Foot/Heel Pain Issues

I'm another person with Plantar Fasciitis in one foot. Plenty of free advice online about stretches and possible splints you can put on at night (and they're only around $10) and cushioning/arch support daily. All the videos will tell you as others have commented --- takes months to cure but you can do it for little money and perseverance with stretching IF that is the issue. There are very telltale signs.
 

jlhog said:
I would try another podiatrist, but I have seen 3 doctors and they all came up with a different answer. And they all charge me without fixing anything. I have had the same issues with doctors about other things happening to me and pretty much give up on medical "professionals"
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I suggest Orthopedic Dr. for your problem, as you've seen already 3 different doctors with no answer.
He/She orders X-ray and MRI(may or may not) for an examine of your exact foot issue.
If he/she found an exact nature of your foot problem, he/she provides you treatment option.

I fractured a heel of my right foot and have been under Ortho.doctor's care.
It takes about 16 weeks to heal and walk normally again, but may take longer due to my advanced age which I don't mind, because I'm basically 'Home-bound' person sewing and reading, cooking, etc.
 

jlhog said:
Here is the largest bump on my left heel. There are several smaller also, but hard to see. These are on the back of my heel. If any of the doctors mentioned bone spurs, none said what to do about them.
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that looks like a corn. I had something similar in the middle of my foot. There’s a hard center, which makes it feel like you have something in your shoe or you’re walking on a stone. Once my corn was removed, the area was a bit tender for a couple days, then blessed relief!

I’ve also dealt with plantar fasciitis. The game changer for me was arch support! I bought a couple pair of special insoles with arch support and then replaced all my regular insoles with the new ones, switching the supports between shoes as I wore them.

Bought arch support slippers. Found flip flops (which I wear a lot in the summer) with an arch support footbed. Took a couple months, with exercise and a steroid shot, to eliminate the pain, but I’ve had zero trouble since!
 
gruntlabor said:
My plantar fasciitis comes and goes. At the first sign I get out my best support shoes, slip in a soft insert, and wear them exclusively. The pain will fade away until I can remove the support shoes and I'm okay until the next time.
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Mine has come and gone over the years, too, @gruntlabor, and I do the same thing. I have a stash of those specialized slip-on inserts—the ones with a hard plastic bubble for extra instep support—on hand for when I get a flare-up.
 
Nathan said:
There's no quick fix, took 8 months to get past the pain.
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That's what I'm finding.
Ronni said:
Bought arch support slippers. Found flip flops (which I wear a lot in the summer) with an arch support footbed. Took a couple months, with exercise and a steroid shot, to eliminate the pain, but I’ve had zero trouble since!
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What brand of flip flops has an arch support footbed Ronni?
 
@jlhog, I had a lot of heel pain & was diagnosed with a heel spur. The x-ray tech showed it to me when she finished & it looked like a perfect rose thorn that looked to be about 1/5 of the width of my heel bone. My doctor recommended OTC shoe inserts & if it continued being a problem she was going to send me to a podiatrist.

