Just diagnosed the pain in my heel/arch of my foot. It seems I have Plantar Fasciitis.

No vertiginous strappy party shoes for me this Christmas 🙁

Anyone else had it, how long to heal, and what exercises/treatment? I've got an appointment with a biomechanical podiatrist next week, but just thought I'd ask here first.

I had this in my right foot in august. I was training to do the cross morecambe bay 1/2 marathon at the time. Couldnt do it in the end. My best advice would be to rest it as much as possible! My foot was quite painful for about a week and after that started to feel better. I didnt go running for 3 weeks, then when I did start back took things really easily, not running very far at all (2 to 3 miles).

If you look on the internet you can find some stretches that are suggested, I didnt find this of any particular benefit if i'm honest though. I would reccomend getting some insoles for the shoes you wear everyday, so that the arch of your foot is supported.

Have you recently increased the intensity or duration of any exercise you do? This is the most common explanation behind why people develop plantar fasciitis.

Loads of people seem to have had that lately where I work. Collegue had it for several weeks and is now careful what she wears on her feet and how often, as she does not want to trigger it again.

Just upped the mileage on the bike, training for the Strathpuffer, More hilly rides so out of the saddle honking in stiff soled shoes that seem to make it ache the next day, also a bit more running. So increase in exercise is probably the trigger.

Seem to be getting lots more inflamed tendons and ligaments this last year or so, maybe just my age…

podiatrist will give you exercises and advise you on what footwear not to buy in the future, mine also gave me footbeds to wear inside my shoes which are ace.
no Plantar Fasciitis now.
took a couple of weeks to go properly after my first visit.

Possibly useful info: (just found out about patient.co.uk this morning)

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Plantar-Fasciitis.htm (for us)

http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Plantar-Fasciitis.htm (for docs)

http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/27001341/ (for those of simple minds, after a quick squint)

…advise you on what footwear not to buy in the future.

No Louboutin platforms for me then 🙁

"No vertiginous strappy party shoes for me this Christmas" – replaced with mbt shoes instead, you'll look great at the xmas party 😉

re increased aches and pains, i'm with you on that and i'm a few years younger than you. i put it down to my over training in May, i think training hard takes a lot out of you, and you've been pretty ill as well so your body might not be up for the increase in training? have to say, i think running really highlights any muscle imbalances/niggles i've got (i mentioned on mleh i've got a new running injury too) and i'm going to get my physio to give me a "pre season" check where he will assess strength and flexibility for both biking and running so i can try to spot any potential problems before they strike… might be worth doing in your rest/reovery time from this?

hope you heal soon. xx

Thanks Claire 🙂 Just done a bit of reading and it might be precipitated by my tight hamstring and lower back on that side. Will see what the podiatrist says. Might need to see a physio too… or even just do my proper stretches instead of being half arsed and lazy about it…

ages. i think we maybe had the 'i can't run because…' conversation the last time i saw you but if not the short version is all around the fascitis. hamstring definitely involved, particularly related to cycling. see what your podiatrist says. get stretching!

Yessir, Swisssir! 🙂

jojoA1.

make sure your podiatrist is HPC qualified before you go.

if you would like some advice after seeing him/her then dont hesitate to mail me.

Thanks for the advice FatMutha, I think he's well qualified, says on his website that he's one of "the few Masters in sports injury qualified podiatrists in the UK" and def HPC qualified.

Check your calfs as well – my PF was caused by this (plus other reasons).

Took a while to go. You'll need to be super patient and get used to rolling a frozen bottle up and down the sole of your foot!

