Plantar Fasciitis

[linaelyn]

Hi all. This is a plea for help, advice, and whatever you might have. I know, Y'all are not doctors, or physical therapists, or whatever. But I'm grasping at straws after well-over two months of not running, and I'm frustrated with the pace of Not Getting Healed Up.

I have been to the doctor (mine is a good one, for sports injuries, at least) and been informed that the reason my heel has been hurting for the past month is 1) directly related to stoopid, rasse-frassa-frickin'-frackin' menopausal transitioning causing general inflamation systemically, and 2) called Plantar Fasciitis. In essence, the tendon that runs from my heel bone, forward towards my toes, is inflamed/irritated/NOT HAPPY. It's been an issue for about three months now.

I'm icing it by rolling a frozen water bottle under my foot. I'm doing the milder forms of the stretching and strengthening exercises recommended by my doctor. I'm taking an NSAID (Advil) before doing anything that will probably upset it (because I'm NOT going to go to Hawaii and skip the Volcano Hike, that's JUST NOT OK.)

My doctor says I'm simply not resting it enough. She says I need "more time just sitting on my keester." I don't do well mentally/emotionally when I sit still for extended periods.

Advice?

Comments

[thalia]

Sorry, but I think your doctor is right. I've only had plantar fasciitis once, but I had to be completely inactive for a good three weeks and not do too much for a couple months after that before I could run without pain. I know it's torture, but at some point you're going to have to bite the bullet and do a whole lot of sitting.

Once it's better, the two exercises have helped me prevent a recurrence are rolling a golf ball under my foot, and stretching the achilles tendon--like a calf stretch, but with the knee bent.

Good luck!

[linaelyn]

After you commented this, I decided to look back over my Fitbit data. Even though it has FELT like I've been really inactive, I'd still been logging about 8-10,000 steps a day. That's not actually resting my foot, is it? {sheepish} I'm now using my step-counter to monitor how far through my allotment (I'm giving myself 3k steps a day) I've burned. And it's feeling better! So thanks, biting the bullet is what I need, yup.

The ice-waterbottle I'm using is very similar to your golf ball rolling, I think; I can pack a golf ball with me more readily, though, so that's an awesome tip. The achilles stretch is one I'm adding, too. Your advice has been really helpful.