Forums >Health and Nutrition>Plantar fasciitis
Looking for some positive stories (to help boost my confidence and keep me from freaking out!) regarding plantar faciitis and running. I ran a half marathon a few days ago (Sunday). I had zero foot-related pain immediately there after. I took a complete rest day the day after (with the exception of a lesiurely 2 mile walk). Then on Tuesday (two days later), I walked a mile to the gym and ran an average paced (not really fast) 2 miles on the treadmill. The arch of my foot started killing mid-way thru the run. I was an complete idiot and did not stop running. Foolish me. Thought, "what's two miles? I can push thru this". Now I have text-book plantar fasciitis (PF?) symptoms (I've had it before, years ago, confirmed by a podiatrist). I'm a teacher, and it hurts to even get through the day on my feet.
I am taking time off from running and trying stretching and icing. However, I refuse to stop cross-training. There is no way I am going to let myself get out of shape and have to start from scratch all over again. If you've successfully cured PF,whilst still cross-training, please do share your story! Also, any other tips for PF would be greatly appreciated
Feeling the growl again
This may not be exactly what you wanted to hear but....
After virtually zero physical injuries duing an almost 20 year running career, PF popped out of nowhere with me when I ran a 90 mile week in December (not unknown territory to me at all). I suffered through it, often unable to stand on my heel for 20-30min in the morning until it loosened out some. By mid-January it got to the point I could not tolerate running on it due to the pain and I took about 5 days off. I quickly resumed 90 mile weeks and ran a few more before mono sidelined my high volume training. The PF was not gone by any means, but it was at a level I could tolerate it and run.
I ran Boston in mid-April and both before and after the race, no signs of PF. I was excited that the time off may have cured it. However as soon as I resumed training a couple weeks later, it was back to the same moderate level as before. It hurts at some point every day, usually in the mornings, but no longer affects my running. In fact it hurt worst when I took 4 days off last week.
I just read up on it (finally) at a reputable site and it appears that it is not unusual at all to deal with this for up to a year but most people find relief by two (!!!). So I'm not as worried that I'm seven months into this -- it IS much better than it was in January.
My uneducated 2 cents from my personal experience.....stopping running was not a cure. It helps during acute flare-ups but even several weeks with almost no running did nothing to get rid of the problem. So I run when it lets me run.....almost all the time....and if it gets too bad I'll skip one.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
The shirtless wonder
I developed relatively minor PF in 2008. It hurt to walk on and I limped in the morning or getting up in the middle of the night. I didn't take any time off of running because it did NOT hurt when I ran. It took about two years but it is 100% gone and I never took time off of running to help it heal.
Greg
run.therowes.net
Why is it sideways?
Do you have high arches? If so, I recommend an over the counter orthotic insert that will provide more arch support. I used the superfeet insert, and it helped mine tremendously.
Others will recommend going more minimal to strengthen the foot. This did not seem to work for me (maybe because I run pretty minimalist already.) I avoided walking barefoot in the house and tried to keep some slippers with arch support by the bed in the morning. In my case, this seemed to help take stress off of the PF and allow it to heal.
Finally, though I don't have personal experience, I recommend the Strassburg Sock. This sort of stretch keeps the PF at bay.
I was able to run through a case of PF a couple of years back doing these sorts of things.
Do you have high arches? If so, I recommend an over the counter orthotic insert that will provide more arch support. I used the superfeet insert, and it helped mine tremendously. Others will recommend going more minimal to strengthen the foot. This did not seem to work for me (maybe because I run pretty minimalist already.) I avoided walking barefoot in the house and tried to keep some slippers with arch support by the bed in the morning. In my case, this seemed to help take stress off of the PF and allow it to heal. Finally, though I don't have personal experience, I recommend the Strassburg Sock. This sort of stretch keeps the PF at bay. I was able to run through a case of PF a couple of years back doing these sorts of things.
The arch support is a good idea. I forgot to mention that the two changes I made when this got really bad in January was a) ditched 2 pairs of running shoes with 500+ miles on them, and b) got better shoes for work with better arch support. The only reason I have not gotten an arch insert -- I have average arches -- is because I'm busy and lazy period, I just don't remember the once in a great while I'm actually in a store.
I don't believe this is about a "strong foot" thing, I've got tens of thousands of miles on my feet and wear flats frequently for workouts. In fact an additional change I made in January that I forgot to mention was that I completely stopped running in flats for a couple months -- not enough arch support, absolutely killed me to wear them.
The S Sock is probably a good idea. Again, I have just not gotten around to (or desperate enough?) to get one.
I had a pretty bad case last year in my left foot that flared up and caused me to slow my running for a while. Oddly......it only really bothered me when I was not running and I could generally run without any pain. Go figure. After seeing little improvement from stopping running for short stints, I began experimenting with different treatments. The things that worked for me:
- Slightly different shoes with a little more arch support
- Rolling my foot on a golf ball under my desk at work
- Learning how to stretch my calf muscles and achilles properly
- Seeing a deep tissue massage guy periodically who digs around in my foot and loosens things up.
