Plantar Fasciitis WTF to Do

[Beasho]

Within 3 months of learning to SUP I contracted Plantar Fasciitis in my right foot.  I am 95% convinced this was related to SUP activity e.g. standing and flexing the feet constantly.

It was so bad I almost couldn't walk (for a day or two).  I got "the boot" and slept with it for a few months and was cured (5 years ago). 

Last fall I it came back but in my left foot.  This has been longer standing.  My right foot is fine and the condition doesn't effect SUP.  I have gone to more lengths this time switching to full soled booties (boots actually) for SUP'ing and traveling with a night boot.  Running has become painful enough to limit the amount of running that I do.

I asked a doctor friend and he just giggled and said "You're getting old dude" . . . thus I turn to crowd sourcing for a solution.

[Night Wing]

When my wife had plantar fasciitis, she was like you. She could barely walk. She went to her podiatrist and he made casts of both feet. Those casts were sent to a company and they made hard plastic orthotics to fit inside her shoes. When she put them into her shoes, they were very uncomfortable for her to walk around in.

Her podiatrist explained beforehand they wouldn't feel nice, but he told her they would work. He told he to wear them for 30 minutes at a time and then take them off for awhile and them wear them again. She wore them longer for each outing and after two weeks, her plantar fasciitis went away completely. She hasn't had this condition return either.

Be advised, hard plastic orthotics are expensive. But once healed, if the condition would return some years down the road, put them back into your shoes and the plantar will again go away.

Once last item. Her podiatrist told her when she gets out of bed in the morning, to "s-l-o-w-l-y" flex her feet so as not to aggravate the tendons under her feet because at her age, if they stretch too quickly, this is one way to get plantar fasciitis. Basically, if the tendon under the foot stetches too quickly, it's almost the same things as pulling a muscle. If you have ever stretched your hamstring too quickly, it's the same thing.

[clinto]

I have had issues already myself at 35. I am 6'4" and my biggest issue was sleeping. My sheets being tucked in at the foot of my bed forced by feet to point out and wouldnt allow them to be at 90 degrees. So i did 4 things and have had no issues in over a year. 1. untucked my sheets 2. used a golf ball under my heal and rolled it around under my heal to massage out the spots 3. stretch my Achilles and calfs daily 4. get a foam roller and use it alot. This may not be your case but it helped me alot.

[Night Wing]

Besides my wife doing her foot stretching exercises, she also uses a rolling pin (the instrument for rolling dough to make a home made pie from scratch). She places the rolling pin under the arch of her foot and rolls her foot on top of it, from front toe to the back of her heel and back again continuously for 5 minutes. This is another way to stretch the tendon under the foot slowly.

[WhatsSUP]

Beasho: About two years ago I got PF in my right foot....excruciating pain especially when getting up in the am and touching foot to floor first thing in am!!!  All total, it took a good 9 months or more before I was fully recovered.  Friggin brutal!

Here's what worked for me.
- stretch a lot....several times a day, use frozen/cold bottles/cans of stuff and roll back and forth for a good 5mins plus each session several times a day
- DO NOT walk around barefoot!  wear well supported/arched shoes/sneaks at all times.
- drink a good bit of water everyday
- invest in orthopedic insert (in soles).  a foot doc can (computer) map the contours of your foot and send off to have made which takes a couple of weeks - I was still active duty when I got my two pair so free fortunately.  I remember how F'up'd they each felt the first time I wore them in boots and sneaks. takes some time for your feet to adapt.

Probably not telling you anything you don't already know....in the end, if all else fails go to a good foot doc.

Good luck!

 

[SUPcheat]

I have a strange notion that PF isn't always about injury.  I think it may be a localized autoimmune reaction to a viral cross reaction or irritant, just based on general principles and listening to people talk about it.  Often, it becomes bilateral, which would support the immune theory.  It also seems to come in waves when groups of people suddenly come down with it.  Why it occurs locally in the foot like that, I wouldn't know.

It really hurts and is disabling, but it seems that it usually resolves by itself in 3 to 9 months.  I had it once.  It started on one side, then went to the other.  I was lucky, and it went away by itself in about 4 months. I hear of guys who undergo surgery for it, which I wouldn't recommend.  It is terribly frustrating for active people, but patience and analgesics seems as effective as any therapy.

[yugi]

Besides my wife doing her foot stretching exercises, she also uses a rolling pin (the instrument for rolling dough to make a home made pie from scratch). She places the rolling pin under the arch of her foot and rolls her foot on top of it, from front toe to the back of her heel and back again continuously for 5 minutes. This is another way to stretch the tendon under the foot slowly.

or a golf ball

[Beasho]

I have a strange notion that PF isn't always about injury.  I think it may be a localized autoimmune reaction to a viral cross reaction or irritant, . . . but patience and analgesics seems as effective as any therapy.

If I am not patient should I take the RED or the BLUE pill?

And can I buy them on Amazon?

[Bulky]

Don't really have much to add to the remedies that have already been given other than to say I've had episodes of PF.  Most recently it's come during seasons where I've really been pushing it to rack up miles so I imagine there's some connection between long periods of whatever strain my foot is under for those extended periods of time.

