Treating Plantar Fascitis

Planter Fasciitis is the occurrences of heel pain commonly occurring in adults. The disorder conventionally brings severe pain in the heel area of the foot during the first few steps of the day. Planter Fasciitis is a common foot disorder, which is easily curable if treated at early stages or right at the onset of symptoms. The main cause for this pain is collagen degeneration and chronic inflammation at the origin of planter fascia at the medial tubercle. The degeneration has a similar characteristic to chronic necrosis of tendonitis. There is a loss of collagen continuity. Planter Fasciitis is also sometimes referred as “heel spurs” which is widely a misleading term.

In treating Planter Fasciitis there are a lot of treatment options that include giving rest, stretching and strengthening of the feet, changing your pair of shoes, providing arch supports, night immobilizing of the foot, ortho-medicines acting as anti-inflammatory agents and in severe cases even surgery. Treatment of Planter Fasciitis takes a long time - 6 to 18 months. Rest is one of the best remedies to this ailment. However, this is not feasible seeing the lengthy tenure of the treatment. Therefore, the best strategy would be a treatment plan where the patient is provided alternative forms of activity to those which would aggravate the symptoms. Making the patient aware of the causes would further help the cause. Planter Fasciitis occurs due to increase in weight-bearing activity, increased intensity of activity like running or walking on hard surfaces or worn shoes with limited heel support.

If you are suffering from plantar fasciitis, here are five tried and tested steps that will help you to reduce the pain in your heels:
Step 1: Decrease You Movements:

Try putting minimum stress to fascia with limited movement of your body. The more you will be on your feet higher are the chances of rupturing the fascia, which would only increase the inflammation and result in more pain. Instead of running or walking you should try biking or swimming. Try using the stairs as less as possible. Avoid hills. Never carry or lift heavy load and reduce your activity in general for at least two weeks or till the pain reduces. Then a gradual return to your routine will be possible.

Step 2: Ice massage is an excellent pain reliever. Roll your arch over a frozen water bottle for 20 minutes.

Step 3: Stretching of calf muscles as an exercise should be a matter of your daily routine.


Step 4: Anti-inflammatory medication like naproxen or ibuprofen will help reduce the pain and inflammation.

Step 5: Always use shoes that support your heels. Do not move about barefoot.