Can someone please help? I haven’t run for a year now… How tough is that? Had 3-4 shots, ART, Orthotics, Therepy, and lots of other stuff. Can anyone help me out? It has been going on now for over two years with this last year not healing up… Please anyone give me some insight… I miss running badly!
Dan
Can someone please help? I haven’t run for a year now… How tough is that? Had 3-4 shots, ART, Orthotics, Therepy, and lots of other stuff. Can anyone help me out? It has been going on now for over two years with this last year not healing up… Please anyone give me some insight… I miss running badly!
Dan
If you want to maintain your running ability while this thing, whatever it is, heals then you should consider PowerCranks.
You have given zero information that might help us help you to a solution. In most instances of failing to get better we are dealing with a missed or wrong diagnosis. but you aren’t helping here. give us the symptoms, what makes it better, what makes it worse, when did it start, etc.
I had that injury and what helped me get back to running was putting some serious time into stretching my calves, I also soaked my feet in buckets of ice water, and rolled them on a golf ball sized rubber ball ANYTIME I was sitting, I carried the thing around with me, I also picked up marbles with the toes EVERY time i sat on the couch at my house. Finally, I got all sorts of shoes from brooks beasts (basically to “cast” my feet) all the way to H-streets to build strength. It was frusterating as hell but I got it worked out. YOu can PM me if you want even more specifice of how I dealt with that injury, I tried everything short of voodoo. I got mine cleared up and it hasnt come back, that was about 3 years ago.
Well lets see:
Pain is in the right foot where the facia hooks to the heal. inside of heal right in front of the heal.
morning pain when getting up.
pain when getting up from rest.
Got it about two years ago when switching to POSE method of running.
Last bout was when training for Ironman CDA, Started hurting about 4 weeks out from the race. Ran through it and did race anyway… haven’t been on a good run sense.
Some time aches when I walk alot on it.
Been seen by MD Dr., ortho and others, said I have plantar faciitis.
Typical symptoms of PF,
I can feel a lump or swelling at the base of the heal.
I have rolled on balls, iced heated it etc.
Feels best when it is warmed up but will ache at the end of the day when I have done to much.
I wear othotics now but only helps a small bit… still hurts during the day.
Been wearing orthotics now for the bast 7-8 months.
Gosh not sure what else to say… any more info needed… this has been such a pain… I ride my bike from time to time but sometimes I think that this may hurt it as well. I also still swim but not as much as I once did when in training.
Anything please… gosh I want to run again… There must be something that people have done to ride themselves of this… What do top athletes do?
Dan
Go through the rest of the voodoo out there - no harm at this point. But, if you have had plantar fasciitis for over 18 months, despite all of the therapy that you have been through, studies (numerous over the past several years) show that you will not likely fully get rid of your plantar fasciitis and you are now a surgical candidate. About 2-5% of people with PF over 1 year fall into this category. Google “EPF” or endoscopic plantar fasciotomy for some early insight, and dig around from there. I’ve performed perhaps 300-350 EPFs with success rates similar to the literature reviews (you can Medline search these as well).
Good luck!
OK, no more late night foot questions
If we are talking PF here, the alleged mystical powers of Power Cranks are not going to heal it. First, the ground rules. If rroof says otherwise, you listen to him and not me. That said, PF is a mother for some people and it is my opinion that waiting it out is a complete waste of time. Prime example - had a guy ready to quit - taught him how to tape his foot - he then ran a PR at the Honolulu Marathon - quit taping his foot - took 2 months off and was in complete pain - went back to taping his foot and is back on the road. Here is the private message I have sent to a couple of people on this Board after they sought the finest unlicensed medical advice money can’t buy.
“First you need a disposable underwrap to protect the skin (https://www.medco-athletics.com/...ct.asp?Leaf_Id=92075) and 1.5 or 2.0 inch Zonas tape (https://www.medco-athletics.com/...ct.asp?Leaf_Id=85340 ). You need Zonas because it will not come loose when it gets wet. You can probably find it at a good drugstore but it will be expensive b/c you are going to use a lot of it.
