What Can I Do If I Have Plantar Fasciitis?

December 12, 2023

We have discussed plantar fasciitis before, but now I have it and I can truly understand the pain and inconvenience it causes. I wanted to revisit this topic and discuss some things that can be done at home and in the clinic to help combat it.

At home options:

1. Calf stretching: It is important to stretch your calf muscles several times a day. You want to stretch the calf with a straight knee and bent knee positions. You can use a wall, the stairs, or a stretch strap to work these stretches in a variety of positions.
2. Night Splints: You can purchase night splints to help keep you calf and plantar fascia soft tissues on a slight stretch while you sleep. This will often help to decrease the pain you feel with the first few steps in the morning.
3. Ice: Using ice to decrease inflammation on and around your heel is important. You can just rest your heel on the ice or use a frozen water bottle with some pressure to roll along the bottom of your foot. This can cause that “hurts so good” feeling and that is a good thing.
4. Massage: Doing some self massage to your heel and calf can also help to decrease some pain and tone and improve the extensibility of these soft tissue areas.
5. Heel Lifts: Placing some heel lifts in your shoe can decrease some stress through your heel and help with your pain throughout the day.

In the clinic options:

1. Calf stretching: We can work to show you several static and dynamic stretching options to help with any calf restrictions. These are important and in the clinic we can customize what you need to do for stretching based on your presentation and needs.
2. Hands on Therapy: We can utilize soft tissue mobilitzation, trigger point release therapy, functional dry needling, and active release techniques to make sure all the soft tissues surrounding these areas are taken care of in a specific way and routine that works best for you.
3. Modalities: Utilizing ultrasound, electrical stimulation, and vasopneumatic compression we can help to decrease the inflammation and the pain associated with plantar fasciitis.

In the end the best option is to combine the individualized patient specific treatment options that the clinic can provide with the at home exercises and equipment modifications needed to attack the pain and inflammation in a multifaceted approach. The quicker you can start these activities once you notice the pain the better your chance is of getting rid of the pain sooner. Give us a call today if you are experiencing plantar fascia like heel pain and let us start to help you now!