Plantar Fasciitis - Planting the seeds for recovery

Putting the plan into plantar fasciitis
As the mornings become lighter in Geelong and the weather warms up, we all envisage setting our alarms that extra 60 minutes earlier to get out and hit the pavement before work. But after two or three weeks and a couple longer runs to dust off the cobwebs, our foot begins to ache and now the first few steps we take every morning send sharp excruciating pain into our heel. It becomes a challenge to even go to the toilet during the night or to get up off the couch of an evening after watching our favourite television program.
That’s the reality of someone who gets struck by plantar fasciitis – trust me, I’ve just recovered from it myself! Plantar fascia is such a common foot injury that we see in Geelong, we almost all either know someone who has had it, or have been unfortunate enough to endure it ourselves.
How does Plantar Fascia occur?
Plantar fascia pain is a repetitive strain injury and is commonly caused by a significant increase in running or walking. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to run a half marathon to get it, it might just be that you have run more than usual on multiple occasions within a short period of time. Tissues require time to recover between runs and not allowing this process to occur can lead to overuse of those tissues and resultant injury. 


What can I do?
Plantar fascia can be easily avoided with a few simple tips.

1. Don’t try go from zero to hero – Building capacity into tendons and muscles takes time. Start with a distance or time that is comfortable for you and incrementally increase your running or walking over a period of weeks. E.g. You might usually walk 30 minutes on 5 days of the week. Trying to walk 60 minutes on 4 of those days is probably going to be overdoing it. Instead start by increasing walking to 35 minutes, or if you want to do a longer walk, perhaps do one 60-minute walk per week and keep the other walks to 30 minutes.
2. Warm up prior to exercise – This is one of the easiest things to forget, but it is the single most important factor that can prevent these injuries from occurring. Warmups should involve a mixture of foam rolling, self-massage, active stretching and movement preparation

3. Seek advice from your osteopath or physical therapist. Often people suffer with this pain for months before seeking help from a health professional. Early intervention not only helps to reduce pain and discomfort, it also allows for a strengthening plan to be put in place to help your foot recover quicker.
4. Buy yourself a 600ml water bottle! Filling a water bottle up and freezing it overnight makes for an excellent massage tool when it comes to plantar fascia. Roll the bottom of your foot up and down along the water bottle to ease the muscle tension whilst at the same time providing an analgesic effect on the area.
5. There is no quick fix – Plantar fasciitis often takes several weeks or months to completely heal, so be patient and listen to your body, follow the advice given by your health practitioner and try to remain diligent with your rehabilitation program.