries is very effective for me.

But at the end of the day, everything I did was just trying to eek out a little bit of training but when it actually went away it seemed like witchcraft.

I have had foot problems for the past six months. My podiatrist claims I have Plantar Fasciitis although the symptoms I read on the internet don't match with what I have.  I really don't believe the guy but he was a runner and has worked for some running shoe companies and is trained in the subject and I just read things on the internet about PF.  He has been really pushing hard that I buy some insoles designed for me but I have passed on that.  However he also has recommended a couple types of shoes, stability ones or cushioned ones both with a good arch support.

The past week my foot has been bothering me more than normal so when I went to run this morning I brought two pairs of shoes with me. Both had a good arch support and one was cushioned the other, a stability shoe with lots of cushioning.  I was running on an indoor track and my foot hurt a lot for the first mile, so i changed my shoes,  hoping the other pair would help.  But that one hurt a lot also in the next mile. In previous years i had run on the indoor track barefoot, so I decided to give it a try today.  I hadn't run barefoot yet this winter and so I didn't want to do much, but I did two miles barefoot and my feet felt fine.  I think I will go back to my minimal shoes, the ones the podiatrist said they were garbage,  that I wore for several years before my foot problem last August.  I definitely won't see that podiatrist again if the foot problem continues.

 

That is the realm of your fifth metatarsal, and could possibly be a stress fracture.  The fact that rolling it hurts even more suggests you are just aggravating the injury.  It could certainly just be a soft tissue problem, but I think you should ask your doc about possible metatarsal issues if he/she doesn't bring it up.

This is what I was originally worried about, but there is no spot around the bones that is tender when I poke around-- it's more underneath my foot, like the sole. I also thought if you have a stress fracture it is supposed to get worse as you run, this hasn't really been the case with me. I recognize that this is all just speculation... but as I wait for my appointment, what else can I do?!