Treating chronic plantar fasciits: My answer to someone who has battled plantar fasciits for years.
|Below is a real response I gave to a recent runner who reached out to me with a case of chronic plantar fasciits.
As always, Dr. Campitelli recommends consulting a physician prior to starting any exercise program and the information provided here is not recommended to be advice in place of seeing your doctor for a medical problem.
Thank you so much for reaching out and I will try to do my best to answer this. Dealing with chronic planner fasciitis is a tough situation. It is not uncommon for patients who come to see me with chronic plantar fasciitis to have already been told to not go barefoot, wear orthotics, and wear stability motion control running shoes. I make a point that it’s pretty simple, if they have been doing this for 6 months to a year and now they’re here seeing me, then it’s probably not working so its time to try something else. I see this scenario over and over again. I’m not saying the orthotics are bad or that the motion control shoes are bad, the problem is they should only be temporary. I do not treat chronic player fasciitis with orthotics or shoes. I will use them in acute situations where the patient needs to be off their foot but when the condition is chronic the foot needs to be strengthened. In this situation my advice to you would be that you need to learn how to function and walk and run again while dealing with this pain or inflammation. I’m assuming that you don’t have a fracture or acute situation occurring. What I tell my patients is to begin barefoot activities a half hour each day. I also want them doing calf raises, towel curls with their toes, and any strengthening exercises for the foot arch and lower extremity. I stress that these need to be performed barefoot. When you perform these in a shoe you will cheat and not isolate the muscles to your lesser digits and arch. Many times when performing calf raises with shoes on you will perform this on the ball of your foot meaning the great toe joint and eliminate using all the other muscles that control your toes. The idea is that you want to strengthen the musculature in your calf which supplies tendons to your foot and toes creating a more stable base for your foot. Even though these muscles are in your calves, they supply the tendons to the arch of the foot and toes which are very crucial in maintaining a stable base of support. Here is a link to a video I recently posted on YouTube demonstrating strengthening exercises for runners. When you begin feeling stronger and have less pain I would advise doing these three or four days a week.
The other point that I mentioned is learning how to walk again. Our society has been tainted with shoe gear in that it allows and creates a different gait of ambulation for us. Our bodies were designed to walk and run however not with shoes on that have high heels and arch supports. When we walk in shoes with higher heels we tend to have a different gait and stride in that we swing our foot to get the heel to clear the ground and land on our heal. This translates into taking longer strides which increases the impact force on our foot and more importantly to the heel with each step. When I’m describing this two patients in my office, I make the analogy that it’s almost as if you’re walking on ice. You want to take short steps and try not to accentuate your stride length. This will decrease the impact forced to your foot.
Another scenario that you want to try to do is when standing do not lean on one foot and then the other foot in attempt to give the opposite foot a rest. You want to stand with your feet approximately shoulder width apart and with a gradual forward lean to your midfoot and forefoot. We were in shoes that have a slight angle or increased heel height, we tend to lean backwards to accommodate for this and put more force and pressure on her heels eliminating the muscular contractions of our foot and lower extremity.
In summary, you need to learn how to walk again, run again, and function in a manner that will strengthen your foot. It’s going to take time for this change to occur and for you to see a reduction in pain. It may they take 4 to 6 weeks before you start to see a difference however you should begin noticing changes in your symptoms. Keep in mind that while performing these activities and lifestyle changes you will still need to wear shoes. In other words if you’re going barefoot and functioning when doing these exercises you may want to complete the rest of your day and a pair of cushioned shoes to give your foot rest. Remember when you hear the statement that going barefoot strengthens your foot, it also works your foot harder. So it does help to rest the foot the remaining portion of the day with a shoe. Eventually you will become stronger and not need to rely on a shoe as much.
Well said doc!
Dear Nick,
I’m a Norwegian two-time Olympic runner (13.06 5k back in ’04) as well as an MD like you. I have been following your blog for a while and want you to know that I’ve added you to a list of the Top 100 Running Blogs for 2014 on my small personal marathon blog.
You are there, and deservedly so, in spot # 16 :
http://www.marathontrainingschedule.com/blog/awesome-list-top-100-best-running-blogs-2014/
My blog is quite new and certainly not as established/medical oriented as your site, but I try to share quality, inspirational posts with my readers.
Keep up the wonderful work. If you ever want to get in touch to discuss running, do not hesitate to do so.
