19/04/2021
Plantar Fasciitis - (Foot Pain)
Plantar fasciitis is an irritation of the non-contractile thick band of tissue at the bottom of your foot called fascia which runs from your heel to the toes.
Doctors once believe that heel spurs brought on the pain. However, heel spurs are calcium deposit due to inflammation at the attachment of the tendons and fascia at the heel bone called calcaneus.
Plantar fasciitis is known to causes pain at the bottom of the foot specifically at the heel. It’s usually described by patients as being worse when you take your first steps in the morning or after you’ve been sitting for a long time. It tends to feel better with activity but worsens again after you spend a long time on your feet.
Your fascia supports the muscles and create the longitudinal arches of your foot. When the muscles and fascia are overly stretched, tiny tears will often occur at the attachment’s surface. This can bring on the inflammation (swelling) followed by pain.
Older individuals have a higher propensity to plantar fasciitis. Other probable causes may include:
-Flat feet though I find many feet are supple which mean the arches is present w/no weight and flat when weight bearing on feet
• Tight calf and hamstring muscles
• Certain exercises like jumping and running may contribute
• Spending many hours standing/walking each day
Common conservative treatments vary:
• Icing the area.
• Night splints / boot that is worn to stretch your calf and foot while you sleep. Lovely!
• Rest the affected area
• Arch supports can decrease the pressure at the bottom of the feet. You can buy custom made ones but the ones sold in regular store works just fine.
• Stretching the muscles of the bottom of the foot, calf, hamstring, groin muscles will help significantly
“Once you begin treatment, you’ll usually see improvement within 10 months. If you aren’t better then, your doctor might try treatments like shots of cortisone, a type of steroid, to ease inflammation. In rare cases, you might need surgery.” WebMD
Reality is that pain occur when the taking first step in the morning or from getting up from extended period of sitting because the muscles at the bottom of the foot cramped. It usual goes away within a few minutes of standing because the body weight is stretching the 3 different layers of muscles in the bottom of the foot. By the way, fascia don’t stretch or contract.
Long term pain lasting several months will often cause more changes and irritation leading to further inflammation thus more changes (damage) in the surrounding tissue.
My experience with this condition has been favorable in achieving relief from pain by providing varied conservative soft tissue treatments.
Overall, find a good clinician that understand why the problem is happening in the first place and have a sound treatment solution in alleviating the pain.
If the continued treatment is not reducing the pain after a month of care, then you may want to re-consider by looking elsewhere.
There is always a reason why pain occur and getting older is definitely not the reason.
Thank you to Google and WebMD for scarring many people with their diagnosis but mainly for not having to personally go to the library to do research on this topic.
As a doctor, I give the most logical diagnosis (ONE) based on exam taken and data provided. Experience is very important to know what is causing the problem. Deferential-Diagnosis is a list (PAGES) of all other possible cause that can be far fetched. Be informed but don’t diagnose.
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