Why worry? One tends to lose all sense of feeling in the 'Puffer 🙂

I had this and could hardly walk the morning after a football match the day before. I tried a series of calf, hamstring and achilles stretches and this only seemed to ease the pain when it was tight, also tried massaging the foot with ice several times a day… that didn't really help too much. I had a good amount of time off with a broken collar bone and this seemed to help however once I started exercising again it came back.
I found in the end the solution was to get a pair of insoles with arch support (Orthaheel sport orthic from boots ~ £15), this took about a week to start working but now I do not get any heel pains.

epicyclo – Member
Why worry? One tends to lose all sense of feeling in the 'Puffer

Cycling is the one thing that doesn't hurt at the moment. I just wanted to be able to run to do some cross cardio training.

Not looking forward to numb extremities.

jojoA1

How have you got on a couple of weeks down the line?

I've literally just done something to my left foot over the last couple of days (and the symptoms look exactly like it's Plantar Fascitis), I've recently been spending a lot more time on my feet than normal, been doing quite a bit more walking too, but not that much cycling to be fair. Don't think that about 4 hours straight dancing last night has helped much either as it bloody kills right now!

Anyway, how's it healing? I can't walk without a severe limp at the moment, and reckon I'm going to struggle to get anything done about it before Christmas because my local GP usually has a week long waiting list to see its patients! So any advice? It's a fairly sharp pain that maifests itself an inch or so in front of my heel bone when I'm stood on it, and I can't seem to get away from it without actually not standing on it.

I've had PF on and off for about a year. Tried everything mentioned above – i do yoga and pilates, use a foam roller on my leg, golf ball on my arch, orthotics (courtesy of the NHS), strapping it up at night etc. Still won't go away. It's never been as bad as the initial stabbing pain though, so i can manage it pretty much fine.

I didn't even bother with seeing a GP as I know it would be a 6 month wait for a physio appointment and I'd just be told to rest meantime.

Went to the podiatrist who strapped it up and gave me some orthotic insoles. This relieved the pain in my arch but has brought on all sorts of other aches and niggles in my ankles and shins while my posture adjusts. I was told to keep the strapping on for ten days, it fell off after two, so I have improvised by doing a search on the internet for strapping instructions.
Appears to be improving but I can still feel it niggle now and again. I have avoided any impact type of exercise.
Follow up podiatry appointment in early January so will see what he says then.

low dye taping (what he probably did to you) only is proven to work for a few hours(ok for sports applications to help with pronation/pain etc) so ten days is pretty optimistic!
what orthotics did he sell you? how much?
just interested is all..?
did you break your orthotics in gently? i'd suggest one hour per day (approx) if you are getting niggles i'd suggest backing off the orthotics and introducing them gently again to see if it makes any improvement.
wearing functional orthotics makes your muscles fire at different points within the gait cycle so introducing them gently helps your muscles get used to it.

OK thanks jojo

So how did you know it was Plantar Fascitis for definite then without seeing a GP? Know what you mean about just being told "to rest" as that's been the story of my life over the last few years I reckon… GP's say that just to cover their arses of course, but we'd all be unfit and obese and never leave the house if we followed their instructions! Rode the Megavalanche then subsequently played the remainder of a cricket season with a hairline fracture in my Scaphoid (wrist bone), though to be fair I didn't know it was fractured until after the Mega (I'd done it just before I went out there though).

Planning on avoiding any impact exercise for as long as is required now (though I would like to be able to play cricket again come April), but have you still been ok riding your bike? Obviously the one thing I don't want to have to miss is riding my bike!

Gonna have a look for my local podiatrist now on the internet… Reminds me actually, got chatting to a woman in a bar a few months ago who does it for a living! I was taking the piss out of her asking if she was a foot fetishist and did she suck toes as an extra etc… Better go apologise if I can find her I suppose! 😉

I was taking the piss out of her asking if she was a foot fetishist and did she suck toes as an extra etc

oh my god with the feet we get in clinic that the last thing we'd want to do..blurgh 😯

with that sort of injury a gp will tell you to rest as its commonly an overuse injury, not arse covering.
PF is generally worse straight out of bed in the morning. and dorsiflexing (bending upwards) the big toe whilst palpating the PF should give you a positive diagnosis. its inflammation of the pf caused by tiny micro tears when the pf is stressed due to one thing or another overuse/pronation/change of activity/increase in weight etc etc

Yeah cheers fatmuthhubbard, I have gained weight recently (not much, maybe 3/4 of a stone), but then I've needed to as I was a bit of a scrawny bugger! I've also been doing a lot more standing around (been doing a bit of part time work involving hours on end on my feet) of late, and more walking than normal.