Kind regards,
Marius Bakken, MD
Marius,
Thank you so much for the kind words and for placing me in the number 16 spot of the top 100 running blogs! I will do a post soon about your site and link to it! Thanks again and I will keep in touch to discuss running!
Dear Doctor Campitelli,
I’m most often either barefoot or wearing minimalist shoes (Merrell Wonder Glove). I’ve stopped wearing shoes with support or arch support. Due to pain in my heel-area, I feel I need to see a podiatrist. I’m having a difficult time finding a ‘barefoot-friendly’ podiatrist in the Los Angeles-area. A recommendation from you would mean a lot to me. Would you be able to help me with this?
Best regards,
Janet
I had a bad case of plantar fasciitis; don’t think I would call it chronic, but it was close to that. The problem accelerated when we put in wood floors and I was still trying to walk barefoot. Then I got some orthotic sandals and the problem started to go away. Took some time, but that was the turning point.
Even now I’m leery of the PF coming back. I’m a big fan of orthotics now, although I seem to do fine with OTC ones instead of custom ones. Every one is different; that’s one of the reasons why the problem is so tough to overcome.
I still run, but not as far or often. And I maintain a 300 mile limit on running shoes. That helps a lot also.
All is true. Orthotics can help but sometimes we don’t know why. Many times is because they are cause the person to walk differently. Yes, OTC and custom have been shown through peer reviewed studies to be no different in cases with plantar fasciitis. Thanks for reading!! Feel free to comment, question, etc
Dr. Nick
Thank you for yet another refreshing article! I have flat arches (collapsed arch) and was alway put in stability shoes for running. Three years ago I started experimenting with barefoot running. No shoes at all and yes, the first few months the weak ankles were sore but eventually the pain went away as they became stronger. Seven months ago I developed plantar fasciitis. The doctor I went to told me that I had to wear orthodics which I have only worn for 5 minutes. I am hoping that like my ankle issue, the plantar will eventually become stronger and the pain would go away. What is your take on it? I must also say that I have cut down my weekly mileage by 1/2, have been icing and stretching and have avoided any uphill running which seems to have helped greatly. What is your take on this?
I live in Columbus, Ohio and don’t seem to find any doctors who agree with me on the barefoot/ minimal shoe running when it comes to injuries. I am thinking if the PF doesn’t resolve within the next few months to come and see you in Akron!
thanks for reading! PF takes time to respond. do lots of strengthening exercises as tolerated. the one leg hops help for runners. they’re on my youtube page. also focus on toe raises. make sure you do all this barefoot. shoes will compromise isolation of the muscles. you’re fine to run up hills if it doesn’t hut. and don’t forget to rest! good luck!
dr. nick
Very interesting article. I am in my mid 40’s, flat feet, and I have been suffering of plantar fasciitis for about 3 years now. My family doctor gave me a cortisone shot the first time. After about 7 months it came back so he sent me with a podiatrist. This other doctor gave me some very expensive custom orthotics and another cortisone shot. He said it would never come back… Six months later it was back. I went back to my family doctor and this time he took and x-ray and he saw a very tiny heel spur (hardly visible in the x-ray at the time) and said that was the cause… another shot and off I went. Another six months… same thing. So, basically I have been repeating that cycle for all these years even though I still use the expensive orthotics except for running.
I am a runner and have been for years. I used to play soccer in my youth (lots of it!). So, I have tried different things that seem to make it better, stretching being the best I think. I have also tried barefoot running (my family doctor said I was crazy but did it anyway). Not sure if I am wrong; but they seem to improve the pain, specially stretching. Barefoot running helps; but sometimes it returns with a vengeance if I over do it (if I run more than a mile or so). The other thing I tried was to get minimal shoes (Altra) and run with a small heel support in them and I have even gone back to run 8 to 10 milers with no issue.
So, my question to you is, is it possible that this pain is not really caused by the spur itself but by the lack of strength/flexibility in plantar fascia? Or also lack of a better gait in general?
Thanks for reading! Your thoughts are correct. The spur is an incidental finding and is not directly related to plantar fasciitis. The condition itself is secondary to overuse and inability to heal in chronic cases where the overuse continues. It’s difficult to resolve as we are on our feet daily all day long. By strengthening your abductor hallucis muscle you will decrease the likelihood of developing plantar fasciitis. Also, by reducing your running in structured cushioned shoes with elevated heels, you can develop a midfoot strike pattern which can decrease your chance of developing this condition. Good luck! Again this is general advice and I can treat over the internet!