I read somewhere about someone who had plantar fascaitis. I can't find the post now. I've been having ALOT of pain in my left heel. It keeps me at home when it get really bad. It feels better if I leave my shoes on any time I walk, even around the house.

If anyone has had this, can you tell me what is the treatment. Is this something I should tell my surgeon before he submits my paperwork to the ins co?

It would be a co-morbidity. I had it once, and they gave me gel inserts to put put in my shoes to cushion the heel. Mine went away on its own after a couple of months, and I don't wear the inserts any more. It comes from strain/weight on the heel while walking or jumping around. You should tell your doc anyway, though, just because it's good policy. I don't think it'll make a difference in your surgery.

Hi there. I suffer from this very often. Often when I first wake up or get up from sitting for an extended time my first few steps are excruciating :thumbup: until it stretches back out. I recommend doing lots of stretching. These stretches are great for it: Plantar Fasciitis Stretching Exercises

I stretch it out before I go to bed and when I do I can walk soooo much easier the next morning. Also icing it in the evening if your sitting around watching TV roll a frozen Water bottle under it. And they also say wearing flip flops and other unsupported shoes makes it much worse.

I really hope mine goes away after I'm sleeved. I've had it off on for years.

Hope this helps.:thumbup:

My husband has that, and one of his favorite things to do is take a tennis ball, while he is sitting on the couch and roll it back and forth under the arch of each foot.

I treat plantar fasciitis patients almost daily, and all the suggestions above are good... ESPECIALLY avoiding crappy shoes like flip-flips, loafers, and going barefoot. If you can rub hard on that spot on your heel, and along the arch of the foot several times a day and then stretch the heck out of the calf afterwards, that'll help too. And the frozen bottle / tennis ball really does help that tight tissue relax and stretch back out.

Reeeeally stretch it good right before bed, and spend a couple of minutes moving the foot around and pulling it upward to get a calf stretch before you get out of bed, then stretch it good again with the foot on the floor before you start walking. Usually first thing in the morning, and then later in the evening after being off your feet for awhile, are the worst times, so do make an extra effort to kind of baby and stretch it then.

Make sure you're wearing really good, firm, supportive athletic shoes and if it's not better in a couple of weeks, you might want to try some physical therapy. Good luck! :confused1:

First I want to say how much I love this site! Thanks to all of you who responded to my question. This heel pain can be excrutiating at times and it hurts to the point that I get a headache from it.

I will print out all the suggestions and try them. I too hope that if I get to have surgery and lose weight it will go away!

I'm suppose to have some of this weight off when I see the nutritionist on the 20th. This has not helped me to get out and walk some of it off. Hope that doesn't work against me getting approved, as I'm suppose to lose 5% of my weight with in the 3 month supervised diet.

I did do a little internet research on plantar fascaitis and some doctors suggest that (like the tennis ball suggestion) massage can really help. Let's see if hubby will give me some foot massages to help! :confused1: I've got my heel in some ice Water as I type this...seems to be helping also.

Thanks again for all the help!

What a pain!!! I had this for years...my Dr. said my weight had little to do with it... he said he had never had a farmer with this condition... nurses, factory workers, teachers...folks on their feet, on concrete, with poor shoes...he recommends walking shoes..good ones~ the best help is exercise...get a 2X6 or a 2X8 about 3 feet long...place the ball of the feet on the edge, raise your self up on your tip toes and count to three, then drop your heels down to the floor and count to three...repeat about 10 times 3 times a day---- it took me about 3 months but I was back to normal ,,,they do surgery for this but I know another teacher in my building who had the surgery and she is still having trouble... I recommend doing the exercise and trying to get back on your feet that way.. it should have no effect on your surgery...it's just tendons and ligaments that are too tight... GOOD LUCK with your feet and surgery..if you work where you cant wear athletic shoes..get your dr to write you a note --- you can not get this to get better wearing dress shoes...that don't offer you good support!

i had it and after it stopped hurting on the bottom for some reason the top of my feet hurt too.then it went away.i did stretch here and there.i wore good walking shoes.but it just went away after about 6 months,all the pain so happy.i am still fat,so it doesn't seem to be related to that(havent had surgery yet)Alice

I've had it on and off for years. I saw a podiatrist and he gave me a brace to wear at night while I'm sleeping. I alternated the brace between both feet for about two weeks. (Wore it on one foot one night, the foot the next night.) It worked wonders. Stretching your feet in bed before you get up also should help. Flex your foot as if there's a string around your toes and you're pulling it toward you. Good luck!