My acupuncturist, when I told her about it, said that was most likely what was causing my sciatica. She did the following for her mother who had a spur for about 6 weeks & said it worked for her & had no problem since:
~~~Cut a patch of organic cotton flannel to fit your heel. Pour some organic castor oil it & place it on the bottom of your heel. Cover it with plastic wrap & place a sock over it. Sleep with it on overnight each night. You can use the same patch over again which I did (along with the bag) & switched out once a week.

I bought organic products because I didn't want dyes or other thing else to soak into my foot. My treatment took about 8 weeks before I really felt a difference, but it really did help me a lot. I continued it for about a month longer. Every once in a while I will get a twinge of my heel hurting & I'll go back & do it for a few weeks & this has kept me going. My sciatica got better a few weeks after I started & left after the 8 week treatment & (knock on wood) hasn't come back.

For the plastic wrap, I used plastic bread bags that you buy in boxes at the store. You may need a larger bag for your foot, but those fit my foot perfect. I cut off the excess after my sock was on. I can sleep with it, but I read on the internet some people do this in the evening when they watch TV for a few hours. I'm not sure how well this works or if it would take longer to find relief.

The organic flannel I bought had been sewn triple thick & I just cut it into squares to fit so it was triple thick. Each night I added a little more oil to the flannel before I put it on.

One good side effect I found out was that my dried heels & calluses went away. So if you have cracked heels or painful calluses, it will work on them too.
 
I have calluses and found that using a callous remover file helps more than those patches from the pharmacies. I bought shoes that had a wide toe box and it helped with a lot of my foot pain. It has a built in arch support.
 
StarSong said:
That's what I'm finding.

What brand of flip flops has an arch support footbed Ronni?
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There are several brands @StarSong! None are as cheap as the everyday rubber ones, but if you’re like me and wear them all the time, they’re worth it.

Reef brand. Not all their sandals and flip flops have arch support, so read the fine print or study the footbed
KuaiLu sandals (Amazon)
Oofos

The higher quality sport sandals like Teva and Chaco also have arch support, but Chaco tends to be a higher arch than I’m most comfortable in.

Unless I’m confident about the brand I always try on first or if I’m ordering from Amazon I make sure their return policy is easy.
 
Ronni said:
There are several brands @StarSong! None are as cheap as the everyday rubber ones, but if you’re like me and wear them all the time, they’re worth it.

Reef brand. Not all their sandals and flip flops have arch support, so read the fine print or study the footbed
KuaiLu sandals (Amazon)
Oofos

The higher quality sport sandals like Teva and Chaco also have arch support, but Chaco tends to be a higher arch than I’m most comfortable in.

Unless I’m confident about the brand I always try on first or if I’m ordering from Amazon I make sure their return policy is easy.
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I've bought Reefs in the past. Love the bottle opener on the bottom. Thanks for the tip!
 
1. Not all "podiatrists" are MDs. Make sure any foot specialist you see graduated from a legitimate medical school with an MD. Then look at their additional qualifications for their specialty. Your problems may or may not involve plantar fasciitis, but regardless make sure you're seeing a well qualified MD foot specialist.

2. When I had my bout with plantar fasciitis in my latter 50s (20 years ago), my GP said I had bone spurs and recommended surgery. I then saw an excellent MD foot specialist who chuckled and said ' at your age most people have bone spurs and they seldom cause problems".

3. Our feet are designed such that when we walk we're supposed to land on the back part of our heel. As we age we tend to walk more flat footed so our feet land forward of where they are designed to. Unfortunately that is right where the plantar fascia (the band of tissue that connects our heel to the front of our foot) attaches to our heel bone. Walking flat footed causes inflammation of that tissue . . . called plantar fasciitis.

On my doctor's instruction, I started doing two simple stretches a couple of times each day as well as making a conscious to raise the front of each foot with each step when walking. I also used inexpensive OTC heel pads in my shoes.

As others have said, it took a while (six to eight months) to completely resolve but the problem hasn't reoccurred.

I know first hand how frustrating it can be when you can't get a clear, consistent diagnosis from doctors.

Good luck. 👍
 
Switching to zero lift shoes and learning to walk on the front part of your foot instead of heel striking might give you some relief and allow easier mobility? It won't fix your heel issues, but might make a decent work around.
 
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Tommy said:
1. Not all "podiatrists" are MDs. Make sure any foot specialist you see graduated from a legitimate medical school with an MD. Then look at their additional qualifications for their specialty. Your problems may or may not involve plantar fasciitis, but regardless make sure you're seeing a well qualified MD foot specialist.

2. When I had my bout with plantar fasciitis in my latter 50s (20 years ago), my GP said I had bone spurs and recommended surgery. I then saw an excellent MD foot specialist who chuckled and said ' at your age most people have bone spurs and they seldom cause problems".

3. Our feet are designed such that when we walk we're supposed to land on the back part of our heel. As we age we tend to walk more flat footed so our feet land forward of where they are designed to. Unfortunately that is right where the plantar fascia (the band of tissue that connects our heel to the front of our foot) attaches to our heel bone. Walking flat footed causes inflammation of that tissue . . . called plantar fasciitis.

On my doctor's instruction, I started doing two simple stretches a couple of times each day as well as making a conscious to raise the front of each foot with each step when walking. I also used inexpensive OTC heel pads in my shoes.

As others have said, it took a while (six to eight months) to completely resolve but the problem hasn't reoccurred.

I know first hand how frustrating it can be when you can't get a clear, consistent diagnosis from doctors.

Good luck. 👍
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Thank you for this very helpful information, Tommy. My PF is improving but hasn't yet completely resolved. I'll try to remember to raise the front of my feet while walking - maybe that will speed the rest of the healing.
 
I have had PF at least 2x in both feet. Yes it is slow to heal. May I add that not only would your heels be very tender when you first get up in the morning, but also any time during the day after a prolonged period of sitting.
The things that helped me (if this is what you have) were calf stretches, but most importantly, a night splint, which is a special "boot" you sleep with and it stretches your arch. Takes a bit to become accustomed to it but it REALLY helps after a month or two of use.
 
I asked Gemini:
Is it true that the tissue involved with the pain of plantar fasciitis is dead tissue?

He replied:




Cause of Plantar Fasciitis | Pivotal Motion Physiotherapy
Yes, it's true that chronic plantar fasciitis involves degenerative changes and cell death (necrosis) in the plantar fascia, meaning the tissue isn't just inflamed but is actually breaking down, a process better termed "plantar fasciosis", leading to disorganized collagen and microtears rather than just acute inflammation. Biopsies show dying cells, making it a degenerative condition where the body struggles to repair the tissue from repetitive stress, resulting in stiff, painful, non-healing tissue.
 

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