All I can add is that a 12 week break from running hasn't made my PF happy. Came down with an acute case of heel pain after doing too much too soon after IMC this summer.

I've been contemplating a MRI myself. What led you there?

Scott

Yep, I ruptured mine several years ago while on a run. I was racing home in a storm when it snapped. Despite the rain and wind I heard it and felt it...my first thought was I broke a bone in my foot...and I limped home with lightning crashing around me. I saw a specialist who confirmed it with ultrasound...even gave me a photo of the rupture. His comment was that I was lucky I hadn't gone to a podiatrist or they would have cast it, possibly leaving me with permanent scar tissue. Instead, he referred me to an aggressive PT who works with pro athletes. Treatment included heat followed by foot massage with metal scraping tools to align scar tissue with the muscles (painful), then a variety of stretching and strengthening exercises. I could not mount a regular bike for about a month, but was able to tolerate a bike trainer after 2 weeks, and started using an elliptical and similar machines. I was out of running for about 8 weeks.

My PF began last March due to overtraining. A MRI revealed "severe" PF with a tear. Saw a Sports Medicine Doc and worked with a Therapist within the Sports Medicine Department. The disappointing issue was that every PF and its treatment is very individualized. What works for one person will not work for another. I can tell you what has worked for me, but you may have to try various treatment regimens to see what works for you.

In addition to massage of the heel and sole (YouTube),the following helped me the most:

1. Use of a Night Splint every night. I used a hard splint ( $23 ) and had no trouble sleeping while using it. I still use it every night
2. A shoe insert made by Super Feet. I use it in all of my shoes for arch support. They are color-coded, and I was told to use the green color. I have two pairs so I don't continually have to move one to my current shoe. I was also told not to walk barefoot or use a flip-flop or slipper - which have no arch support.
3. Use of a foam roller to loosen up the calf muscle - which directly pulls on the heel. Four or five minutes a couple times per day.
4. Stretching the calf muscle gently at regular intervals.

In addition to the above, look on YouTube and experiment with any exercise that seems to fit your particular situation. As I said, unfortunately there is not a step-by-step process that cures this stubborn problem. It has been ten months for me and I have seen great improvement in the past two months after a slow initial period. I was ready to just give up but was told that this feeling is normal and to just continue on. I hope this helps . Best of luck in curing this nagging injury.

I have never fully recovered from it. Tore mine in the 2011 Chicago Marathon. I Did try Graston, MAT, night splint, etc. Nothing really helps except time. the plantar will be tight for the rest of your life, and you will have foot issues if you try to hurry it. I know, because I still do.

+1

Everything grizrocket said, plus acupuncture. Wearing shoes with heels and supportive footbed was crucial for me. I have a naturally high arch and like to go barefoot or wear flip-flops and wear neutral running shoes. Royal pain to literally slip on shoes before even taking a step and put insoles in my work, running shoes and cycling shoes. My tear was in May. By June I was thinking I was getting better, mostly because I had a bucket list run across a Scottish Island organized and tickets paid for. Did it. Put myself in a big hole and couldn't run from June to September; not to mention was a complete waste of space and grumpy jackass all summer. Definitely an injury you can easily make worse and cause recovery to take longer.

Get well.

Thanks again to everyone who has taken the time to post. This is exactly what I'm worried about - my foot already has that "never gonna be the same" feeling even though the acute tear just happened a few weeks ago. I've been able to grit my way through runs with stress fractures in the past, but this is worse. At this point, most of the pain is on the lateral side of the foot... which has me concerned that the altered biomechanics of walking/rowing are causing a stress reaction/fracture of the 5th metatarsal. Headed to ortho tomorrow, so we'll see what they say.

Yeah. That's the other deal. It caused problems with my other foot and both my knees.

This is why they shoot horses.

It destroyed me as a runner.

Hi SkiMKE,

I am a cautious person, but:

1. I recommend the battery of stretches and approaches already covered here. My best gains for recovery came when I would stretch many times a day (and stretch up the leg, not just the foot) and wear a boot at night and during the day when I could. I also wore almost exclusively support shoes/insoles, even at work. (Hello, New Balance, color: black!)

2. The other part of my experience was rest. It took forever for my foot to recover (which may be abnormal), but a real, no sh*t break from running was, for me, necessary. No tests, no short runs, no nothing.

3. A very small part of my advice is this: support bike shoes or insoles in your current bike shoes and very careful push-offs in swimming. In the case of swimming, especially, pushing off is like 40 jumps per 1000 short course yards, in bare feet. (Rowing might be like this, for you?)

