Almost done with tri season with only 1 race left on the calendar for me (trying to start a build for Clearwater so taking some time off before fall).
I have been having some severe pain in my foot very similar to pain I felt last winter and fall before a marathon that never was completed b/c of my plantar fasciitis (yes, dignosed) as well as IT band syndrome. I have recently tried out some Newtons for the last several weeks, but I have been building into them slowly as they prescribe. However, my foot pain is coming back with a vengeance. I guess I am looking for a dignosis…is it the shoes, and should I take them back? Also, I am following RICE for this, but is there anything else I can do before my race in 1.5 weeks?
The only thing that helped me get rid of PF was the use of over the counter night splint
I bought them at walgreens, around 30 USD each and I wore them nightly for three months
Now when I start to feel a problem I wear them for few nights
TRY it
.
Hopefully you will have better luck than me but I tried all sorts of things that didn’t work for me including:
Mixing in Minimal & Barefoot running (which I loved but now where my forefoot touches it is so sensitive it feels like my bones are going to crack so I have to wear soft soft running shoes like LunaRacers)
Doing all kinds of feet strengthening exercises
rolling on golf balls while at my work desk
standing & rolling on tennis balls (this actually really feels great once you get through the first few times)
Ice foot baths
Rolling my feet on frozen water bottles.
Foam Roller and/or the Stick on Calves/Hamstrings/Glutes
Superfeet Green inserts
After a few months of all of that and not seeing much result I ran out of patience. Here is what has been working for me:
Aleve 2x a day
Custom Orthotics (yeah I know bleh…someday I hope to wean myself back off of these)
Almost always wearing something on my feet to soften hard floors.
Ultimately my proactive approach was to use the Trigger Point stuff, which is expensive but does grant some relief with consistent use. I also went to SuperFeet insoles- the green, in every shoe. Barefoot running is a fun trend, but I’m old and broken and I need help so I can stay on the road.
While there isn’t a “cure” for PF, Tom’s recommendation is a good one. I’m currently doing an ortho rotation. My preceptor has been doing ortho for 35 years and has PF himself. He tells all his patients that come in for PF about SuperFeet and wears them himself. Thankfully I’ve never had to deal with it myself, but he seems to love the product. Worth checking out at the very least!
I would definiately recommend trying the Green Superfeets first as well. While they didn’t work for me their molding is actually quite similar to my custom orthotics so much so that I was really surprised after doing a close comparison of them. My custom ones give me just a bit more support but the SF Green’s appear to be quite well designed. I relegated them to my biking shoes.
Wow, I swear Superfeet were the START of all of my foot problems…someone at the “respected” chain running store said I was “pronating” and I should wear the blue ones. Now I can’t even walk with out pain and I’ve tried just about everything that other folks doctors’ recommended.
The Superfeet in blue have a hard plastic bottom - modern running shoes pretty much encourage a heel strike (something you would NEVER do barefoot!), so why on earth put all of this crazy unnatural padding in a shoe that encourages you to heel strike and then add a layer of hard plastic??? It seems obvious to me now but I chose to ignore my ortho and go with some salespitch at the shoe store…My ortho saw them when i first got them and told me I would be injured. He’s a runner (back in the day went 2:30 for the marathon), and has dedicated his life to running and treating running related injuries and he totally called this one. I question now if I will ever run again! These inserts caused a bruise to my heel bone which was resulted in the formation of bone spurs and PF. It totally sucks because my foot even hurts sometimes on the bike. The only thing I can do is swim - - even yoga hurts (all of the warrior poses and one legged poses that require me to stand on the affected foot are agony).
Icing hasn’t helped, the 90degree splint at night hasn’t helped, aleve hasn’t helped, foot massage and other exercises to strengthen the calves haven’t helped.
Weirdly, I think my PF was caused (or at least contributed to) by my dress shoes I wear to work everyday (Rockports). Changed to ECCOs and had a very fast recovery. Also did toe raises with the balls of my feet on the edge of a step to stretch out my calf muscles. Good luck.
I have been fight PF this year also and have been through a lot of the following things and so far none have worked.