I too have plantar fascaitis which flares up even so often. My podiatrist also had me wear a brace for six weeks and do phyical therapy for a couple of weeks after the brace did not work.

Bottom line I was in a lot of pain. My doctor even had me get a temporary handicap sticker for my car for six months.

In my opinion phyical therapy and bio freeze was a God sent. Bio freeze is a pain relieving gel that a lot a phycial therapists have.

FYI: My podiatrist said if I lost weight it would help alot. I also told my surgeon I had plantar fascaitis and he noted it in my file.

Good luck. I know it can hurt.

Deb

Ever since I bought a pair of Avi-Motion shoes (a knockoff of Sketcher's Shape Ups), I have been blissfully pain free! So the good shoes thing is definitely right! I used to wear crappy pairs of sandals and cheapie sneakers from Payless Shoes. Not that Payless is a bad thing....but they shoes I bought there just didn't have enough support!

When it is/was at the worst for me it really felt like my foot was being stabbed. I always half expected my shoe to be bloody when I took it off it hurt so bad I would figure this much pain something must be coming out of the foot. Ugh nasty business that plantar!!

I think I have this. ugh. My heel hurts so bad by the end of the day (when I have done a lot of walking or been on my feet) and in the morning. It has been this way for about 4 1/2 months now. It is a little better since I have the sketchers shape ups...but it still hurts. It is really bad when I stand for a long time on our tile floor without shoes. (bad I know....imagine canning for 8 hrs barefoot on tile..ugh)

I am going to try some of these ideas on here. I am thinking of the podiatrist.

I have had one on my left heel for over 30 years. My NEW podiatrist x-rayed it and said it was the biggest one he has ever seen. I get steroid shots in it about once a year from him. He said he would do more of them, but I don't want to take them unless the pain is horrible. Now that I'm losing weight and walking daily on the treadmill, sometimes it hurts again. This time around, I may get it surgically removed.

I had one also on my right foot that was causing me excrutiating pain, but it was not as large as this one. I wore the brace, did the stretching exercises, had the cortizone shots....etc etc etc. I ended up letting THAT podiatrist talk me into having a non-invasive surgery like that of a patient with kidney stones. They put a machine on my foot that sent electrical shock waves into my foot to break up the facia (spelling). It was the most horrible thing I've ever had done to me. He never bothered to tell me before the procedure that my foot should be totally numb. I just thought the heel had to be numb. I was supposed to have 2,000 shocks, and by 500 I was literally coming off the table. He stopped, and then kinda yelled at me cause I didn't tell him my foot was numb. BIG JERK !!! He finished the treatement after giving me another shot to numb the rest of my foot, but I had pain on TOP of my foot and swelling of the ankle for over a year. THis time around, I'll just go for the old fashioned surgery if need be. My NEW podiatrist doesn't believe in the shock wave lithotripsy and calls it experimental.

If you should find a Dr. that suggests it...remember this please, and do your homework. I thought it just sounded like a good idea to be non-invasive. NOT A GOOD IDEA !!!! Unless you want to have a sore foot for another year, only sore in another area of your foot.

Good luck......

It does sound like plantar fasciitis. The best treatment is to go to a podiatrist and have orthotics made for your shoes. It takes a few weeks to get used to but then it really really helps. Now that Ive had them for over a year my pain is so much better and I can wear sandals without the orthotics way more of the time now. I know just how painful this can be - it used to stop me from so much!!! Get to a podiatrist... it is so worth it.

I have to completely disagree with that... sorry!! Based on my 16 years of treating this and dealing with patients who have been treated by podiatrists (for a variety of reasons, not just this), I wouldn't let one touch me with a 10-foot pole (they're not doctors any more than chiropractors are), and 90% of the orthotics I've seen them make have been a joke. Please just do yourself a favor and start with your family doctor and physical therapy, and the P.T. can tell you if you need to go to an orthotist to have custom orthotics made for you. You may not, certainly not everyone does.