4. Finally, as some have said, my foot is just wrong now. There was a reason I got injured, and that hasn't gone away. I wear almost exclusively support shoes even now, even in the house, and do the same recovery stretches all the time.

Some experience (and perhaps exceedingly cautious), not medical advice, fwiw.

Andrew Moss

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"At the end he was staggering into parked cars and accusing his support-van driver of trying to poison him." A description of John Dunbar in the 1st Hawaii Iron Man

Thank you. These are the keys to recovery, but the hardest things for me personally - especially the "no tests" part... every time it feels even a little better I want to try running.

I tore my right PF 3 years ago playing basketball. Could feel the tearing as it happened. Happened in mid-December. I quit running for several months after that. I started back very slowly. First, just walking on a treadmill or my university's indoor football field. I got up to walking 1 mile/day and then added elliptical. I worked up to 20-30 min elliptical sessions. I then started some jogging. I found that any running that required a change of direction re-aggravated it (like running around a track). I could run only in straight lines. I started running slowly - worked up to about 1 mile and just held it there. By the first of July, I was finally able to run several miles at a time pain-free, and then slowly worked up to 5K runs. All this time I wore the plastic night-splint. No idea if that helped. I was also cycling and swimming during this time - it didn't seem to affect those at all.

Last December I developed plantar fasciitis in my right foot. Felt the first twinges around Dec 10. Very shortly I could not run at all, and even walking was becoming very painful. I did several things this time:

• bought Hoka Bondi running shoes. Switched from Asics Cumulus (now, when I try to wear those shoes (had just bought a new pair when PF symptoms started), they feel awful.)
  
• Bought Hoka walking shoes to wear at work.
  
• I quit walking around barefoot at home. Slippers and flipflops even have arch support.
• More extensive stretching, and doing longer 30sec to 1 min calf stretches.
• Started foam-rolling my calves.
  

By July I was running pain-free and made it through a sprint tri, and haven't had any problems since then. I don't run very much, and run only 30 min/workout max. I also run only in straight lines - no track or outside running that requires sharp change in direction. And I still wear Hokas all the time.

I've resigned myself that at my age and with my history, I won't be a long distance runner anymore. I want to save my knees and don't want to deal with injuries. I'm hoping I can get back to where I can do more trail running.

I have had a tear before and it tooked a lot lot longer to heal up than fasciitis. and my arches have never been the same again. My top tips would be to do lots of resistance band exercises to restrgethen your feet up and to wear some good arch supporting insoles found these are the best when I tore mine.

http://shoewawa.com/...r-plantar-fasciitis/

Thankfully, I haven't torn my plantar fascia. But, I have been dealing with what was recently diagnosed as plantar fasciosis. Ironic this thread greeted me on the front page this morning as I'm scheduled for a PRP injection later today. Give me 12 weeks and I'll tell you if it worked.

http://www.uwhealth.org/...d/sports_med_PRP.pdf

Scott

Lots of good info. Which splint exactly are you using?
I need one ...

thanks !

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Advanced Aero TopTube Storage for Road, Gravel, & Tri...ZeroSlip & Direct-mount, made in the USA.
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I've been doing a ton of research on this because I have it as well. I eventually found a meta-study of all the good studies that eliminated all the junk science and false positives and it showed the #1 consistent thing that worked without fail is to wear a night boot. Of all the things I've tried, it definitely works best. For example, when the treatment (dry needling, for example) also includes time off the foot, of course some patient is going to report feeling better - he was already close to being healed anyway. Notice all the crazy solutions include time off the foot as part of the solution. But the one treatment that truly worked for nearly everybody, nearly every time, unless their sh*t was torn up beyond repair, was the cheap and modest night boot.

I got one like this and every night I wear it I feel about 10% better the next day.
https://www.amazon.com/...istant/dp/B001B5JVIA

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com

Thanks for the info, I will check that one out !

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Advanced Aero TopTube Storage for Road, Gravel, & Tri...ZeroSlip & Direct-mount, made in the USA.
DarkSpeedWorks.com.....Reviews.....Insta.....Facebook
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Took 2 months off from running, then started back slowly
I wear arch support insoles in all shoes
Never walk barefoot at home anymore, I’m usually in some Oofos flip flops
Slept in the boot for 18 months (have since stopped that)
Run in Feetures PF socks
I do a lot more stretching – calves, hamstrings, hips
I eventually built up to running 6-7 days a week (BarryP plan) for the consistency
I do all running in support shoes, most training in Hoka Constants, races in Brooks Pure Cadence

2+ years later and I’m running more and faster than I ever have (I’m 46). My right arch still feels tighter than the left, and I guess it always will.

