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zero drop shoes for Pantar fasciitis?
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Has anyone successfully used zero drop shoes like Altra to help with plantar fasciitis?

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Yellowfin Endurance Coaching and Bike Fits
USAT Level 1, USAC Level 3
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Re: zero drop shoes for Pantar fasciitis? [surfNJmatt] [ In reply to ]
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I've had mixed results with the Altras. Definitely I enjoy the lower heel, but that might be more of a prevention than a cure for PF that's already occuring. What might be more beneficial is better arch support first to get you back to healed, then work on getting away from high-heeled running shoes. Getting heels lower first might make a PF injury even worse.
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Re: zero drop shoes for Pantar fasciitis? [surfNJmatt] [ In reply to ]
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I battled Plantar fasica issues from 1996 to 2009. It never really went away until I used 4mm drop newtons....the moment I put them on I said, "I got the same feel as wearing track spikes in high school" (which were zero drop of course). Fast forward a few more years on Altras and doing drills on soccer fields in vibrams and its all gone.

I do run in a mix of max cushion and low cushion and the biggest drop I use is On Cloudflow at 6mm drop, but everything else is 4 or zero.

Also I wear zero drop shoes at work all day and use a standing desk for the last 4 years. This has really helped vs sitting all day.
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Re: zero drop shoes for Pantar fasciitis? [surfNJmatt] [ In reply to ]
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Start very slowly with the Altra's! They will be good for helping develop necessary foot strength, but just switching shoes will not be the magic pill. I highly recommend looking into Jay Dicharry's work. He's been on a number of podcasts and has 2 books that are excellent in the area of building better strength for running starting at the feet. I recently listened to him on the Physical Performance Show podcast and it was excellent stuff for everyone! Good luck!
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Re: zero drop shoes for Pantar fasciitis? [ZenTriBrett] [ In reply to ]
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 I dont use zero drop, think they are too dangerous. But 3-4 mm drop works very well (newton). As for overall experience, mixed drops and different shoes for every run vas the best option for me. Use from 3 to 10 mm drop and 4 different pairs.
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Re: zero drop shoes for Pantar fasciitis? [surfNJmatt] [ In reply to ]
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I was battling plantars in both feet, with some knee issues, after years of IM training. I switched to Nike Free, which are not zero drop but are much less of a drop than most. Once I built up the strength in my feet and the distance I was running in them, the plantars issues went away. I think it had more to do with training in minimal shoes to strengthen my feet than having zero drop. That was 14 years ago? I only use minimal running shoes, and for knocking around. Only trouble I had was a little plantars pain when I first started kickboxing and sparing bare footed. I just stretched more and it went away. My go to advice is always minimal shoes now. YMMV.

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Re: zero drop shoes for Pantar fasciitis? [surfNJmatt] [ In reply to ]
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My personal experience is that zero drop shoes at least seem to have helped, although I wasn't running at the time. Back in 2001 I developed the worst case of PF I've had, which lasted about 3 years. I couldn't even get out of bed in the morning without at least 30-45 minutes of stretching. Nothing I tried worked until a co-worker told me about the Strassburg Sock. After using that for a few weeks I noticed some improvement. But if I wore shoes with higher heels, or sat or took long drives, the pain would come back. I wondered if keeping the tendons stretched a bit more all the time would help, so I started wearing skate shoes with zero drop all the time, and my improvement accelerated. I don't know if the those actually helped, or if the timing was just coincidence, but any time I had to wear dress shoes, or any shoe with a raised heel, I'd start to feel the pain coming back. After a few months I had completely recovered, and started running again. At the same time I had just read about Chi Running, and started looking for shoes with low or zero drop. I now only wear shoes with 4mm or less, and the PF has not been back in 16 years, when it was a constant on and off issue for the previous 20 years. If I do have to wear dress shoes for any length of time, I start feeling those twinges again...

"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"
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Re: zero drop shoes for Pantar fasciitis? [surfNJmatt] [ In reply to ]
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I used to get plantar fasciitis often. I have never been able to fully transition to running in Altras. I did transition to wearing a zero drop, thin minimal type shoe every day in normal life and I believe that the foot strength that I've built has helped me a great deal. Like others said, I did change from running in 10-14mm drop shoes to a variety of HOKAs (5mm) and Newtons (4mm) which I also believe helped me. I still have a pair of Altras that I run in from time to time, but I have to stay under 4 miles in them or my hips will pay the price.
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Re: zero drop shoes for Pantar fasciitis? [surfNJmatt] [ In reply to ]
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I had similar issues, researched possible remedies and going to a lower heel drop seemed like an easy way to try and fix the problem. The main thing is to make the transition slowly and don't go straight to zero drop find a 4-6mm drop shoe and start alternating them in to your runs once you are feeling ready to go again. I have run in Karhu, Newton, Zoot, and Altra and have not had a problem with my feet in 7 years. Love the Altra Duo by the way but those are straight out zero drop so don't start with those, also try running barefoot on grass for short periods to start strengthening those under used foot muscles. There are tons of articles online about this subject and most of them will give you good guidelines on how to transition without causing injury, if you go to fast with the transition you could have achilles tendon or calf troubles.
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Re: zero drop shoes for Pantar fasciitis? [Evgen] [ In reply to ]
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I’m it sure what “dangerous” means here. To each his own but zero drop for me has resulted in fewer running -related injuries. I love them. And for me, the ramp up time was nonexistent. It took maybe a couple runs to get used to it. I find it much more natural than a big drop shoe.

To OP, I developed PF long after I started using Altras. I didn’t find them either burdensome or helpful in the recovery process.
Last edited by: DFW_Tri: Apr 20, 20 15:10
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Re: zero drop shoes for Pantar fasciitis? [swimbikerun66] [ In reply to ]
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I should add that starting in 2011, during the summer months i go to a soccer field and do strides and drills in vibrams. I am looking forward to that. The types of drills soccer and football players do in terms of ability and "non linear" running. I only do this around 4-5 months per year, but it helps on the overall strengthening side.

I also jog with vibrams (by jog I mean 9kph or so) often for short periods.

Dev
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Re: zero drop shoes for Pantar fasciitis? [surfNJmatt] [ In reply to ]
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Not me. I was already running in Altras for a couple of years when I developed PF. I think I got PF from walking around barefoot too much. I used to never wear my shoes at home and spent a summer putting around my property barefoot and I think that is how I got it. At the time I was regularly running 25k trail runs and running 5-6 days per week without issue. I had been doing that for a couple of years just fine.

2 1/2 years later I am just starting to get back to even thinking about running. I can now run 30 minutes without wanting to chop my foot off out of frustration. I have to run all taped up to achieve that and do pretty regular stretching, massaging, etc., to stay there. If I run more than 3 times in a week I have to cry uncle. It is very, very, very slow going to recover... I tried putting my Altras on to go back to running and ended up surrendering to high heel runners.

Good luck to you. I'm sorry that you are in this horrible PF club.

Hillary Trout
San Luis Obispo, CA

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