SuperFeet Green-I like these and still use them, but they have not fixed the problem ( 6 x$35=$210)
Custom Orthodics-I actually hated these and went back to wearing my SuperFeet insoles ($300)
Night Splint ($45)
3 different kinds of things to roll my foot on to massage the bottom ($55)
One round of Cortisone injections ($210, just skip this all together, bad idea)
10 sessions of message specifically on my calves, soleus muscles. ($400)
1 week of taking 2,400 miligrams of Advil daily.
1 weekly class of deep stretch Yoga since February ($14 a class x 6 months =$336)
Daily Foam rolling, stretching
So I will keep doing the Yoga, but all of those numbers adds up to a little over $1,500. I have thrown everything I have at this fucking thing and none of it has worked, until now (I think)!!!
I am now seeing a Chiropractor (I know, spare me your thoughts on these guys, I feel the same way) who is performing “The Graston Technique”. From how things are going in just my second week, I think this will solve my problem. If you are unfamiliar with Graston and you have PF you might want to look into this. For the most part The Chiro uses what looks like a Dull metal rod a lot like a butter knife and scrapes is across the bottom of my foot and up and down my calf. After the initial scraping (they use a lubricant) he will start to dig and get more aggresive with it. I can hear & feel the knots or scar tissue that he is coming across with the rod. It is not the most pleasant feeling in the world and I have some bruising on the back on my calf down low by the achellies, but things are starting to get better.
A lot of this things done above all work around stretching the bottom of the foot or the muscles in the calf. None of it really worked on the inflamation in the bottom on my foot other than the Advil. The rollers do some of this to a degree, but not like when they start really digging in on the bottom of your foot with a metal rod.
The big issue he points out to me is that I have an imbalance somewhere in my running, somewhere on me my muscles are not firing as they should be and this imbalance has cause my body to compensate for what I am doing wrong or out of balance and has most likely led to the PF in my foot. First goal will be to break up all the scar tissue/ inflamation to get me pain free ( I would be happy just with that) then he wants to figure out where the imbalance is. He said it will probably not be anything major just a muscle group I have not been using and after we figure out what it is I will need to do some exercises to engage these muscles and get them back to working.
I have done a lot of reading here on Slowtwitch and on the web, but not seen much mentioned about Graston for PF. I do remember reading in one Triathelte Magazines articles not to long ago that they rated some different treatments for injuries and gave Graston an A or A-, they also gave Cortisone like a D or F.
I was going to wait a little longer until I said something on ST about this, but since someone is looking for help, I thought I would throw it out there.
I do not know if you will be able to get relief in 1.5 weeks, but you can try. PF seems to hang around longer than that.
Almost done with tri season with only 1 race left on the calendar for me (trying to start a build for Clearwater so taking some time off before fall).
I have been having some severe pain in my foot very similar to pain I felt last winter and fall before a marathon that never was completed b/c of my plantar fasciitis (yes, dignosed) as well as IT band syndrome. I have recently tried out some Newtons for the last several weeks, but I have been building into them slowly as they prescribe. However, my foot pain is coming back with a vengeance. I guess I am looking for a dignosis…is it the shoes, and should I take them back? Also, I am following RICE for this, but is there anything else I can do before my race in 1.5 weeks?
thanks, slowtwitchers!
Rolling your foot over a golf ball might help…feel the crunchy bits & the burn…
Wow, I swear Superfeet were the START of all of my foot problems…someone at the “respected” chain running store said I was “pronating” and I should wear the blue ones. Now I can’t even walk with out pain and I’ve tried just about everything that other folks doctors’ recommended.
The Superfeet in blue have a hard plastic bottom - modern running shoes pretty much encourage a heel strike (something you would NEVER do barefoot!), so why on earth put all of this crazy unnatural padding in a shoe that encourages you to heel strike and then add a layer of hard plastic??? It seems obvious to me now but I chose to ignore my ortho and go with some salespitch at the shoe store…My ortho saw them when i first got them and told me I would be injured. He’s a runner (back in the day went 2:30 for the marathon), and has dedicated his life to running and treating running related injuries and he totally called this one. I question now if I will ever run again! These inserts caused a bruise to my heel bone which was resulted in the formation of bone spurs and PF. It totally sucks because my foot even hurts sometimes on the bike. The only thing I can do is swim - - even yoga hurts (all of the warrior poses and one legged poses that require me to stand on the affected foot are agony).
Icing hasn’t helped, the 90degree splint at night hasn’t helped, aleve hasn’t helped, foot massage and other exercises to strengthen the calves haven’t helped.
