plantar fasciitis anyone?

McConkey

Hi all,
was running a 5 mile last week and ended up finishing in a lot of pain, a trip to the doctor and physio revealed plantar fasciitis and so I'm just wondering if anybody here has had any experiences with this. How long did it take to recover? What did you have to do, othotics, injections, surgery? I have (a newly discovered) fallen arch in my right foot which is probably the cause.

It's more often seen in active men from 40-60 but I'm a bit younger and of the female variety, not running too long though so that has probably brought the issue to the fore. In case anybody is wondering: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007021.htm

I have Scholl arch supports that the physio suggested for the moment but I'm in a lot of discomfort, limping the whole time and getting serious darts of pain...this is after a week, I had hoped to be on the road to recovery by now as my plan was to run the DCM this year...what can I do? I was very disciplined for the last few weeks and can't bear to watch it all going down the tubes.... I'll be seeing the physio again on Wed

Racing Flat

Rolling your foot over a golf ball to 'massage' the plantar fascia can be helpful.

PF doesn't always last too long, so fingers crossed.

Running on grass might be easier? And possiby better for your first few weeks back anyhow.

You've loads of time left - training proper for Dublin wouldn't start until June anyhow, so to keep ticking over now would be fine - if it is too painful to run how about aquajogging? Or swimming or cycling to keep you ticking over.

McConkey

Thanks for the advice Running Flat, I will try that golf ball thing and I live near some pitches in Galway where it would be possible to run until I'm fully up to getting back on the road. The physio gave me no exercises the last day, I think she wanted the swelling or whatever to go down first.

I'm starting from scratch on the training so any weeks I miss are a big drop back for me, but I'll just have to pull my socks up Some of the tendons in my heel were inflammed too so maybe once they are ok, swimming will be easier. Went to the pool/gym last week but I think I aggrevated the tendons a bit with the swimming. Hopefully I'll be able to go to the gym this week as last week I was working and just so tired from limping around work all day that I couldn't face it.

Went out for a slow walk today, 1.3 miles approx but it's a start anyway

copacetic

as RF, the golf ball helps but can be painful, I found an ibuprofen gel helped get through it to really iron out the kinks. if you can run ice afterward. generally take it easy while it heals. There are also night splints you can get to stop it contracting overnight. also try wrapping a towel around toes to get a stretch going.

I got it from doing a race in shoes with not enough cushioning, once I got it sorted it hasn't been back, that was 6 years or so ago. Think I was out of running properly for about 3-4 weeks and had to ease back in after that.

Try to track down the cause so you don't do it again, too far too soon, new shoes, etc etc. Look at what you were doing in the lead up to it.

McConkey

Hi copacetic, thanks a million, this all sounds like fairly sound advice and it's great to hear from people who have beaten it.

Using ice and nurofen at the moment but will try to start exercising it as soon as I can. I'm still only running at a fairly low level at the moment, had previously done 4.5 miles + a couple of weeks ago with no problem but the day of the run I was probably going a little faster than usual.

Shoes have been fairly good to me since I got them but the fallen arch which the physio pointed out is the problem and I guess the only full solution for me will be to support the arch with orthotics. Maybe I should look at the runners issue and gait analysis or something.

Orobhsa

Are you doing any stretching? I've found that stretching and self massage to be quite effective. You need to be quite disciplined and do this a few times a day even when the pain has disappeared. One that I found particularly effective is to rest your foot on the opposite thigh and using your hand pull the toes back towards the shin.

Try some of these web sites -

http://www.aafp.org/afp/20010201/467.html
http://medgadget.com/archives/2006/11/new_stretch_rel.html
http://www.rrca.org/resources/articles/plantar.html

I've also read that hill running can put additional pressure on your PF so if you do a lot of hills maybe lay off them for a while.

If you are not sure what type of shoe you should be wearing try to get a gait analysis done.

Don't worry about DCM at the moment. You've lots of time to build up a good base for this.

stmochtas

Little tip I got for this type of injury before was to getting a standard 500ml bottle of water and feeze. Then use it to massage the effect area getting the benefit of ice as well as massage treatment. Works for me anyway.

TFBubendorfer

This was plaguing me for several months last year. It got so bad that I was wincing in pain at each step for the first mile or two at times.

I found that vigorous massage twice a day worked wonders. It's still not entirely gone, on some days I can feel "something" but no real discomfort, and I usually start massaging the foot again when that happens.

McConkey

Great advice here, thanks a million for the benefit of yer experience guys, since ye are running in the big miles categories and have been there with this problem the outlook seems more positive for me. Excellent website links here too so thanks for those.

Looks like the patient has all the control/onus in this case as the stretching, massaging and ice are the way to go-so really it is up to me how quickly I can make this go away, great news

I'm sure the physio will give me exercises on Wed so at least by seeing these diagrams and pictures I will have a better idea what she means. I will ask her about basic stretching before and after running too as I don't really know what I should be doing.

DangerMouse27

Im a bit late on this reply but im glad ur getting good help.
I went through a great training spell and picked up planter facitis in the build up to an indoor race and only now is it gone...but not forgotten.That race was on the 4th of jan ad its been such a long recovery.
There was a time when i just wanted to get that feeling of running properly back again. I now wear supports under my heel for nearly everything and i stretch the s.h.i out of it the whole tme.
Update us and let us know how u get on?

McConkey

Thanks a million Dangermouse27, it seems to be a very common injury when people hit the roads....hopefully all is well with your injury now.

I'll be going to the physio tomorrow so hopefully I'll get some good news re getting the orthotics and find out which exercises I should do-I imagine a number of the ones people have mentioned here will be on the list.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions I'll let ye know how it goes, I'll probably put it in my training log, thanks again

Spins

Thanks McConkey for posting that query. I was just about to post a similar one but a lot of the answers to my questions are already here. Had PF before about 18 months ago, got physio and orthotics and took a months rest to heal but everything has been hunky dory since..... Until two weeks ago!!! Upped my milage too quickly over a hilly course in runners with insufficient support. 3 mistakes in one run, no-one to blame except myself really! Now it looks like I'm gonna miss out on the half-Connemarathon, which I've been aiming for for the last 3-4 months. GUTTED! learned my lesson tho... Won't be so eager again.... Just thought I'd have a little rant there, share my frustration with myself with others... Harrumph!

donothoponpop

I had this problem just over a year ago- got it from first running fast downhills. I got in touch with this guy, who had it and is over it now. He wrote a great article which should help- (helped me anyhow, and its general enough to not be medical.) http://mountain-runner.blogspot.com/search/label/Plantar%20Fasciitis