Your feet take a lot of abuse. When you exercise, they absorb the shock every time your feet pound down on that treadmill. When you walk through the office, it’s your feet bearing the weight of your entire body. This can lead to major foot pain.
One of the most common causes of chronic foot pain is plantar fasciitis. If your feet are constantly hurting from keep to toe, this might be what is affecting you. The stabbing pain it causes is worse in the morning and decreases with movement then returns after longer periods of stagnancy.
How do you know whether you have plantar fasciitis? How do you get rid of this pain? Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy solution. There is no known cure for plantar fasciitis. There are a lot of ways to alleviate the pain and prevent it from taking over your life. If you’re suffering from foot pain, try using these tips and see if the problem starts to go away with time.
Ice and Heat
One of the best solutions to most muscle and tendon issues is to use heat or ice therapies. In fact, nearly all physical therapists end their sessions with ice treatment.
If you don’t like taking pills, ice is nature’s anti-inflammatory. To relieve pain and stretch out your fascia, freeze a water bottle. Once it is frozen, use your feet to roll it back and forth. This serves the dual purpose of icing your problem areas and stretching the muscle to help it relax.
Whereas ice therapy reduces inflammation, heat therapy loosens tight muscles that could be making it harder on your feet. If you wake up in the morning and find that you are limping for several minutes because of foot pain, jump in the shower. A hot shower will help to unlock the tensed muscles that are stretching and straining your tendons. This is an immediate relief to some of the worst of the morning plantar fasciitis pain.
Buy Proper Footwear
Believe it or not, what you put on your feet has a lot to do with foot pain. The first change most treatment plans include after a podiatrist visit is finding new shoes. They will recommend buying footwear for comfort rather than style to nearly all their patients.
This can be extremely frustrating to style conscious people, but the good news is that a lot of places are making really stylish comfort shoes now that foot pain has become so prevalent. These days, you can even find sandals that help alleviate plantar fasciitis!
Find shoes that offer a lot of support, especially for your arches. Soles that can absorb shock (like those made form cork) can help, especially if they also have heel cups, rocker soles, or thick soles with cushioning. The rocker sole shoe models usually offer the most protection for your heel, which is where plantar fasciitis pain often starts.
In some chronic cases, especially for those who work jobs that require them to be on their feet all day, podiatrists will prescribe orthotics. These are customized inserts for your shoes that are molded to your specific feet. They are designed to correct problem with your gait that could be leading to your foot pain. Talk to a podiatrist about orthotics if nothing seems to work or if you are on your feet more than the average person.
Another common mistake most people make is to walk barefoot when they are at home. One of the traditional forms of courtesy in many places is to remove your shoes at the door, and even if you don’t do this as a guest, it is common to do so in your own home.
Rest
Plantar fasciitis stems from overuse. It’s similar to carpel tunnel syndrome in the wrists. This means that one simple solution to ameliorate the pain is to make sure you are resting regularly.
Find the right mattress for your needs and be sure to get enough sleep each evening. Use softer lighting throughout your home. No matter how cozy your home is, going bare footed is a regular contributor to plantar fasciitis and foot pain.
Rest includes taking some time to treat yourself to a spa day. If you love sandals, then go ahead and say yes – spring for the hot stone massage at your next pedicure. If you’re not a huge fan of polish, then skip the pedicure and just go straight for an hour-long deep tissue foot massage! While it won’t result in long-term cure, it will make you feel amazing for the ext couple days.
Change Your Exercise Routine
One of the most effective ways to reduce plantar fasciitis is to change your exercise routines. Whether you don’t work out and need to, or are doing high impact sports and need to stop, changing your routine is a great option.
High impact sports lead to repetitive strain injuries like plantar fasciitis. This is why the highest number of plantar fasciitis cases reported happens to runners. If your solution to losing weight is walking or jogging, try a lower impact option, like swimming or cycling instead. Trade the treadmill for an elliptical; you’ll get better results with less damage to your joints and tendons!
A great exercise for foot pain is stretching. It is such a simple and basic thing to do that most casual exercise routines entirely neglect this step. Before you jump into things, remember to stretch your muscles to cut back on stress injury. Perhaps you could even take up stretching as a form of exercise. Pilates and yoga are proven to be effective and great for those who are new to regular exercise routines.
Splints
If none of the simpler methods work, consider talking to your podiatrist about a night splint. Wearing splints while you sleep will keep your muscles stretched. This prevents your arches from tightening up overnight and may alleviate the worst of the morning pain and limping.
Conclusion
There is no reason that you can’t live a fulfilling life despite plantar fasciitis. Employing these methods should make the pain manageable on a daily basis and eliminate some of the worst of the flare up pain.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sophie Elise is a passionate cyclist, author, and blogger. She is very passionate about writing on different types of women’s bikes, accessories, health, fitness and more. She regularly writes on sportsly.net
