Plantar Fasciitis

What is plantar fasciitis or heel spur syndrome? 

Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of heel pain. The plantar fascia is a ligament that connects the heel bone to your toes. It supports the arch of your foot. If you strain your plantar fascia, it gets weak, swollen and inflamed, causing the heel or bottom of the arch to hurt when you stand or walk.

Causes

Plantar fasciitis is caused by straining the ligament that supports your arch. Repeated strain can cause tiny tears in the ligament. These can lead to pain and swelling. This is more likely to happen if: 

• Your feet roll inward too much when you walk.
• You have high arches or flat feet.
• You walk stand or run for long periods of time, especially on hard surfaces.
• You are overweight.
• You wear shoes that don’t fit well or are worn out.
• You have tight Achilles tendons or calf muscles

Symptoms

Most people with plantar fasciitis have pain when they take their first steps after they get out of bed or sit for a long time. You may have less stiffness and pain after you take a few steps, but your foot may hurt more as the day goes on. It may hurt the most when you climb the stairs or after you stand for a long period of time. 
 

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of this condition is made by correlating the history taken with symptoms. Your doctor may take an x-ray of your foot to rule out other causes of heel pain such as stress fractures. Sometimes due to chronic inflammation, a bone spur may be seen on x-ray. This tiny growth of bone is a reaction of the bone to the inflammatory process. 

Treatment

No single treatment works best for everyone with plantar fasciitis. But there are many things you can try to help your foot gets better:

• Give your feet a rest
• Try applying ice to the heel for 20 minutes on and off.
• Try  an over the counter pain reliever like Advil, Motrin or Aleve
• Do calf stretches before getting out of bed in the morning
• Pick shoes with good arch supports and a cushioned sole. Heel cups or shoe inserts may help.

If these treatments do not help, your doctor may have to prescribe you an oral anti-inflammatory to reduce the pain and swelling, administer cortisone injections, prescribe orthotics (custom molded inserts) and /or prescribe physical therapy. Surgery is suggested, for people still having pain after 12 months of treatment. It may take time for the pain to go away, but the sooner you start treatment the better.