Maybe mine isn't that bad because I've never let it stop me from going out even if I need to be grabbing onto the wall for the first steps out of bed.  The remedy I've landed on is rolling a baseball/lacrosse ball for about 10min all around the tender spots and then ice.  Really seems to help quickly.  That, and I also do try to remember to move my feet around and shift my weight to different places on the foot during my paddles.

[SUPcheat]

I have a strange notion that PF isn't always about injury.  I think it may be a localized autoimmune reaction to a viral cross reaction or irritant, . . . but patience and analgesics seems as effective as any therapy.

If I am not patient should I take the RED or the BLUE pill?

And can I buy them on Amazon?

It isn't an authoritative information, just an observation.  A few years ago, when I got my PF, it seemed like everybody was getting it.  Guys at the gym were loudly talking about it all the time, some were crippled for a while. It was like everybody I knew had PF and were going to orthopods and chiropractors for it.  Then, a year later, radio silence.  That suggests an epidemiologic infectious pattern rather than a bunch of people all getting hurt at the same time.

Feet are very tough, but the most used and abused of appendages.  They also have a very disproportionately large representation in the sensory homunculus of the brain. They are tough, but if they hurt, then they really hurt.  They are also closed, tight compartments, which means that very small amounts of inflammation can feel big.

Autoimmune reactions provoked by an infectious entity often will "cross over", meaning, if one side of the body has the reaction, there is a tendency for the opposite corresponding body part to also react, even if there is no infectious or irritating agent there.

Anyway, it is just idle egghead speculation. Not much help for the suffering.

We live in a blizzard of viruses.  Some pass through without notice, some cause flurries, some cause hurricanes.  Some viruses have strange patterns of cross reactivity with body tissues if they provoke immune responses.

[Billekrub]

There is a towel scrunching exercise that has not been mentioned.  Using the toes with foot placed on the near side of a small towel, gather the towel over and over by flexing with the toes and using them to grab more and more of the towel, assuming they still recommend this.

One time many years ago I resolved a mild case by doing a three-flex stretch of the lower leg:  knee bent, ankle bent with heel on floor and forefoot on wall, and toes bent.  Flex knee more and more and bring it in closer to the wall and lower, putting tension on all three joints, but be cautious at first not to aggravate achilles tendon or other; esp. do not do this with knee straight!!!

Trail running in the hills will prevent lower leg problems, assuming one is not already hurting; as it forces the foot to achieve the full ranges of motion.  Road biking using a spinning style preferred by the adept does wonders for the lower leg in general.  Could also spin on MBike or in a gym or gym spinning class.  Avoid the high torque methods they sometimes use--keep rpm up above 90 if you can.  My experience was for recovery from running soreness by doing long bike rides in the hills, three hours and more.  Be sure to stretch out calf muscles afterwards, maybe, while still warm.

Have heard someone recommend a heel lift in shoes.  Would also try met pads (metatarsal pads) on bottom of shoe inserts, just because they feel good in general--I perceive that these pads curl the forefoot a bit, taking some load off the PF, just my guess.  Met pads are occasionally seen in the drug stores but can be ordered easily online (as compared to the conventional arch supports which are everywhere).

Staggered foot stance might also take a load off the feet while balancing on a sup, even a couple inches.  Then, switch feet from time to time.

[pdxmike]

I have a strange notion that PF isn't always about injury.  I think it may be a localized autoimmune reaction to a viral cross reaction or irritant, . . . but patience and analgesics seems as effective as any therapy.

If I am not patient should I take the RED or the BLUE pill?

And can I buy them on Amazon?

You'll make progress with either one, but don't take one of each, or you'll end up marooned.

[Dwight (DW)]

You surfing a different board with different deck shape?

I'd worry about any minor change that may have brought it on.

My wife got PF from a dumb round bottom sneaker design some marketing nit wit created.

[WhatsSUP]

hmmmm....additional note, come to think of it was it (in my case) getting a bit older (now 55) or the fact that it occurred when I started SUS'ing a couple of years ago?  (I'm a goofy foot and it afflicted my right/lead foot)....doesn't matter.

Even now, I NEVER allow my feet to to go to prone position (extended in a way to elongate body) when I sleep.  I tend to be a stomach or side position sleeper and to extent possible either keep my feet supine (tucking them in between bed frame and mattress making a 90 degree position) or trying to mimic 90 degree foot position if on side...I find extending my feet/toes elongated is asking for cramps/trouble.

 

[TallDude]

I'm dealing with it right now. It's both my feet and have been going on for close to 2 years now. It ebbs and flows. The boot sucks. I can't sleep in them. The sock my friend used has a strap that goes from your toes to your calf. He swears by it. I haven't bought a pair yet? The untucked sheet at the foot of the bed helps. Stretching your heels as you get out of bed helps. Rolling a ball under foot helps. My domed deck Icon doesn't help. My flat decked boards help. I just got orthotics that I move from shoe to flip flops. Has a velco dot that keeps it in place on my sandals. It is helping a lot, but the pain still comes and goes.

http://www.goodfeet.com/  $350. for a pair of orthotic inserts.