But I've hardly been overdoing anything! Not by a long stretch… All I know is that at the grand old age of 29, I reckon I've had far more things go wrong with my body already than the average person does in an entire lifetime! Who do I see about getting an exchange or a refund? 😉

I work in a hospital, so was able to ask a few different doctors about diagnosis after I'd googled 'heel pain' and ruled out other conditions.

The initial orthotics are included in the first consultation. They were ones he made up there and then with wedges that he shaped with a dremmel! At my subsequent appointments he'll assess me for what I think he called 'cast' orthotics. I was quite impressed that for £80 I get the first appointment/assessment, the first orthotics and strapping, then two further follow up appointments.

Oh, and yes, I've been riding my bike. It's doesn't seem to agravate it.

£80!

OUCH

To add to the pain I'm jobless at the mo and rather skint… Gonna have to try some heath robinson methods I think, or bully the GP into actually providing a decent course of action for me on the NHS that doesn't just involve me sitting on the couch and nothing else for the next 6 months…

Get a cold coke can and roll your foot over it a few times to stretch it. Little and often works well. Healing time could be a week up to forever.

jojo,
ouch thats pretty steep. in my clinic we do all that for £23!!!. also going on those prices your cast orthotics will probably be very very expensive (they'll cost him/her ~£60-90 max to send off for and retail around £100-200 depending on how much he wants to charge and IME very often unnecessary.

We try to get our patients to use cheaper products first and if they cure then either ween off until all is good (in the case of an overuse injury) or then manufacture a more permanent/custom made orthotic if needed

Google orthaheel pain reliever or vasyli products and you can try these things for around £25 and IME work more often than not, they wont look as spoofy as they're not flashy carbon but they work and are comfy, worth trying if your're on a budget or just have an overuse injury.

oh and do as goan says with coke can or golf ball or baked bean can staight from fridge, did pod person recommend any stretches also?

Are you doing the pf exercises?

OK a side thought on this

On and off I have arch pain. It was bad around Easter. I read that cycling in bendy shoes (on flats) wasn't helping. So i went back to rigid shoes and err toe clips, as I don't have any clipless at the moment

I'm considering a new bike this year. In general cycling in stiff shoes is fine but on saturday in the cold it didn't feel quite right, particulary stood up over rough bits. Do you think FS would help here….

Jojo

Any updates on how you're getting on?

I've done quite a lot of the recommended stretches, been using a golf ball on my foot etc. The morning pain started to go.

Not been doing too much walking, or standing around either. But I have been riding my bike a lot, with clipless pedals, which if anything has helped matters! Seems with the ball of my foot resting on the pedal, every time I make a pedal stroke I'm stretching my foot nicely. Pain is all but gone for the time being anyway 😀

How come I've not seen this thread sooner? I've splashed out £190 on the consultation and two sets of custom EVA orthotics. The first set didn't seem to help much but I went to see him again (all in the original price) and he's put a more extreme varus tilt on them which seems to have done the trick. He said to me that it wasn't worth trying off the shelf solutions as I'd already tried YourSole heat moulded units and was still having trouble (although I think they postponed it for a while). I've also got really good flexability in the calf so the strretching or leg braces isn't going to help (so I've been told). Also, it seems I've got one leg 6mm shorter than the other. He's also trying to correct other issues that I didn't even know I had and were not bothering me! let's hope he's telling the truth.