After some trial and error, I was able to run without issue and I observe a very gradual improvement in symptoms. I did tweak it again by finding a pothole at mile 4 during a half marathon in March, but it seems that I just set back the healing by about a month and a full flare-up has been avoided. I even managed to PR the race! I have recently upped my mileage and it has not bothered my PF. It can be overcome but it will take some experimentation.
My advice is to read through the forums here and be prepared to figure out what works for your specific condition.
Good luck
Rebuilding my aerobic base....racing next year.....nothing to see here....move along now.
Thanks for the info. Forgive my ignorance (I'm a relatively new runner): what are "flats"?
Racing flats. Light shoes with little cushioning weighing in the 6oz range.
I think I was the opposite of most of the people here. I dealt with a bad case of PF for about a year. I tried shoes with more arch support and I think it made the issue worse for me. Eventually I ended up taking some time off from running because it was so bad I could hardly make it down the block.
When I started running again, I felt the PF start to flair up (but not nearly as bad as it had been). I ended up buying a pair of Nike Frees to wear around the office at work and decided to cut out all hills from my runs. (I think the hills were what was doing me in the most).
I actually found that my feet responded better to the more minimal shoes rather than ones with more support. I ended up buying a more neutral shoe. (I don't remember off hand which pair - maybe Brooks?) and it seemed to work well for me.
But I think what was really key for me was stretching my PF before getting out of bed in the morning. It hasn't bothered me since and I've been running hills again!
PF is definitely a slow-to-heal injury, but you'll be back before you know it!
Nashville Dog Runner
You will make it through this. PF is extremely painful for some folks. I've had it now for 7 1/2 months. This week it has felt pretty darn great and so that's at least one thing to be happy about.
I had an excellent doctor tell me the following:
Stand on a step with both feet. Hold onto something to help you with balance. Lower your heels, so that they are well below the step. So, the top 1/3 or so of your foot is on the step and you heel is LOWER. Hold that for FIVE minutes.
A friend gave me the following excellent advice:
(I used a scarf instead of a bulky towel for this one.) Before you get up in the morning, when it hurts like Hades, hook the scarf around the top 1/3 of your foot and pull as far as you feel you can go, towards you. Hold for 30 seconds or longer if you can. The longer the better.
One more thing:
At night, get a water bottle that is full of frozen water, and place it under your foot. Roll the heck out of your arches and your heel. Just keep rolling. I pushed as hard as I could handle it. Also, I massaged it as hard as I could with my thumbs.
Another thing that I believe caused my plantar:
I ran a somewhat long run one month before I developed plantar, last November. During this run, which was 21.5 hours, I had ankle braces on. I believe having the braces on for that long possibly brought on the plantar. In hindsight, I wouldn't change one thing. Spraining one or two ankles on this particular run would have been much worse. I don't run on trails too much nowadays. The minute I start running with my braces, the plantar hurts somethin' awful.
Good luck. Hope this helps a little!
www.nashvilledogrunner.com
I ran a somewhat long run
"Somewhat long"...nice.
Come all you no-hopers, you jokers and roguesWe're on the road to nowhere, let's find out where it goes
I ran a freakin' long @$$ run. Better?
Another 2 cents - I've had PF now for around 6 weeks. At first could barely walk for much of the day, but it quickly got better so that it only hurt during exercise. I tried to rush back into training too quickly and that was not a good idea so eventually I did take time off running - I would run Monday evening, if it hurts, then take the week off and try again next Monday. After 6 weeks I am now doing a moderate amount of running (3 times a week).
During the bad weeks I continued to use a stationary bike, this didn't seem to do any harm, and massaged the foot with either Voltaren or Badger Muscle Rub or Tiger Balm - all seemed to give a good level of relief. But I still think time is the great healer!
Good Bad & The Monkey
Others will recommend going more minimal to strengthen the foot. This did not seem to work for me (maybe because I run pretty minimalist already.) I avoided walking barefoot in the house and tried to keep some slippers with arch support by the bed in the morning.
In my case, the minimalist approach helped. Walking barefoot helped. It is an easy experiment. Do you feel some better after a barefoot weekend or after a weekend in highly supportive shoes? Let that info guide YOU.
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
Hi
Probably this is what you wanted to here.
For me it all started with plantar fasciitis. The best cardio exercise for someone with plantar fasciitis is swimming and riding a bicycle. I used to run and I got plantar fasciitis so I started to swim and cycle. Today I’m better with my PF so I ended up as a triathlete. I have finished my first olympic triathlon race last summer. It did not happen all at once - I had a swimming background and it took me 2 years of practice while treating my feet and fighting the injury. But I must say that if it wasn't for the PF I would never have done a triathlon.
There are many things you can do to treat your PF although I understood that treatment efficiency is very individual. If something works for one it will not necessarily work for the other.
I have found taping very useful. Taping will keep your foot from getting injured again and will help you get through your daily routine and exercises. And finally this is a good webpage about running and plantar fasciitis.
Take care & Good luck