Walking miles in bike shoes after a mechanical on the Death Ride resulted in plantar fasciitis in my right foot. A trip to my Dr confirmed this and x-rays ruled out other issues. Now I streatch and roll the hell out of my foot, apply Voltaren Gel (dicofenac sodium) and sleep with a brace. While the first step in the morning pain has subsided, I don’t feel like the PF is getting much better. I still bike but have cut out running for 4 weeks now.
So, any tips from those who have been here before?
Walking miles in bike shoes after a mechanical on the Death Ride resulted in plantar fasciitis in my right foot. A trip to my Dr confirmed this and x-rays ruled out other issues. Now I streatch and roll the hell out of my foot, apply Voltaren Gel (dicofenac sodium) and sleep with a brace. While the first step in the morning pain has subsided, I don’t feel like the PF is getting much better. I still bike but have cut out running for 4 weeks now.
So, any tips from those who have been here before?
Thanks
Dave
I think there are as many different PF tips as there are sufferers. That said, here are mine:
I was told it would take 16-18 months for it to go away, regardless of what I tried. That was about spot-on, one day it just stopped hurting, and that was that. Whether, or not any of the things I did had any effect on the situation is difficult to discern. Still, I found one thing extremely helpful, and I continue to employ it - in ALL of my shoes I wear the Superfeet dress insoles. The sports insoles did not give me the support I needed. I use the hard plastic dress inserts in my cycling and running shoes, too. They work well in the running shoes because they are only half size, so the foot still bends as it should.
The other thing that provided nearly immediate relief was the “Strasburg sock”. Same concept as the boots that keep your ankle bent while you sleep, without the discomfort. My pain was decreased substantially in just 2 nights of using the sock.
The tennis ball didn’t help, but a hard lacrosse ball did. I rolled it under my foot at the office and at home. I also have an ultrasound machine that I felt provided relief.
I did all of these things the whole time I had PF. The symptoms would come and go but never go away completely. Then one day they just did, disappeared and have never resurfaced, but I still use those superfeet dress insoles every day. They’re in my shoes right now.
I have been having the PF problem for about 5 months now. I stretch it well before I get out of bed, and roll a golf ball under it while I work during the day. I stopped running for 2 weeks when I first had the problem and it didn’t get much better. I couldn’t stand not training as I had a full season of tri’s on my agenda. I just deal with the post run pain. Sometimes I can hardly get out of bed in the middle of the night. Once I get going (half mile or so)it becomes bearable. I have noticed that now I am focusing on running and running more, the pain seems to be getting better (or I’m just more used to it). I guess what I’m saying is, I have the same problem and it does not go away over night. Just really stretch and then stretch some more. I think that running more has actually helped to loosen things up a bit and I think I’m on the road to recovery. I completed six tri’s this season and I made it through even with the pain. Who knows, maybe I’ll run faster when it gets better. Lord knows I could use a little help with my run times. Just my .02 plus a little more.
When you use a hard ball to roll, don’t just roll your foot. Roll you calve and really dig deep into it. This really helps take care of it. I have had some problems with it in the past and I notice this really helps keep it at bay.
Also have you gained any weight in the past few months? I was told as little as 5 lbs might help contribute to getting PF.
My theory is shoes with room to more the heel back when you plant cause it to stretch and causes PF. Walking barefoot more seems to help. Of course this is a home remedy to use at your own risk.
Interesting! This is in direct conflict with almost advice every doctor has given me. In fact, I definitely had more pain when walking barefoot. Same with any shoes with no support, like sandals for example.
I have a pair of Sole flip flops I wear from the time I walk in the house after work and I leave them by my bed when I go to sleep. I also use the inserts in my work shoes and training shoes. I don’t wear them to race. Not really sure why, I just feel better racing without them. Barefoot hurts me too so I avoid it as much as possible.
Tape it. I was off running a few weeks, then I taped my foot with athletic tape and could pick up running immediately. I taped it with four stripes, about like this.The idea is the tape takes the burden off the plantar fascia. http://heelspurs.com/tape.html
Walking barefoot is not a good idea as long as the plantar fascia is inflammated. When it heals it´s a good way to improve strength in the foot arch and toes.
I feel your pain! I broke my foot January 19 of this year while running. Totally sucked as I was on a business trip in the Middle East. After 8 weeks in a hard cast, I was super excited to go run. After getting on the treadmill, I had unbelievable pain in the arch of my “Good” foot. I did everything to fix the foot problem. ART, traditional Chiro, Trigger Point, animal sacrifice, you name it! The ART guy noticed a slight pronation problem that hadn’t been picked up before. He gave me some exercises to strengthen the stabiler muscles around my foot. I also changed shoes to something with a lot more stability. That kind dealt with the longer term “Root” of the problem.