Good luck.

Yep, I ruptured mine several years ago while on a run. I was racing home in a storm when it snapped. Despite the rain and wind I heard it and felt it...my first thought was I broke a bone in my foot...and I limped home with lightning crashing around me. I saw a specialist who confirmed it with ultrasound...even gave me a photo of the rupture. His comment was that I was lucky I hadn't gone to a podiatrist or they would have cast it, possibly leaving me with permanent scar tissue. Instead, he referred me to an aggressive PT who works with pro athletes. Treatment included heat followed by foot massage with metal scraping tools to align scar tissue with the muscles (painful), then a variety of stretching and strengthening exercises. I could not mount a regular bike for about a month, but was able to tolerate a bike trainer after 2 weeks, and started using an elliptical and similar machines. I was out of running for about 8 weeks.


I would try this! I tore my PF about a year and half ago and I'm still having problems. I had trouble getting the right diagnosis at first and I'm still having problems because of the scar tissue. It has got better where now I'm able to do a run/walk without any issues. It sucks though because my run fitness sucks. I just happy I'm backing running pain free. Good luck!

I had a bad case. It lasted for 2 years. For 6 months, I could not even bike the pain was so bad. I slowly started running again, using low dye strapping (Google it). After 2 years I was able to run again with little or no pain.

After that I took a different approach from many here. I started to gradually work my way towards more minimal shoes, with the intent of strengthening my feet so that they provided their own support. It took me 5 years. Now I run in my Shamma Sandals and use them for everyday wear as well. They are about as minimal as you can get. My feet are very strong. 10 years later I have no issues whatsoever and I feel like I have build very resilient feet. Again, this was a 5 year effort, not a 5 week or 5 month transition. It takes a while.

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Simplify, Train, Live

I'll start with saying that I came into triathlon as a runner and LOVE running. So when I realized I had PF (and eventually a tear), it was a super hard pill to swallow.


I had plantar issues begin on Labor Day 2015. I was fortunate enough to be doing a running race at the time, and there was a physical therapist on site that diagnosed me with Plantar Fasciitis. I went and saw my local podiatrist who confirmed that I had PF. I was signed up for Kona, so decided just not to run until race day and hope all of the treatment* I was doing would cure my foot in time.

I taped my foot with KT tape per advice of PTs (actually had the Kinesiotape experts at the expo do it for me!) and swam and biked. Hoping off the bike, I knew immediately I'd have issues the entire run, but was determined to finish since it was Kona after all.

Not sure if racing Kona was what caused the tear, or if it was torn prior to even running in Kona but I could barely walk for a week after. I went and saw a podiatrist (The Running Institute in Chicago is AMAZING if you're in the Chicagoland). We tried a cortisone shot at first because there was a bursa over the site of the tear that needed to be "attacked" first. Once that was taken care of, I had an Amniofix injection to fix the actual tear in my plantar... this is the newest thing, similar to PRP but the recovery time is much faster. I was able to start biking again 10 days later and was cleared to swim then as well but just chose to wait another week.

About 20 days after the Amniofix injection, I was able to start attempting a run/walk program. At this time, I also tried out ASTYM (basically Graston but for your plantar) through the physical therapist as there was still some annoyance on my plantar. When I went back to my podiatrist after ASTYM not feeling like it was working, he noticed there was basically some scar tissue, so I had EPAT/Shockwave Therapy done. 4 treatments later over the course of 2.5 weeks and I was running pain free. I also had custom orthotics made and went from wearing a shoe with support (Saucony Fastwitch and Guide) to one without (Saucony Kinvara) to accommodate the extra support the orthotic was providing. Definitely look into custom orthotics.

I had the Amniofix injection done on December 20th I believe, and was running again (easy) 2 months later, which I have been told is a faster turnaround compared to PRP. Obviously every case is different and every podiatrist will treat a tear differently as well, but hope this helped at least. Just be smart about it now or it can come back real bad!

*treatments from September 4 - October 8: Gua Sha tools (on Amazon) with coconut oil, rolling my foot on a frozen water bottle every 2 hours, KT taping styles, night split (on Amazon, much preferred over Strassburg sock), Strassburg sock (didn't care for this, caused tightness in the back of my knee), lacrosse ball/foot roller all of the time.

Feel free to check out my blog for more details on all that I went through: http://jacquisjourney.com/blog/archives/02-2016