What is Plantar Fasciitis?
It is inflammation of a thick band of tissues on the bottom of your foot that connects the heel bone to the toes. It can become inflamed when overused or over stretched making it painful to walk.
What Causes it?
There are numerous things that can cause plantar fasciitis. These include wearing the wrong kind of shoes, standing for long periods of time, and excessive exercise, and weight gain. Also, having high arches or flat feet as well as a tight Achilles tendon.
Symptoms
- Pain in your heel
- Tenderness of swelling in the heel
- Dull pain or ache especially in the morning but gradual improvement during the day
- Heel spurs
Lifestyle and Home Remedies
- Maintain a healthy weight-to minimize stress on your plantar fascia.
- Wear supportive shoes-buy shoes with a good arch support and shock absorbency, avoid wearing high heels and don’t go bare foot on hard surfaces.
- Replace your old athletic shoes before they get too worn out.
- Apply ice regularly to bottom of feet and massage area .
- Stretch your arches– do some simple stretching exercises of your calf and foot everyday.
- Tennis ball or golf ball stretch-while seated, place the tennis or golf ball under your arch and roll back and forth using the weight of your foot.
Treating Plantar Fasciitis
- Adjustments to the foot and low back: when we experience pain in our feet we often walk differently altering our gait. Therefore, misalignments that are left untreated may cause problems in other parts of the body such as knees, hips, low back and your ankles.
- Graston Technique: Is a non invasive technique that uses small stainless steel instruments. These instruments apply pressure to the plantar fascia working along the heel, arch and up to the calf muscle. It works to break up adhesions and improve blood flow to the injured area.
- Kinesiology Tape: works well in conjunction with other therapies. Tape applied to the bottom of the feet and calf help to decrease the amount of pull on the plantar fascia; therefore, providing foot support and increased blood flow to the area.
Conservative treatments usually improve the condition with time. Treating plantar fasciitis takes time but we often see great improvement and results. Give our office a call to set up a consult with Dr. Cheri so you can get back to doing the activities you love.
https://www.footlevelers.com/blog/how-chiropractors-can-fix-plantar-fasciitis/