Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar fasciitis is a common and frustrating condition that can affect anyone, from those who don’t exercise much to elite athletes. The plantar fascia is a long, robust ligament that sits on the underside of your foot. It plays a really important role in both shock absorption and propulsion during walking, running, and jumping. Issues with the plantar fascia tend to arise due to one primary factor, load. A change in total load through your foot can be enough to cause issues, as the load put through your foot is too much for the plantar fascia to handle at that time. For some people, this occurs due to an increase in activity (e.g. walking or running more). For others it’s a change in terrain or footwear that can overload the fascia.

The frustrating thing about plantar fasciitis is that once it emerges, it can take an extended period to settle down. For some it takes 6-12 weeks whereas for others, it can hang around for 6-12 months. The main reason for this is that the management of this condition requires us to reduce the load through your foot. This is difficult to achieve as we need to be able to walk throughout the day. This is why recognising the condition early and being aggressive with the offloading is important. Offloading can come in the form of taping, orthotics, a change in footwear, and/or reducing the amount of time you spend on your feet. These approaches can help calm your symptoms. Once the foot is calmed, the focus turns to progressive loading and strengthening to help make the plantar fascia, your foot, and surrounding musculature more robust and tolerant to higher loads. Without this step, it's quite common to see symptoms return with increased activity. A progressive strengthening program targeting your calf and foot muscles has been shown to help reduce pain and improve function in the first 3 months.

At SmartMoves, we know how frustrating and persistent this condition can be. If you’re experiencing pain on the bottom of your foot, or think you have plantar fasciitis, then give us a call so we can comprehensively assess your foot, help you get on top of your pain and give you the tools to keep it away.