The basic move is put the underwrap around the middle of your foot to protect the skin and then circle it twice with the Zonas. Then make a horseshoe strap with the tape starting from the tape on the middle of your foot (on the side) around the heel to the other side of your foot at the tape. Do it twice. Then anchor it down by going around the middle of the foot again.
I also taped both feet because the taping is obviously reducing the pronation in your foot to some degree and I decided to stay balanced. That may or may not be smart but its what I did. And, b/c you are messing with your foot strike you need to listen to your body.
Finally, tighter is not better. Just get it sort of snug. You will learn as you go. But if the tape itself hurts while you run you have it too tight.
Here is the best pic I could find but I don’t think you need to turn your foot into the mummy. http://www.heel-that-pain.com/...ar_fascia_taping.php Please note that I stopped at picture number 1. Please also note that I taped lower on the arch and not so far forward up toward the toes. It freaks me out to compress the metatarsals like that and I don’t want this to turn into a discussion on Morton’s Neuroma. :o)
I learned the above technique from one of the best foot doctors in Dallas and ran 2 marathons while the foot healed. I’m not going to tell you that it didn’t hurt but it let me do what I wanted to do. As the Doctor told me, “this cd take over a year to heal – tape your foot and go do what you want to do.” This year I have taught at least 10 people how to do this and they have run marathons from New York to Honolulu using the above method. PF is just a bitch.”
I also think having a mean MT stretch out your feet and digging around to break up scar tissue is worth the price of admission. Good luck.
Yes I would like to chat with you abut details… Did you do the marbles and other stuff while you still had pain or did yo get the pain to go away first. Please, please details of your protocal starting with dealing with pain to rehab…
Thanks so much for your reply!!!
You can search for “low dye strapping” for what cooterbob has described and there should be ample instructions on how to perform it. It is a wonderful way to simulate what an orthotic is supposed to do. I do it about 15 times/day and most people (but not all) find it surprisingly helpful. Will it “cure” your PF? Not likely in your particular case, but you should have had this done for you if you visited any podiatrist worth anything during your treatments that you have described.
I have had it tapped several times by a Podiatrist… I guess I just didn’t think it was working and didn’t keep with it… Also the tape started to tear up my skin. Question… Are you saying if I am tapping it up it is ok to run and do normal things… and do I use my orthotics or at this point chuck them… They seem not to be doing much now anyway? So what I get is keep it tapped at all times…, do lots of stretching, ice baths, roll on a ball to break things up and pick up marbles with my toes to build up strength?
Hey thank you so far for the relpies!!!
Boy some of you sure do respond and type fast, Wow!
Dan
check your messages. also, go to www.sportsinjurybulletin.com and buy the runners repair manual, Also, the taping mentioned by the other STer works great, google it.
.
I think you are okay. Ease into it and see what happens. Its just pain - right? (grain of salt – grain of salt). My most extreme example was being called into my chiropractor’s and MT’s office last year to tape an Internist’s foot for New York (the lawyer treats the doctor - you got to love it). I know this doctor (great guy by the way) and while I have somewhat of a reputation for having a high pain threshold this guy is off the charts. He pulled off his sock and the bottom of his foot was black and blue – think about that – all that thick and tough skin down there and it is black and blue? Jeez. I gave him the 1 – 20 pain question and he said 15. I said, I am rounding that up to 18 because you are lying and he just smiled. I told him as a brother idiot he shouldn’t do this and that even I wouldn’t do this. He just smiled. I taped him and he made it. Just be smart and listen to your body. And as rroof said, maybe it is time for the knife – but I doubt if you are going to make it worse by running on it a little.
I had this for about 8 months. I tried a number of things to cure it, and in the end the only things that helped me were a strassburg sock at night, and calf massage and stretching. Apparently some Plantar symptoms are from a tight CT band in the calves, and if your symptoms started with POSE running that may be the case with you (POSE places heavier loads on the calves). Here is a link which explains the CT bands relationship with Plantar Fascitiis http://www.myfootshop.com/...CT%20Band%20Syndrome
The Strassburg sock is here http://www.thesock.com/ or at a local running store. Its pretty expensive for what you get (around $50), but it DID help me quite a bit. There are other night splints which are rigid, but I haven’t tried them. The other thing that helped me was calf stretching and massage. Get a rolling pin or one of those stick massagers and go to town on your calves (focusing on the part below the ball of the muscle seemed to help the most). The combination of these two cleared it up pretty quick. I still have occasional twinges of pain, but it seems directly related to calf tightness and massage will clear it immediately.