I've got two boxton water bottles in the freezer which i roll my feet on. They really help but things do seem to be getting better with the new orthotics. Maybe they are expensive but if I think, it's £200 to not feel that pain anymore, it's money well spent.

I'm now on a mission to try and correct my cycling shoes with a sheet of LDPE to try and get a varus tilt in there and make up for the leg length discrepency. My podiatrist has said it's not worth trying to solve the cycling side of things scientifically because of the amount of moving around on the bike while riding. His advice was chuck a few wedges in. If the outside of the foot hurts, add another, if the inside, take one out.

Does this manifest itself as a pretty sharp ache along the arch of your foot, slightly on the inside?

Yes, but most obvious symptom is pain in the heel first thing in the morning, or after a long bout of inactivity. Pain clears after a few mins. Walking becomes complete agony after a few miles, especially on the heels and the sides of the feet like you say.

I had physio for months and had to do various stretching exercises in between my visits to the physio. Was also referred by the physio to a podiatrist who advised me to try some standard inserts from Boots and see if they worked before lashing out hundreds of quid on specially made ones. I also got the Specialized inserts and wedge thingies for cycling – they really helped too.

A combination of this stuff fixed it for me – mine was a particularly long lasting case according the physio, and it took about 6 months to clear.

Hmmm, sounds like something I had in the summer. I had whatever it was for about 2 weeks and it was a pain in the arse. Ruined my holiday, but could still ride a bike in carbon soled shoes despite being unable to walk 500 yards.

My pain was in my feet rather than my arse, but I was glad the podiatrist saved me from splashing out on the expensive inserts. I'd put up with it for a while before getting it looked at, and the time spent with the physio was defo worth it. The physio was ace – hats off to Worsley Physio clinic!

speaking as a private practitioner and obviously without seeing any of you custom orthotics should be last resort for PF IMHO + experience.
as stated before i very very very very rarely need to resort to my patients forking out for custom orthotics as most off the shelf vasyli/orthaheel products will (and have) do the job just nice. esp when it comes to PF.
onza, be a bit wary about varus wedges in your cycling shoes, adding/removing degrees of varus under the forefoot (the area of loading when cycling) is vastly different to adding them to the rearfoot for when walking and could lead to joint pain (did he mention forefoot varus a bony fixed deformity or supinatus a soft issue correctable deformity, maybe try to increase the distance between the cleat and the bottom of the shoe by 4-5mm (plastic spacers/longer cleat bolts) thus keeping the perpendicular cleat to floor angle instead of using angled wedges….

mine was a particularly long lasting case according the physio, and it took about 6 months to clear.

unfortunately it can often be a 12-16 month timespan.

Well after the last few days of XC skiing (still not running, though wouldn't be anyway at the moment given the chance to ski) which should cause similar stress on my feet, I'm pleasantly surprised to find I'm still symptom free. Has been 8 months for me so far. Mine isn't classic symptoms – have never had heel pain, just pain in various parts of my midfoot from arch to the top of my foot (it keeps moving around), but if it's not quite the same thing it's very closely related – physio agreed it was probably plantar faciitis.

I have been to the podiatrist, but only to get a renewal of my normal footbed prescription (got checked out, but he reckoned nothing had changed and if anything my flexibility was quite decent). I have used "soft" orthotic canted footbeds for running (and skiing) for many years now – a lot cheaper than what other people are getting at only £25 a set, but given they wear out I suspect they actually cost me more in the long run! I suspect one of the original causes was using footbeds which had worn out and were no longer giving me the correct support – that along with having got unfit and put on over a stone in weight yet still trying to compete at the same intensity as I used to. Don't use my orthotics for biking – they wouldn't help much given the cant is in the heel, not the forefoot – instead I'm a fan of Specialized BG insoles, which do seem to work, and apart from when initially injured I've not had a problem biking.

Anyway, feeling a lot more confident now that there is light at the end of the tunnel – having not run properly since October has undoubtedly helped a lot.