You don’t have to live with the pain of plantar fasciitis, and you don’t need surgery
By Dr. Adam Cramer, PT, DPT; MyoFit Clinic
If your first step of the morning sends intense pain shooting through your body, you are likely coping with the unpleasant condition known as plantar fasciitis.
This is a situation in which your plantar fascia, a fibrous tissue running along your foot’s bottom, has become inflamed. It is worse in the morning, which is why those first steps are usually a good indicator of what has gone wrong.
Fortunately, physical therapy performed by a doctor of physical therapy is an effective course of action to reduce the pain and heal the foot. In fact, 95% of plantar fasciitis cases are healed effectively without surgery. This is achieved by consulting with a physical therapist first to get to the root issue—not just the symptoms—and by not consulting with a physician who performs surgery, such as a podiatrist.
Even our large hospital systems prioritize surgery and injections. These are high-cost interventions that do come with high risks. The hospital systems prioritize by what earns them the most money, versus utilizing low-cost, low-risk interventions such as physical therapy.
Simply put, physical therapy is the most effective, most cost-effective and safest treatment available.
Do You Have Plantar Fasciitis?
The pain from plantar fasciitis is caused by inflammation of the plantar fascia, which is a thick band of fibrous tissue running along the bottom of the foot, connecting the heel bone to the toes. Besides causing severe pain, plantar fasciitis can limit range of motion and seriously impact a person’s quality of life.
While the stabbing morning pain subsides somewhat as the day goes on, it intensifies if a person stands for long periods of time or steps on their foot after they’ve been sitting for a while. The pain can be exercised away to a point, but ultimately it returns.
Get it Under Control
Even if you did have the mental stamina to ignore the pain, you shouldn’t. Ignoring the pain from plantar fasciitis can result in chronic heel pain, which can ultimately lead to foot, knee, hip or back problems and inactivity.
A Physical Therapist Can Help
A doctor of physical therapy will work with you to reduce the inflammation and pain through hands-on manual mobility treatments to strengthen your foot, and then teach you how to treat it independently once under control.
You will be given a series of specially prescribed stretches to stretch the plantar fascia and Achilles’ tendon while strengthening the lower leg muscles.
Using heat and laser therapy is key to enhancing blood flow and promoting mobility. At MyoFit Clinic, we utilize instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization tools to enhance mobility of the plantar fascia. In extreme cases, dry needling is very effective for reducing all symptoms immediately with extended pain relief benefits.
Guarding Foot Health
We recommend physical therapy provided by a doctor of physical therapy as quickly as possible after you suspect you have plantar fasciitis to completely eliminate your symptoms—fast. Don’t waste your time on injections, immobilizing boots or nighttime splints. These will not help you to completely get rid of your symptoms. See a physical therapist first. No referral is required, and treatment is covered by insurance.
The average person walks an estimated 150,000 miles in their lifetime, which is roughly the equivalent of walking around the world six times.
You still have miles to go, and you want to make those miles without pain.
If you or a loved one is suffering from foot pain, please consult with a MyoFit Clinic physical therapist immediately to avoid surgery.
Adam M. Cramer, PT, DPT, is a licensed physical therapist, pain specialist and is the founder and CEO of MyoFit Clinics in Chardon, Ashtabula & Middlefield, Ohio. Call 440-286-1007 for a consultation or visit MyoFitClinic.com.