Plantar Fasciitis

CandyButcher

Can anyone recommend a good physical therapist to treat chronic Plantar Faciitis?

Ive seen a too rated pediatrist and he has put it down to tight calfs and glutes. Ive been stretching religiously past 7 months and on orthotics. Ive a gut instinct its never gonna go away doin what I'm doing. Ive a feeling there something else causing this in my body be it back glutes or hips something else!

From what I've read in other people experience they find they waste money on physios

markmoto

CandyButcher wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a good physical therapist to treat chronic Plantar Faciitis?

Ive seen a too rated pediatrist and he has put it down to tight calfs and glutes. Ive been stretching religiously past 7 months and on orthotics. Ive a gut instinct its never gonna go away doin what I'm doing. Ive a feeling there something else causing this in my body be it back glutes or hips something else!

From what I've read in other people experience they find they waste money on physios

Along with physios have you looked into your diet ?

CandyButcher

markmoto wrote: »

Along with physios have you looked into your diet ?

No, my diet is fairly ok I eat alot of protein as I lift weights 4 times a week. What did change though was around the same time this came on me I had gained 2 stone within 8 months by making homemade high calorie protein shakes, maybe the extra weight has caused it, I just assumed ah well its not all fat so its no harm but I could be wrong weight is weight at the end of the day

bduffy

I used to have a lot of pain with this condition, but now use compression socks from Amazon and it works! Cheapest option and worth a try......?

CandyButcher

bduffy wrote: »

I used to have a lot of pain with this condition, but now use compression socks from Amazon and it works! Cheapest option and worth a try......?

Pffffft, glad these worked for you but I've gone through all the Gadgets. Socks, splints, €500 orthotics, straps, taping, and im sure theres more im forgetting my latest is massage gun. The feckin money these things cost you with no results

Im just putting this out there incase anyone else had it and happened to visited a good PT that actually outs time into analysing your movements flexibility etc oppose to treating everyone the same and printing off calf stretches

markmoto

CandyButcher wrote: »

No, my diet is fairly ok I eat alot of protein as I lift weights 4 times a week. What did change though was around the same time this came on me I had gained 2 stone within 8 months by making homemade high calorie protein shakes, maybe the extra weight has caused it, I just assumed ah well its not all fat so its no harm but I could be wrong weight is weight at the end of the day

Plantar Fasciitis is inflammation, removing certain foods from your diet (perhaps temporary) will boost healing processes (e.g. protein shakes, milk, sugar, fruits etc)

tipping

CandyButcher wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a good physical therapist to treat chronic Plantar Faciitis?

Ive seen a too rated pediatrist and he has put it down to tight calfs and glutes. Ive been stretching religiously past 7 months and on orthotics. Ive a gut instinct its never gonna go away doin what I'm doing. Ive a feeling there something else causing this in my body be it back glutes or hips something else!

From what I've read in other people experience they find they waste money on physios

I've been through this whole Plantar fasciitis thing and it is horrible. I'm a pretty keen runner and developed PF after coming back from a different foot issue (on the same foot) that had me not running for a few months. Then after a while noticed the classic symptoms, pain in the morning etc and kept running away until it got to a point where it was affecting daily life, (walking, kicking a football etc was a problem).

At that point I stopped running and starting the whole golf ball internet recommended thing for a few weeks/months which did little or nothing.

Then I tried the local physio (it was still kinda lockdown, so the local PT I go to was out of action). Got diagnosed tight calfs etc and given loads of exercises for calf strengthening/stretching etc along with the actual physical therapy which was the ultrasound machine, mostly focused on calves and the actual area of inflammation. Went through about 6 weeks of this, religiously following the exercise schedule several times a day and made zero progress (apart from greatly improving long standing underlying calf weakness).
On the last session with the physio (who could clearly see I had lost all faith) she prescribed orthotic insoles, Vasyli McPoil which I popped into my daily runners. But having spent >€500 with actually no decrease in pain I was done with that particular therapist.

