A complaint frequently treated in podiatrist’s offices is heel pain resulting in plantar fasciitis. While it often occurs after participating in high impact activities and sports with a lot of running and jumping like basketball, tennis, and football, it can also happen from overuse due to walking on hard surfaces all day for your job.
Your plantar fascia is a thick band of connective tissue that runs along the bottom of your foot and connects the metatarsal bones from the toes to the heel bone. It creates the structure of your arch, and when the tissue becomes irritated an injury can occur where the tissue connects to the heel bone thereby causing severe pain upon any further weight-bearing activities for the foreseeable future.
Obese individuals and people with high arches or flat feet and tight calf muscles are more likely to be afflicted.
Treatment options
Plantar fasciitis will respond well to treatment involving rest, icing, compression, and elevation (The RICE method). Regularly stretching the calf muscles and wearing properly fitted footwear with specially designed orthotic inserts will also help. Inserts are molded to fit your unique foot dynamics and will help provide the support and cushioning that is necessary for proper healing.
Physical therapy is also a very effective treatment for strengthening and stretching the muscles, tendons, and ligaments connected to the plantar fascia. Regular stretching of the calf muscles is essential to treating and preventing plantar fasciitis.
If you are experiencing debilitating heel pain, make an appointment with your foot care professional. At Your Next Step, our team of board-certified podiatrists has access to advanced technologies, along with years of experience, to help diagnose and treat a variety of foot and ankle problems, including sports injuries, joint pain, toe deformities, nail fungus, chronic tendon pain, and skin problems. Dr. Eric Ricefield, Dr. Mark Yagodich, and Dr. Aliza V. Eisen provide high-quality foot and ankle care to patients in the greater Philadelphia area at our offices conveniently located in Ardmore, Paoli, and Downingtown. Please contact us for more information or to schedule an appointment.