Although I sympathize with your injury, I have to call bullshit on the whole “modern shoes encourage a heel strike” bit.
You can run with minimalistic form in pretty much any shoe on the market. However, you can choose to run more heel-first in a properly fit shoe that will help correct the deficiencies in your form due to you running heels first. Take, for example, me and my Saucony Stabils. Plenty of rearfoot control if I opt for it, but when I run midfoot it doesn’t get in my way. I have to choose the stride. The shoe doesn’t do it for me.
Now, it’s easier to run midfoot in something with a flatter last, such as the Kinvara, or the 801 from New Balance. But it’s not necessary.
With a bone bruise, along with spurs and PF, you’re probably talking a 12 month recovery process. You may even need to go for a plantar fascii release, in order to avoid the tendon rubbing across the spurs. Alternatively, some orthotics can be built to accommodate the spurs. It feels like it doesn’t work, but it helps. Also: stretch your hamstrings more. Strengthening of the calf can make it worse, versus stretching which will help it improve.
Not the most comfortable thing in the world but it sure helped in the morning. I would stretch throughout the day and I simply started running more. Over a few months the pain went away. Horrible horrible horrible condition! Its hard to limp when both feet hurt like that so you end up waddling like a penguin.
Ultimately my proactive approach was to use the Trigger Point stuff, which is expensive but does grant some relief with consistent use. I also went to SuperFeet insoles- the green, in every shoe. Barefoot running is a fun trend, but I’m old and broken and I need help so I can stay on the road.
Not to discount the Trigger Point stuff, but I had PF in my left foot for nearly a year and tried the Trigger Point stuff at a 70.3 expo. Definitely felt the roller working, so instead of buying that stuff from them, I simply busted out our rolling pin from the kitchen drawer and did the same thing…rolling my PF and calf every night religiously and stretching the calf too on that foot (both feet actually). Eventually, after a few months, the PF resolved itself. Oddly, it happened kind of suddenly when I was forced to take 4 days off from working out after getting “snipped” last December.
as you are finding out…the prospective ways to address PF are as plentiful as taking tax docs to 30 different CPA’s and surprise-surprise…you get 30 different suggested returns.
trial and error gets you to what will eventually help, not cure, for you.
i’m now in my 8th week of being able to run when i want to, not when the foot allows, since last Thanksgiving.
its a bugger of a condition to work through but most everyone does…eventually.
In addition to everything else here: Toe raises in bare feet not holding on for support. The balancing part seems to strengthen all the little muscles in the feet and lower leg and really help. We have a whole group that does these on th ebench in the steam room every morning after swimming. We have seemd to cure and prevent PF. 2 sets of twenty very slowly every day. the Trigger Point products and systems seem to help.
PF free!
i had PF last fall/winter and i did many weeks of yoga and i think that the barefoot work in the yoga vids helped strengthen my feet and cure it. i will try the heel lifts and maybe some offseason yoga before i start my fall/winter build phases.
i’m going to try the free methods first…then i will start to look for other, more expensive means of relief. i have already spent $300+ on custom orthotics as well as some PT, but it has returned so i am going to go the cheap route first. thanks for all the advice…i can always count on the experience and expertise of all the slowtwitchers.
I did Graston last summer and it worked almost immediately. It is ridiculously painful, especially in the soleus area, but it did break up all the adhesions. Icing after the treatment helps, but I bruised also. Small price to pay for running within 10 days. Good luck.
I went to see Chris McDougall speak the other night (the author of Born to Run , the barefoot running book)
along with 2-300 other people. About a dozen people raised their hands when he asked who had cured
PF by ditching the shoes and going barefoot.
The main point was not that shoes are so terrible - but that we have learned poor form from running in them,
and poor form causes injuries.
So - have a friend video you running. A track is ideal because you can try some different things. Odds are you are
leaning back and striding out in front of your body. Try a lap or two barefoot and see how your form changes…
He made a great analogy with Golf. If you are playing terrible golf, not many people blame it on the clubs, you go get some
lessons. If you are getting hurt running - the problem is more likely with form than equipment (unless you are wearing
expensive, overbuilt motion control shoes… )
Hi
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.
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 may not 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.
I found a very informative website with many good ideas in: http://www.plantar-fasciitis-elrofeet.com Take care & Good luck
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