Do you suffer from foot pain? Could it be plantar fasciitis?
Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of heel pain. Symptoms occurs when there is inflammation of the plantar fascia, which is a thick band at the bottom of your foot that attaches to the heel bone. The inflammation occurs when there is excessive stress on the plantar fascia, which can be caused by multiple factors including:
-Change of activity/exercise
– Altered biomechanics
– weight gain
– poor footwear
– occupations where you’re on your feet for long periods of the day.
The symptoms people experience include heel pain, which is often worse after a period of rest. For example, walking after getting up in the morning or after a long period of sitting. You may find yourself walking on your toes to avoid weight bearing on the heel & experiencing pain when walking on hard surfaces, particularly if you’re barefoot.
Physiotherapy treatment can facilitate recovery using a range of strategies including:
- Assessment of biomechanics of the foot and lower limb to identify the cause of excess load through the plantar fascia. From this assessment a unique home exercise plan can be generated to address any weakness leading to excess strain on the plantar fascia.
- Discuss footwear and insoles to offload the plantar fascia and allow symptoms to recover.
- Icing can be beneficial to reduce inflammation, particularly after activity and in the evening when inflammation is likely to be at its highest from the stress of the day’s activity.
- Soft tissue treatment, including deep transverse frictions, are used to break down any scar tissue and encourage blood flow to the tendon to encourage healing.
- Taping techniques to offload the plantar fascia.
- Advice/education on recovery and how to adapt your activity levels to optimise the load through the plantar fascia to encourage blood flow but not overload the tendon causing more inflammation.