For day to day pain, it seemed I needed to make sure the Soleus and calf got released. This meant rolling it out at night and in the morning. I use the trigger point gear. The chiros taught me how to do Chinese cupping massage. Its kind of like vacuum massage, the cup pulls the tissue out, rather than forcing it against the bone. Still hurts, but more manageable. Chiros also taught me to scrape the arch and inside of my foot. I use a chinese soup spoon. It makes a lot of noise and also hurts, but gets the adhesions in the Plantar to release. Lastly, I use a micro stim machine that chiros programmed specifically to repair this type of injury. I thought micro-stim was total hocus pocus bullshit. They convinced me to just use it for a day and to keep running the program. By this time, it was June. I could run, but would be crippled that night and the next day. I tried the stim machine at work with no results until the next day. First pain free run in what seemed like forever. I still have to keep the maintenance up or it gets tight and starts to hurt, but I can run!
I also don’t go barefoot, always use orthotics, don’t wear flipflops etc etc.
here is what helped me.
Poland springs water bottle frozen constantly roll foot over it. Hit the calve too. Get good insoles. Put your foot on your knee while sitting in a chair or floor. Dig your fingers hard into the bottom towards the ankle and a little forword seperate the muscles with your fingers and then massage. I did for about 4-5 weeks and have not had it 2 years. Think the key is early detection and early intervention.
Had for 10+ months last yr mostly, kept running on it and tried EVERY listed treatment.
Only thing i feel finally helped, was 2 weeks no running, massage/ART work on the calf affecting it and switched to Nike Free 5.0 shoes for virtually all walking (or zoot sandals in house). Once over the hump, was able to fully run, took maybe 4-6 more months to feel same as other foot.
Still use Nike Free 5.0, Zoot sandals in house + Strasbourg Sock if feeling calfs are too tight. Last week felt other foot get little tender under arch, but now i know warning signs and how to treat.
I had another person recommend the same book. I always have a pain somewhere. I think of it as a positive sign of training. As long as it is pain and not injury, training is suppose to hurt a little, right?
Now go the next step and get some orthotics with a good arch support and heel support (cupped heel area) and wear those all day long in all of your shoes. When you start to add running back in, you don’t need to run in these.
When you do begin to run again start with 5 minute runs, no joke. No more than that at first. Then never increase your run volume by more than 10% per week.
Right now I use orthotics in my running shoes and I wear them as much as possible. I use the PT ball and calf roller at night and first thing in the morning. I have always had tight calfs and try to streatch them as much as I can. If gaining weight is a problem that I am in trouble. I have put on 5 lbs because I have not run in over a month. I have my diet dialed back so the weight gain has stopped but with no running it will be hard to take off. I hope to see a specialist but my Dr wanted me to wait a few weeks before he gave me a referral to physical therapy.
I will try a few of the ideas you all put to see what works.
You will find dozens of threads about PF and about the same amount of remedies. Ultimately, what works for one person might not work for you. I’ve struggled with PF in my left foot for probably 9 months now and keep it at bay by rolling my calf and the sole of my foot with a regular rolling pin (the kind you’d roll dough with) and do stretches every night. My foot is a little tender on those first few steps every morning, but once I get moving, it’s okay, and for running after about a mile, I don’t feel it any more. It’s much less noticeable for me than it was 6 months ago before I started doing anything about it, but I have to keep on top of it.
I just put one fourth strip of tape on top of the no 3 in the picture, but actually I taped them in another order, so that I taped the picture´s no 3 first, then 2, then 1, then a number 4 along the inside of the foot.
Rolling: Use a golf ball or tennis ball instead of a water bottle. I feel like the decreased in contact area btwn foot and ball allows u to apply more pressure and get better results. I used to keep a bunch of golf balls in freezer to get the additional ice therapy benefits while rolling.
Inserts: Birkenstocks “Blue” footbeds. They are 3/4 length. These are made out of a cork/rubber blend and conform to your feet. They are AMAZING. PF went away about 3 months after i started wearing these (in running / biking / street / dress shoes) after suffering for about a year. I now use Superfeet (because i got two free pairs) but the birkenstocks are much better. Too bad some crackhead stole them from me along with my cycling shoes that are probably now in a dumpster somewhere because said crackhead realized after he stole them that walking in cycling shoes is not the easiest thing to do. Anyway, link to birkenstock ‘blues’ is below…if you have a high arch, get the ‘heeled’ version, if medium/low, then get the ‘casual’…