Plantar Fasciitis
You get out of the bed in the morning and there it is.
Stabbing, sharp heel pain! You wish you could just go back to
bed. The pain may ease up as you start walking around and
start your day...but as you sit for a period of time...there it is
again.
Plantar Fasciitis is a common problem experienced by up to 25%
of all adults at some point in time. That's a lot of people
with a lot of pain!
The plantar fascia is the ligament that attaches to the heel
bone and runs through the arch to the toes. The
attachment of the fascia to the heel can become inflammed due to a
longstanding mechanical imbalance or due to an injury. Thus,
you get heel pain. In order to correct the situation, both
the inflammation and the mechanics need to be addressed.
Signs and Symptoms
Pain upon getting out of bed, pain after long periods of weight
bearing (being on your feet in some fashion), pain with
exercising.
Treatment
To immediately start treating the inflammation it's very
effective to ice to provide some relief. Anti-inflammatory
medication is also beneficial. In more extreme
cases, the pain can be managed much more quickly with a
cortisone injection placed right at the source of the
pain. Please keep in my that these techniques are only
to get the pain of the inflammaton under control, the reason why
the plantar fasciitis is present in the first place still needs to
be corrected.
To correct the biomechanice issues, splints can be used as well
as off-the-shelf orthotics until custom made orthotic devices can
be made. A custom orthotic places the foot in a neutral
position so the fascia can recover and the pain and
inflammation will disappear.
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