Plantar Fasciitis is one of the most common causes of heel pain – which is curable.
What is Plantar Fasciitis?
The Plantar fascia is a long, thin ligament that lies directly beneath the skin on the bottom of your foot. It connects the heel to the front of your foot, and supports the arch of your foot. It is designed to absorb the high stresses and strains we daily place on our feet.
Often, plantar fasciitis develops without a specific, identifiable reason. Sometimes, it can be a change in the amount of load or repeated stress that can cause a tear or damage to the ligament. If this happens, then the tissue will become inflamed and you will experience heel pain. This is known as Plantar Fasciitis.
Risk Factors of Plantar Fasciitis:
- Tight calf muscles – making it difficult to flex your foot and bring your toes towards shin
- Obesity – increases load that is placed on the ligament
- Very high foot arch
- Repetitive impact activity – such as running, sports specific
Symptoms of Plantar Fasciitis:
- Stabbing pain in the bottom of your foot that is worse in the morning;
- Stabbing or aching pain triggered by long period of standing;
- tenderness or swelling in the bottom of the foot, near heel region
Treatments of Plantar Fasciitis:
- Physiotherapy that targets the tightness of calves muscles and the ligament – Plantar Fascia
- Taping or orthotics that takes the load off the plantar fascia
- Exercises to relieve pain associated with plantar fasciitis
- Decreasing or temporarily stopping the activities that aggravates the pain
- Avoiding the activities where the foot pound on hard surfaces – such as running
- Continue exercises to maintain mobility and stability – such as swimming or cycling which takes the load off the ligament
- Icing the area around heel and bottom of the foot to reduce swelling
- Rolling your foot over the iced bottle
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication to reduce pain and inflammation
Visit our Insta/Fb to see exercises related to Plantar Fasciitis!