What is plantar fasciitis?

Plantar fasciitis (pronounced plarn-tar-fash-ee-eye-tis) is the most common cause of heel pain. Your plantar fascia is a flat band of tissue that starts at the base of the heel bone (calcaneus) and attaches to the metatarsals bones in the ball of your foot. It acts like a bowstring or elastic band helping to support the arch of your foot.

When injured the typical plantar fasciitis symptoms are: 

Intermittent sharp shooting pain or aching in the region of your heel. The most severe symptoms commonly occur upon standing after a period of rest. Don’t be fooled by intermittent pain however and the fact things often feel better once you get going. The longer it takes to address this concern the longer the expected recovery time may be.

What causes plantar fasciitis?

Weight, footwear, training error, direct injury and biomechanical factors can all have an influence on why you may develop plantar fascia pain. Women are also more susceptible particularly at times of hormonal changes such as a during pregnancy or menopause.

Treatment

Treatments really depend on your unique case and where the heel pain is occurring and what movements or activities your having difficulty with and how long you have been experiencing issues. Often the treatment plan is multifactorial and a thorough review is required to determine the best treatment pathway for you. This can consist of exercises, medical orthoses (inserts/insoles), footwear advice and review of training loads or work requirements to best treat your symptoms and facilitate recovery. It is always better to seek treatment sooner rather than later when it comes to plantar fascia so you can get on top of symptoms. 

Who Treats Plantar fasciitis?

 The Podiatry team at Active Health is very experienced with managing this injury and are here to help you. Podiatrists are skilled in assessing and evaluating foot, leg and lower limb pain. 

Book an appointment with one of our Podiatrists today for a foot assessment.