Plantar Fasciitis

[Jeff Lebowski]

I suffered from that for years. Finally stopped messing around with regular docs and went to a podiatrist and got surgery, cortisone injections, and orthotics. I am healed.

[Pelado]

First, thank you for the input.

I'll work in some additional calf stretches. I actually started doing some calf drops on the stairs today thinking that a little stretching combined with exercise might be good.

I've got a massager I can try as well and see if it helps.

So - what can I do as far as exercise in the meantime, and what will aggravate it and keep it from healing?

Running sounds like it is out. Or is a slow jog OK on a very limited basis?

Does cycling cause issues, or is that a better plan?

Or should I just stick with walking and swimming?

I've got a tri I'm signed up for the end of July and would love to not take the next month or 2 off completely. But I could see just swimming and cycling, or very limited running, etc.

Thanks again for the advice!

I deal with a few different problems with my feet - collectively I call it "too fat for my flat feet." I've had a lot fewer problems since getting orthotics (to copy Jeff). I've also found that cycling helps - it's a low-impact way to increase my activity level (which is nowhere near doing a triathlon, biathlon, or even just an athlon).

Probably better not to run or jog, but if you end up doing it anyway, be sure to stretch really well before and after.

[hostile]

I suffered from that for years. Finally stopped messing around with regular docs and went to a podiatrist and got surgery, cortisone injections, and orthotics. I am healed.

I think your experience is the rare exception with this issue. I agree that if symptoms haven't improved for years then something else needed to be done (and probably should have been done sooner in your case).

As far as activity goes, this is an inflammatory process. Healing / recovery needs to allow the inflammation to decrease. Walking, swimming, cycling, elliptical are all low impact and should be OK. Back off running and jumping until symptoms improve.

[Eddie]

Thanks for the input everyone. This was a whole new thing for me, I'm hoping it's just because I hadn't done much for a few months and then got out running again - too much too soon.

[Eddie]

Thanks for the input everyone. This was a whole new thing for me, I'm hoping it's just because I hadn't done much for a few months and then got out running again - too much too soon.

Went to see a sports med doc a little over a week ago.

He says I didn't have any inflammation - but I do have some scar tissue behind my heel. So I've been given some stretches and exercises to do. They tell me the stretches are OK, but it's the exercises (heel drops, mostly) that will do the most to break up the scar tissue resulting in pain. Says if I don't notice a difference in 3-6 weeks it might be time for some formal PT and scraping.

Can't believe this has been going on since before February!