Plantar Fasciitis
Common symptoms of Plantar Fasciitis and Heel Spurs are excruciating pain when you first get out of bed or when you stand following a period of rest. It can also result in arch pain in the foot after you have been standing for a long time. When the foot collapses inwards we see elongation of the foot and “stretching” of the plantar fascia.
A successful Plantar Fasciitis Treatment differs vastly between patients due to their foot mechanics, gait, work environment, footwear, the length of time a person has had the condition etc, and therefore a thorough assessment is required to recommend a treatment plan that will work.
The treatment for a patient who stands all day, has tibialis posterior dysfunction and a medial subtalar joint axis is completely different to a patient who has a lateral sub talar joint axis and hypertonic calf muscles.
Patient education and taking our advice is crucial. You have an injury on a weight baring part of the body. This is not an elbow you can rest while you use your other arm. Unless you are in a position to put your feet up for 6 weeks, you need to take the advice of our Podiatrists and follow their instructions carefully.
If there has been no direct trauma to the heel/fascia (e.g. jumping down some stairs and landing heavily) then it is most likely due to the mechanics of your foot not functioning correctly, it has occurred over a period of time, and the quickest and the most reliable way for us to eliminate your Plantar Fasciitis (Providing it isn’t torn) is to address the cause of the problem, correct the mechanics of your foot and we do this using custom made insoles. It is not just custom to your foot, but custom designed around the specifics of your injury.
What is Plantar Fasciitis?
Plantar Fasciitis is a condition involving the large fascia in the sole of the foot that can cause heel pain and arch pain. The Plantar fascia becomes inflamed and irritated at its attachment at the base of the heel and it can sometimes have small tears. Sometimes Heel Spurs are present, but these are not the cause of heel pain. “Heel Spurs” is a misleading diagnosis that has been used for many years, and this is finally becoming more apparent to most medical professionals. The heel spurs don’t cause the pain, but the inflammation in the plantar fascia surrounding the spur, does.
Plantar Fasciitis symptoms
If you have Plantar Fasciitis, you will most likely experience pain under the ball of your heel. Some patients describe this feeling as a stone bruise sensation, or a pebble in the shoe, and at times the pain can be excruciating. The pain often occurs first few steps in the morning, getting up after prolong sitting, and after long periods of standing and walking. Patients with Plantar Fasciitis may also experience pain free periods thinking they are on the mend, only for the heel pain to come back aggressively when they have done nothing wrong. If your Plantar Fasciitis came on suddenly and the pain is relentlessly intense, you may have plantar facial tears. This can be identified by ultra sound imaging and treatment may differ.
Your Plantar Fascia could be torn
Although most patients presenting to the clinic are already familiar with the signs and symptoms of Plantar Fasciitis, and are usually quite sure that they have made an accurate self-diagnosis, we must still go through a checklist of typical Plantar Fasciitis symptoms during consultation.
There are 3 main areas of tenderness that you will react to when finger pressure is applied to the heel and arch of your foot and in the absence of ultra sound or x-ray (which are not always necessary) this is a reliable method of diagnosis.
Treating Plantar Fasciitis
We have a Plantar Fasciitis Treatment program in place that we will go through and which you will take away with you at the end of your consultation.
You are required to bring a small selection of shoes to your consultation with you, including trainers, so that we can advise which ones are more appropriate for your condition. Wear patterns on the shoes are not as important in these circumstances.
For interstate and country patients we can assess your Plantar Fasciitis and put the treatment program in place during the one visit.