What is Plantar Fasciitis?
Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of the ligament that connects the heel to the base of the toes, formerly called “a dog’s heel” in the UK, is a painful inflammatory condition caused by too much wear to the plantar fascia of the foot or biomechanical faults that cause abnormal pronation of the foot.
The pain becomes evident during day time. This is because the fascia or the tissue contracts overnight while you sleep. Although there may be times when you won’t feel any pain, it is only a temporary thing. After standing up for long periods or getting up from a long time of sitting down, the agonising pain may strike once more.
There are several factors which can cause plantar fasciitis and these are as follows:
1) Overdoing strenuous physical activities
2) Moving heavy objects
3) Arthritis
4) Diabetes
5) Abnormal foot mobility
6) Poor quality of footwear
Foot problems like plantar fasciitis can affect both feet, but it usually happens on just one foot. Normally the illness develops very slowly and only become obvious once the intolerant heel pain is felt. However, this illness definitely has several symptoms, which you should take a tab on so that you can prevent it from becoming a major medical condition. These are the following symptoms associated with this illness:
1) A stabbed-like feeling on the bottom of your foot
2) A progressive heel pain experienced as soon as you wake up and walk to go about your early morning activities or even after doing exercise
3) Heel pain experienced after standing for a long period of time or when getting up from sitting down for over a time
4) Some swelling observed in the middle part of your heel
Once you experience these symptoms, it would be wise to note how often they occur and then proceed to consult your doctor.
As you seek medical attention, your doctor will first verify all the symptoms, which you may have experienced. The podiatrist will also point out to you the tender areas found on your foot. This is necessary so that other factors causing heel pain can be ruled out. Other than physical examination, your podiatrist can also schedule a foot X-ray or even an MRI to see if you have got a stress fracture.
Treating plantar fasciitis is actually quite simple. All it takes is proper discipline and close monitoring of treatment regimen issued by the doctor.
For self-care treatments, here are the usual recommended procedures:
Night splint: This is usually done by enclosing your foot up to your calf within a splint as you sleep. The purpose of this is to hold your foot tissues as well as your Achilles tendon so that it can be stretched overnight.
Orthotics: This is an arch support, which works by distributing the pressure absorbed by your feet evenly on all areas.
Physical therapy: Rehabilitative exercises can strengthen your leg muscles and help make your heel and ankle more stabilized to absorb pressure.
However, in the event that your plantar fasciitis is diagnosed as severe, here are other medical approaches, which you may undergo to alleviate pain and treat the foot area.
Corticosteroids: your podiatrist will suggest this medicine if other forms of treatment are not efficient in treating it. This works by injecting a couple doses within your fascia area to alleviate pain. At times, iontophoresis can also be conducted instead of injecting corticosteroids. By this procedure, the medicine gets to be distributed within the fascia area by means of electric current gently induced to relieve pain.
Extracorporeal shock wave therapy: This method uses sound waves as a means of stimulating the healing process of the affected area. If the plantar fasciitis has been diagnosed as a chronic illness, this is the treatment method being adopted.
Surgery: When one undergoes surgery for planta fasciitis, the plantar fascia is removed from the heel bone. This is the final option and is only turned to when other methods can no longer take away the heel pain and the condition becomes too severe to handle.