So I had a bout of PF earlier in the year and after various stretch and physio sessions I ended up with orthotics. The combination of that and switch from Asics 2080’s to Kayano’s made the PF a thing of the past.
Now I’ve read a lot of the posts about how we’ve all become dependant on the “supportive” shoes and I tend to agree with them in theory. But the moment I switch, even to my 2080’s - I did a brick a while back, with about 6km+ total of running and the next day, boom! the PF was back. Anyone had experience phasing off their shoes to flats or getting rid of the need for orthotics?
Also, my orthotics have a bump to raise the heel - I wonder if that’s overexaggerating the raised heel of the kayanos. Should I have them modified? (I don’t particularly enjoy seeing the podiatrist as she never seems very happy…)
I bought the book half a year ago, implemented some of the stuff and I noticed a dramatic improvement immediately (no more orthotics and most important no more knee pain).
Two weeks ago I attended a camp of dr Romanov. It was absolutely fantastic: my running improved a lot with only a few simple changes in technique, plus he has some very insightful views on training.
**deechee **I had the same experience as you. Come to think of it my PF didn’t start until I bought a pair of Nike’s with support for pronation. It could be the shoes or it could have been a increase in mileage at the time.
(I don’t particularly enjoy seeing the podiatrist as she never seems very happy…)
Next time wash your feet before you go, and don’t bite your toenails in front of her.
I stopped waering orthotics when I got a little faster, started landing mid-foot strike, and wasn’t landing so heavily on my high arch, which has fallen over the years, and pronates. Then I put them back in and ran a half-marathon, and had soreness the next day in a hundred places, including my hip and lower back.
I have developed PF in my left foot, but only up in the arch. It comes and goes but hurts like hell on most runs over 5 miles. I bought a treadmill to help, but that wasn’t much help. I’ve never used orthotics and the thought makes me nauseaus. My size 12’s weigh too friggin’ much ALREADY. Why not just pour cement into the boogers? I’m icing and stretching, but to no avail.
Some podiatrist or ortho could get rich if he could come up with a decent solution to this common overuse injury. Meanwhile, we are slaves to our SOLES.
Try posting that question on the letsrun.com forum. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that some people might just need motion control shoes. It’s a lot easier to get away with training in shoes with less cushion when you have very efficient form, have a lighter weight and have put in a lot of miles over the years to build up lower extremity strentgh.
Thanks to everyone - I guess I’ll start by trying to find a book on the pose stuff. Its funny that you mention that your pain is in your aches. Mine started that way and after a month or so of physio, it shifted over to the heel.
I do want to go “mid-foot” as my coach says but then it flares up my achilles. Anyway step1 - book.
Thanks for that web site. I logged on and read the PF thread. I’m continuing to ice and stretch and NOT run for a few days. But, Duke looms…
I think motion control shoes exacerbate the problem. Very cushioned shoes have always been my blessing. I also have very high arches, a real flexible foot, and weigh too much.
After Asics stopped making the Excalibur GT it’s been all downhill, shoe-wise, for me. I’m thinking about trying the overpriced Nike Shox TL, but I already have more shoes than Imelda Marcos.
I had the PF curse for about a year. Everyones different, but night splints and almost religous stretching of my calves cured me. I also tried orthotics. Wore them for a whole year and finally got fed up with switching them around in shoes and ditched them. The next day I ran a 5k and thought someone had injected fire into my achilles and calves! I kept them out though and everything returned to normal.
The stretch I’m talking about is like the normal push against the wall with your hands and stretch your calves except you kind of curl your toes in to form and exaggerate your arch into a high position. This seemed to stretch all the way down into my foot. I’m now currently weaning myself off the night splints one night a week.
I’m doing that stretch, but not with the toe curl. I’ll add that in just for good measure. I’m actually limping around right now because I iced and stretched and the bloody thing is KILLING ME!
My PF is more or less gone, but it does come back sporadically. I also sort of agree with the theory that all this support under our feet doesn’t help. For instance, just today we did bricks, 2x 20km bike, 2km run. The first run set my PF flared up a bit but nothing serious. Second run was fine. I don’t know what brings it on, don’t know if I’m making things worse etc. Right now the bottom of BOTH my feet are a tad sore… This is only my 2nd year training and I’d like to make sure I can keep racing/running long term.
Why do you want to get rid of what solved your problem?
I’ve been running for thirty years, and have done mileage ranging from 35-120/week. What I’ve seen is that very few people are biomechanically perfect, and the less perfect you are, the fewer miles you can run trouble free.
By that I mean both miles/week AND miles/lifetime. I’ve seen people quit running because they say their knees just can’t take it anymore. I’ve also seen people undergo surgery and even knee replacement, all because they didn’t find someone who would point them towards orthotics. I’ve recently convinced a women to get orthotics AFTER knee replacement, because she was experiencing more pain than ever. Outcome: one week later she was pain free for the first time in years.
Properly made orthotics will allow you to forego the break-in period for new shoes, and go comfortably from training shoes to racing flats. If your orthotics have a Spenco type covering, you can race shorter distances without socks.
Personally, I don’t see a down side. I wear them in my running, walking and bike shoes.
That said, posetech.com has some great advice for all runners which might offer further improvement.
