Plantar fasciitis, how can you heal your heel. The pain from plantar fasciitis can ruin your vacation, it can also ruin you every day living. There are real things you can do for plantar fasciitis.
Plantar Fasciitis
What is plantar fasciitis? You may not even know what plantar fasciitis is. I didn’t until I started suffering with it. I woke up in the middle of the night with my heal just killing me. It wasn’t both heals just the right one.
You use your feet everyday, so, you will notice if you develop this problem. It all starts so easily. You innocently get up one morning and as you put your feet to the ground, pain shoots through your foot.
Plantar Fasciitis
Fascia is a fancy word for a band of connective tissue that connects one part of the foot to another part. The heel and toes have to be connected to help with movement.
When the fascia becomes strained or over stretched we begin to have pain.
Most people experience pain deep in the heal. Others have pain in the arch and even extending to the toes.
So, maybe you are like me, I am going on a big trip this year. I decided that I don’t want to be miserable the whole time I am in Europe, walking and site seeing. I actually like a treadmill more than walking outside. South Carolina is muggy in the summer and hot, walking just turns me into a puddle of water and miserable. In February I got on the treadmill at 6:00 am and started my new goal.
After about 3 weeks of this activity I started waking up with pain. In the middle of the night I had a dull aching in my arch.
After seeing a PTA he told me I probably had Planter Fasciitis, “UGH!”
During the day when I was on my feet the pain would not bother me, then at night the dull ache would start again.
Causes of Plantar Fasciitis
How do we end up this way? I thought I was doing a really good thing and I was, for my heart. Some of the things that cause us to develop plantar fasciitis,
- Overweight
- Sedentary
- No stretching
- Shoes without supports
- Standing long hours
- Age
What’s a girl to do right? We can control some of these problems but not all of them. Let’s talk about the things we can take care of.
What Can I Do To Heal The Heel?
Now that we know what plantar fasciitis is let’s talk about healing the heel. Can you heal the plantar fasciitis? Yes you can. Through some diligent work and a couple of aides you can heal your heel.
- Stretching is something that is often neglected during exercise. If you have not taken the time to do some stretching to warm up your feet, you may easily injure your foot.
- Shoes are one of the most important thing. If you are flat footed or have a high arch you are more at risk for plantar fasciitis.
- Weight gain, obesity and or excessive weight carried around by your feet spells t-r–o-u-b-l-e. Not just for plantar fasciitis.
- Age is also a factor in developing this problem.
- Some exercises that are mostly using body weight as resistance.
How To Heal Your Heel Pain
Steps To Take
Stretching
We do not take stretching seriously enough. As we age our ligaments and tissue becomes less flexible. You can only imaging standing on your feet all day without stretching the connective tissue on the bottom is a problem.
Stretching the plantar fascia is easily done, by isolating this area.
Stretching to prevent plantar fasciitis involves the Achilles tendon on the very back of the foot as well as your calves. Take the time to stretch before you leave in the morning, before you exercise and after you exercise.
Stretch if you have worn heels all day and your foot has been in a semi-relaxed position pointing downward. Most wedges and heels point our toes downward. Stretching the plantar fascia involves pulling the toes toward your body.
Shoes
It is no coincidence that your plantar fasciitis got worse during the summer months. Guess what, summer time is when you exchanged your shoes for flip flops or you decided to go barefoot.
Flip flop and bare-feet are pretty much a no no when you are suffering with plantar fasciitis.
No arch support, NO GOOD. That will have to be your motto now.
Summer time is also the time we are more active and decide to run, jog or even walk a little more. Maybe we got out last years shoes, or maybe they just do not offer enough support.
Now is the time you will have to take a serious look at your shoes. You don’t have to wear ugly orthopedic shoes. You just have to find good shoes and sandals that offer support. The brand I have found for sandals are called Vionic.
VIONIC WOMEN’S SANDALS
Vionic shoes have arch support and take pressure off of the plantar fascia. Sandals, to me seem to be more of a problem. We do not like to give up the freedom of summer shoes and with these you do not have to.
Walking, running or jogging shoes have to have arch support. It is recommended to replace shoes like this every 6 months. I am not so inclined to do that, but I do not put that many hours on my runners. It is something you will have to watch.
Inserts
If you do not want to replace I highly recommend inserts. Here is why. The elevate your heals a little in your shoes and alleviate some of the pressure. The are multiple kinds of inserts. These are the one I like the vvery best.
- Heal Seats are my number one choice. They helped alleviate my heel pain immediatly. I bought brand new runners and my heels were still killing me, but after 4 or 5 days of wearing these during my 10 hours days the pain went away.
2. Samuri inserts are my second choice. The only problem I have with these is how much room they take up in the shoe.
3. These are also very, very good. The think I like best about my first choice is the way they sit in the shoe. These insert do a good job of adding to the arch and offer that proper alignment for your feet.
Inserts will help your plantar fascia to heal and offer the support you need to prevent further injury. Almost all the companies offer risk free opportunity to try them out. So you have nothing to lose.
Weight
I wish I had a magic pill for weight loss, but I don’t. I do know that is you lose 10% of your body weight everything improves. Including plantar fasciitis, knee pain, back pain and more.
It may be worth it to see a specialist about this. Weight loss can be helpful for blood pressure, diabetes and reflux. So, don’t hesitate to seek help.
Age
Some thing you just can not change. Age certainly is one of those things. Plantar fasciitis is more likely to strike at age 40-60. For all the reason we already talked about. For instance, flexibility, weight, being on our feet long hours, etc.
Some Exercises
My doctor says there are just some things I should not be doing anymore. Pounding the pavement with my body is one. It just leads to stressing your feet in multiple ways. Now that is not to say it’s the same for everyone. It’s just every time I start running I have a problem. There are lots of alternatives for exercise.
Plantar Fasciitis, How To Heal Your Heel Pain
Some Classic Treatments
- Rest
- Ice
- Heat
- Stretching
- Anti inflammatory NSAIDS
You Can Do It
It will take time and effort, but you can do it. Be proactive in preventing it and be diligent in healing.
Plantar fasciitis does not have to prevent you from having a good time. It doesn’t have to ruin your vacation.
Take the measures you need to and use the different techniques to keep it at bay.
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