I battled PF for almost 5 years… I’ve tried it all, orthotics, cortizone shots, PT… All provided temporary relief but the PF always seem to creep back… I started wearing a night splint religously (especially while sleeping) and after 4-5 weeks all symptoms disappeared and haven’t returned for over a year and a half now… Below is the splint I used, it allows you to walk around without the clumsiness of a full boot… Good luck getting rid of your pain… I’ve been there so I know what your going through! I’m not a salesman or a rep for this product, I just know that’s what cured me.
Well lets see:
Pain is in the right foot where the facia hooks to the heal. inside of heal right in front of the heal.
morning pain when getting up.
pain when getting up from rest.
Got it about two years ago when switching to POSE method of running.
Last bout was when training for Ironman CDA, Started hurting about 4 weeks out from the race. Ran through it and did race anyway… haven’t been on a good run sense.
Some time aches when I walk alot on it.
Been seen by MD Dr., ortho and others, said I have plantar faciitis.
Typical symptoms of PF,
I can feel a lump or swelling at the base of the heal.
I have rolled on balls, iced heated it etc.
Feels best when it is warmed up but will ache at the end of the day when I have done to much.
I wear othotics now but only helps a small bit… still hurts during the day.
Been wearing orthotics now for the bast 7-8 months.
Gosh not sure what else to say… any more info needed… this has been such a pain… I ride my bike from time to time but sometimes I think that this may hurt it as well. I also still swim but not as much as I once did when in training.
Anything please… gosh I want to run again… There must be something that people have done to ride themselves of this… What do top athletes do?
Dan
Well, you have been undertreated or misdiagnosed. In someways plantar fasciitis is a wastebasket diagnosis. Someone comes in and the bottom of their feet hurt and there is no obvious cause, PF is the diagnosis.
itis means inflammation. Where is the inflammation coming from? Why isn’t it gooing away with rest. These are questions you need to be asking your doctor and if you don’t get satisfactory answers get a second or third opinion.
In a past life I was a doctor who specialized in treating chronic pain. You said three things that make me think of an alternative diagnosis, that of RSD, reflex sympathetic dystrophy. It started at a discrete time that might be associated with some mild injury. You described the pain as “aching” and it has been going on for two years without getting worse or better. If all else fails I would search out an anesthesiolgist who deals with chronic pain and ask for an evaluation. If you have this, you have a very mild case, and in my experience, mild cases are usually pretty easy to treat.
Get the book “Pain Free” by Pete Egoscue. And practice Active Isolated Stretching daily.
Both truly work to clear up the issue (and quit doing the POSE method).
I would search out an anesthesiolgist who deals with chronic pain and ask for an evaluation.
Uhhhh…what? I’m not sure where you are from, but here in The USA an anethesiologist is an MD trained to administer anesthesia and monitor the patients vitals during a procedure.
Many anesthesiologists get into chronic pain/pain clinics. He is alluding to the extremely remote possibility you have RSD (Reflex sympathetic dystrophy - or now called complex regional pain syndrome) or some variety thereof.
You don’t
Good luck.
Where did you get this splint? I have been using the sock, and the pressure on the toes being pulled back is sometimes too much.
From everything I have tried, a night splint device is by far the best solution. I have not gotten rid of my PF, but it is manageable. I really have to limit fast running.
Where did you get this splint? I have not gotten rid of my PF, but it is manageable.
I bought it from here…
http://www.alimed.com/ProductDetail.asp?style=60607&gclid=CJaetsLZ24wCFRlmWAodETiZcw
Do you wear the sock every night? I never missed a day with this dorsal splint, even when the pain went away. I kept wearing it for an additional couple of weeks just to make sure.