At this point things started to improve a little. I definitely noticed that the orthotics made a difference straight away. Even an hour barefoot or in shoes without the orthotics and my foot was noticeably sorer.

A few weeks later I got back to my old trusted local PT. He reckoned straight away that the problem was actually in the foot. There was a lot of tightness in the foot the whole way from the heel to the big toe and started working the area from the big toe back towards the heel. Recommended I try a few runs again on grass, short and very easy and really tune into the pain levels, noting down exactly what every run felt like and where the pain was. Did a nice warm up focusing on the foot pre-run and iced using a frozen bottle afterwards. Started doing this every 3 days for a couple of weeks, but had definitely noticed an immediate improvement (no where near fixed).

So once I had some improvement I became fairly obsessed, was recommended and purchased Ooofos for wearing around the house. Again instantly liked them, just felt like it took the pressure off the foot. Didn't wear anything except my runners with orthotics or Ooofos for months.
Went back for more PT every 2 weeks or so, again all focused on the foot, gradually further away from the bit toe and more towards the arch. Gradually started to increase the running to 35 minutes every 2nd day, always on the premise that pain levels were decreasing not increasing, any version of an increase led to a back off.

I reckon I had maybe 4 or 5 sessions over 2-3 months with the PT in total and really had a direct linear improvement over the time. Increased frequency and distance running over the next few months gradually where I'm now running 7 days (~45 miles) most weeks and am free of the curse. I still maintain the foot by regularly rolling it out whenever I feel even the slightest twinge.

About 6 weeks ago I just started feeling a little less comfortable in the orthotics all of a sudden one day. The following day when out for a run, they just started chafing around the arch, so I stopped, took them out and haven't worn them since. Similarly I'm a lot less fussy about my choice of footwear around the house etc (still like the Ooofos though)

So I suppose my summary is that for me a single change didn't fix this. It took lots of iterative changes and listening to the body. If you change something and you don't feel an improvement, then maybe it's not for you. Everything that I changed that made a difference in the end I could feel the difference within a few days. For all my initial criticism at the time of the 1st physio, they did supply me with the orthotics which was the start of the healing journey and the calf strengthening has paid off in general with the running.


Best of luck with it.

CandyButcher

tipping wrote: »

I've been through this whole Plantar fasciitis thing and it is horrible. I'm a pretty keen runner and developed PF after coming back from a different foot issue (on the same foot) that had me not running for a few months. Then after a while noticed the classic symptoms, pain in the morning etc and kept running away until it got to a point where it was affecting daily life, (walking, kicking a football etc was a problem).

At that point I stopped running and starting the whole golf ball internet recommended thing for a few weeks/months which did little or nothing.

Then I tried the local physio (it was still kinda lockdown, so the local PT I go to was out of action). Got diagnosed tight calfs etc and given loads of exercises for calf strengthening/stretching etc along with the actual physical therapy which was the ultrasound machine, mostly focused on calves and the actual area of inflammation. Went through about 6 weeks of this, religiously following the exercise schedule several times a day and made zero progress (apart from greatly improving long standing underlying calf weakness).
On the last session with the physio (who could clearly see I had lost all faith) she prescribed orthotic insoles, Vasyli McPoil which I popped into my daily runners. But having spent >€500 with actually no decrease in pain I was done with that particular therapist.

At this point things started to improve a little. I definitely noticed that the orthotics made a difference straight away. Even an hour barefoot or in shoes without the orthotics and my foot was noticeably sorer.

A few weeks later I got back to my old trusted local PT. He reckoned straight away that the problem was actually in the foot. There was a lot of tightness in the foot the whole way from the heel to the big toe and started working the area from the big toe back towards the heel. Recommended I try a few runs again on grass, short and very easy and really tune into the pain levels, noting down exactly what every run felt like and where the pain was. Did a nice warm up focusing on the foot pre-run and iced using a frozen bottle afterwards. Started doing this every 3 days for a couple of weeks, but had definitely noticed an immediate improvement (no where near fixed).

