Do you suffer from pain in your heels? Keep on reading to discover what Plantar Fasciitis is and how we can help you! Reading this article can make the world of difference to your foot pain, and can get you on the road to "heeling".
Plantar Fasciitis is one of the most common foot problems that people attend their Podiatrist for.
There are numerous "remedies" out there for Plantar Fasciitis, however with proper assessment and management from a Podiatrist, pain can be reduced long- term.
Why Should I Seek Care?
- Ongoing Plantar Fasciitis pain can have detrimental effects on physical foot, leg and body health.
- Mental health can be affected by ongoing plantar fascia pain.
- Painful feet can reduce physical activity thus day- to- day activities such as exercise, cooking, cleaning, dog walking and catching up with friends can become challenging!
- Seeking care for your plantar fasciitis early can have financial benefits as treatment can be shorter, less complicated and less expensive.
- If Plantar Fasciitis is left untreated, often areas in the lower limb or back can become painful through mechanical compensation
- It is important to seek help for your heel pain, as not doing so likely results in pain elsewhere in the body
Benefits of seeking Podiatric care:
- mental and physical health can be promoted through comprehensive management of heel pain.
- Activities that make you happy are able to be enjoyed after your pain decreases.
- We can help to stop your pain before it gets worse.
- Your whole body is assessed and any risk factors for other conditions can be discovered and advice given.
- It is financially better to seek care rather than suffer and then require longer treatment times or more expensive treatment modalities.
- Your pain will be reduced faster through seeing care with a Podiatrist
Get your Plantar Fasciitis under control with management and advice from a professional. Stop investing in treatments, shoes and insoles that do not work.
Keep reading for 3 hints and tips that might change your heel pain forever:
1. Invest in good quality, supportive shoes. Footwear can either help to support your feet if they are quality, or require your foot to support them if they are a low- grade brand.
2. Stretching your calves is an easy way to lower your risk for Plantar Fasciitis and help to reduce pain. Calf stretching helps to alleviate the stress from the plantar fascia, so it is not requiring extra stretch to move your legs forward when walking.
3. Before you get out of bed in the morning, write a word with your feet. This helps to gently stretch the plantar fascia and begin "warming it up" so that your first step is not so painful.
Interesting fact: "heel spurs" are not the same as Plantar Fasciitis. Heel Spurs are a bony addition to the heel bone (Calcaneous) and usually do not cause any pain. Rather, Heel Spurs usually sit deeper within the bottom of the foot and often do not contact the Plantar Fascia.
Treatments we offer at Foot Body Sole for your Plantar Fasciitis:
Treatments offered to every patient differ according to each patient's individual presentations, lifestyle and pain levels.
1. Taping and padding to support the foot and help with correct alignment. Utilisation of padding and taping can reduce stretching of the plantar fascia throughout gait thus reducing load and pain.
2. Recommendations of Plantar Fasciitis socks or ankle sleeves to reduce pressure further and provide support at all times when walking. These compression socks are available in clinic and also help to reduce swelling in the ankles, feet and plantar fascia.
3. Anti- Inflammatory agents (oral/topical) such as Voltaren and Nurofen can aid in reducing pain and the body's response to tissue stress thus reducing pain. We recommend anti- inflammatory use with care and only in conjunction with other treatments.
4. Dry Needling, stretching and massage particularly of the calf muscles can help to unload the plantar fascia and stop stretching. If calves are tight often stress on the bottom of the foot increases as the leg and foot work together to help you walk.
5. Ultrasound/Laser therapy is utilised highly by us when plantar fasciitis is painful. Both work in different ways to mediate the body's inflammation (reduce pain), to help blood flow and to promote cells in clearing out toxins.
6. Shockwave therapy is proven to help Plantar Fasciitis by restarting the healing process. Often in chronic plantar fasciitis pain, the body is cannot progress to the final stage of healing and Shockwave can be used to "wake up" the tissues.
7. Interferential therapy can be used after plantar fasciitis pain has reduced, to wake the muscles up that have been dormant during the pain process. Waking up muscles involves reconnecting the nerves in the leg muscles to the nerves in the brain. Strengthening is then able to occur more effectively and we are able to get you back to activity quicker.
8. Footwear assessment and education. Often, people wear non- supportive shoes by mistake. Wearing shoes with good fixation, slightly inclined heels, supportive soles and solid heel counters will act to reduce the stress on the plantar fascia.
9. Orthotic therapy is often a good option for treatment of plantar fasciitis as the devices work with the feet to support them and reduce biomechanical stress on the tissue. We prescribe orthotics of different types and at different price points at the clinic and always use orthotic therapy in conjunction with other treatment modalities to get full, holistic healing.
10. X- ray and diagnostic Ultrasound are modalities that we refer off for if we suspect additional problems or if a patient is in excessive pain.
11. We will take you through home management modalities such as rest, ice therapy, compression, elevation, stretching and massage so you can work towards healing your plantar fascia between appointments, as pain reduction is a team effort.
12. Finally, we will offer rehabilitation for the leg and foot following pain reduction. We will help you return to the activities you love.
13. Additionally, our enthusiastic Chiropractor Dr Nick is available to help any pain in your body and if you have pain in your legs or back that is contributing to your plantar fasciitis, we can all work together to achieve a happier body!
If you are suffering from any heel pain and it's "keeping you on your toes", we have many different modalities to help you get back on your feet! We are experts at helping reduce and eliminate heel pain, come in so we can help
Follow these 3 steps to help resolve your foot pain!
Step 1: Congratulations! you have read this article and are now more informed about plantar fasciitis. It's now time to put your "best foot forward" in finding pain relief to bring you back to activity.
Step 2: Think about your risk factors for heel pain and follow the 3 hints/tips to increase your comfort, as stated above.
Step 3: If you pain still lingers, come on in and see us so we can use a variety of treatments personalised to you to get a "foot in the door" of pain relief.
Click below to make an appointment today.
Foot Body Sole:
82 Bridport st, Albert Park, VIC
1800 778 316