I know I’ve talked about getting fit, healthy and becoming more active. I’ve been working at that since last August. What I don’t think I’ve shared is that I developed plantar fasciitis.
I’ve never had it before so for the longest time, I had no idea what it was. I thought my tennis shoes had lost their support since they were about a year or so old. So I got new ones.
It didn’t go away. So I got another pair of new shoes. My feet still hurt all day long. That’s when I decided I needed to get checked out.
The following is what I’ve since learned. Remember, I’m not a doctor or involved with healthcare at all.
The plantar fascia is a tendon that runs along the bottom of your feet, connecting the heel bone to the toes. This is what creates the arch in your foot. When it’s overstretched or overused, it can become inflamed. This is called plantar fasciitis.
When you have this, there is pain in the bottom of the heel. I also noticed that it hurt worse after sitting for a while on the sofa with my feet up or in the morning first out of bed. Apparently, this is one of the ways to tell it’s plantar fasciitis.
So I started following treatment advice. This included:
1. Resting
2. Stretching, particularly stretches that stretch the calf muscles
3. Wearing shoes with good support at all times
At the time, I didn’t realize how long of a process this would be. Since, I’ve found out that treatment can last anywhere from several months up to 2 years, with 9 months being the average.
There are other treatments as well, but since mine wasn’t too severe, the above has been sufficient thus far.
I’m sharing this because one, injuries sometimes happen when you’re more active and two, if gone untreated, surgery could be required for this ailment.
Have you ever had plantar fasciitis? How long before you were back to normal? What other ailments have you encountered while trying to get fit and healthy?
7 hours ago
2 comments:
Oh girl, I feel your pain!! I suffered with this for almost two years before i figured out what was wrong. Glad you found it early!
Like you, I did the stretches and wore shoes but ... I never keep up with things like that which is why I think it lingered for two years. When I lost weight it went away. In fact, RWA conference last year was the first time I had been able to wear anything other than tennis shoes!
Keep up with the stretches and you're already losing weight so it should heal much faster than mine did. I will say that I had a twinge of it over the last couple of days and just as you mentioned, it is because I took the laptop into my room and sat in bed to write. Something about putting pressure on my heels -- that is an absolute no no for me now. You can also try rolling the arch of your foot on a frozen OJ can, it doesn't cure anything but feels good!
Good Luck!
Yeah, I've been doing more reading on it and they say that weight can play a factor. I'm sure it was a combo of weight, increase in exercising and old shoes.
Thanks for the commiseration and I hope your feet feel better. Apparently sitting like that tightens up the plantar fascia so do some stretches before you stand back up and you should notice a difference.
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