So once I had some improvement I became fairly obsessed, was recommended and purchased Ooofos for wearing around the house. Again instantly liked them, just felt like it took the pressure off the foot. Didn't wear anything except my runners with orthotics or Ooofos for months.
Went back for more PT every 2 weeks or so, again all focused on the foot, gradually further away from the bit toe and more towards the arch. Gradually started to increase the running to 35 minutes every 2nd day, always on the premise that pain levels were decreasing not increasing, any version of an increase led to a back off.

I reckon I had maybe 4 or 5 sessions over 2-3 months with the PT in total and really had a direct linear improvement over the time. Increased frequency and distance running over the next few months gradually where I'm now running 7 days (~45 miles) most weeks and am free of the curse. I still maintain the foot by regularly rolling it out whenever I feel even the slightest twinge.

About 6 weeks ago I just started feeling a little less comfortable in the orthotics all of a sudden one day. The following day when out for a run, they just started chafing around the arch, so I stopped, took them out and haven't worn them since. Similarly I'm a lot less fussy about my choice of footwear around the house etc (still like the Ooofos though)

So I suppose my summary is that for me a single change didn't fix this. It took lots of iterative changes and listening to the body. If you change something and you don't feel an improvement, then maybe it's not for you. Everything that I changed that made a difference in the end I could feel the difference within a few days. For all my initial criticism at the time of the 1st physio, they did supply me with the orthotics which was the start of the healing journey and the calf strengthening has paid off in general with the running.


Best of luck with it.

Glad to hear your recovered from the misery of this condition. Ooofos Are amazing I want to go to work in them. Im only ever in Ooofos or my orthotics and im shattered every day m. Getting desperate now prepared to leave my pediatrist and see a PT to examine the rest of my body.

Do you recommend your PT for this? Would you mind passing me there details please

gabbo is coming

Hi

I've developed a really bad pain in my heel, struggling to put any weight on it. Can PF impact the tip of the heel?

Gremlinertia

When i had a dose of it (doctor diagnosed) it was totally my heel, felt like it was on fire and immediate pain on bearing any weight.. Physio helped me out.

kevthegaff

I had it, horrendous for a few years. I milk cows so I'm on my feet for a few hours a day. Anyway I used to say the insoles would never work, eventually I bought them pain was so bad. Couple of weeks later just got better and better. A year since insoles in the wellies, I'm perfect. I haven't rolled my ankles either which was frequent too which could have been related

koppy

I had suffered for well over a year. Was recommended 2 things which worked for me. Firstly, Amatsu therapy and then FCE scan.

The amatsu changed my pain from been constant and pretty much unbearable to bearable and not there all the time. The FCE scan and the excersise given as a result worked for me. Within 3 months was totally pain free.

who what when

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120083972#Comment_120083972

Wellies would be just about the worst thing to be wearing for anyone with PF as there's just no support whatsoever.

The only thing i can add to what's been said so far is when your PF is acting up use ice for the inflammation. It's not a cure in itself but certainly helped me.

Sugar_Rush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117549900#Comment_117549900

What exactly was the PT doing in each session? Hands on work or exercises?

Reflexology style technique? Basically working the muscle across the sole segmentally?

Sugar_Rush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120083176#Comment_120083176

The last sentence, what did they do or techniques did they perform to help you out.

Sugar_Rush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120177268#Comment_120177268

Mind me asking what exercises you were given?

iamwhoiam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120177268#Comment_120177268

I was going to recommend Amatsu then read your post .

Cartman78

From my experience (~10 years) with PF the only thing that has helped to manage it has been weighted heel raises.

Tried all the gadgets (rollers, socks etc) but nothing else ever really worked.

I actually volunteered for a pilot study a guy was doing in UL on Plantar fasciitis and the heel raises were a key part of his research.

Fwiw my opinion is that once you get PF it never really goes away so it's a journey of managing and dealing with it.

Link -https://www.exakthealth.com/en-US/blog/plantar-fascia-strengthening-exercises