Is Plantar Fasciitis on the rise? I felt compelled to write a blog because recently I’ve come across so many people dealing with this issue. Plantar fasciitis (PF) is a diagnosis often given to those with heel pain, usually on the inside or medial side of the foot though often felt throughout the foot. It’s a condition that often becomes chronic and can be annoyingly persistent.
The plantar fascia is connective tissue that runs along the sole of the feet from the front of the heel to the toes. The suffix “itis” describes what is believed to be an inflammation. However, other research tells us that the condition is believed to be a degeneration an “osis” and so the term Plantar Fasciosis is also used. Suffice to say, your feet hurt, a lot!
I’ve had chronic PF twice in my life and what I refer to as a “touch” of PF many times. As my friend Danny Dreyer used to say, it’s a feeling that Harry Potter might have had when he knew the Death Eaters were after him! Living with foot pain is no joke. In my experience, PF does not discriminate, affecting walkers, runners, hikers, non-exercisers, those with flat feet and those with high arches.
So what do we all have in common? Well, we all wear shoes, we mostly walk on flat and level ground and we sit a lot. The design of most footwear will tend to shift your pelvis forward and move your bodyweight to the front of the foot and load the structures there in a way that can become problematic over time.
This is a not a drive to get you to throw out your shoes and go barefoot but a call to action to consider your footwear and the affect it has on your feet and your whole body. In my experience, footwear is rarely considered when treating plantar fasciitis or indeed any other foot issue. Neither are the surfaces we walk on or our modern lifestyles.
A natural human foot is widest at the toes. Yes, at the toes, not at the balls of the feet (which is incidentally what gets measured when you get your children fitted for shoes). You only need to look at a baby’s foot, as yet unchanged by footwear, to see the widest part of a human foot. Culturally, of course, a wider toe box is considered less attractive but I think we can live with that when we begin to understand how our footwear can impact our health.
If you are dealing with Plantar Fasciitis, or indeed you want to avoid foot issues in the future, you are going to have to think big, beyond where you are experiencing the pain. You have to be willing to get to know your feet and your body a bit better and be your own detective. You will need to consider your footwear; the musculature north of the ankle and what daily habits might be affecting your feet.
Shoes
TOE BOX Does the shoe have enough space for your toes to move and eventually spread. Chronically squeezing the toes into too tight shoes will result in muscle atrophy, altered mechanics and decrease your base of support. I recently posted a tip on Instagram to help you when buying shoes
TOE RISE Look at the shoe from the side. Is the front of the shoe elevated from the ground bringing your toes into extension, effectively casting your toes? Does this sound like a good idea to you?
HEEL Does the shoe have a heel? You might consider a shoe to be flat but looking at it from the side, is the rear of the shoe elevated above the front? This will shift your bodyweight onto the front of your feet overloading the smaller muscles of the foot.
SOLE How flexible is the sole of the shoe. Does it limit movement of the foot or does your motion mostly come from the ankle. A stiff inflexible shoe with a thick sole will limit the movement of the foot. The muscles within the foot will have to work less and there will be less communication between the brain and the feet.
UPPER Is the shoe well connected to your foot or do you have to grip your toes to keep the shoe on? This becomes more of an issue in summer, when we tend to put our weak feet into a flip flop or similar and make the toe grippers have to work super hard to keep the shoe on. Then we wonder why our feet start to hurt.
Link to a video I made on the subject of footwear if you prefer a visual.
Calf Stretching
You have muscles that have attachments within the foot itself. You have muscles within the foot that also have an attachment in the lower leg. When addressing a foot issue you cannot ignore this muscle group because the majority of footwear has significantly impacted the muscles at the back of your legs. You will find instructions for introducing this particular calf stretch in an earlier blog.
Back your hips up
The simplest thing you can do for your feet right now is take the load off. Backing your hips up when you are standing will go a long way to changing how you load your feet and your plantar fascia. Standing with your pelvis over your ankles will better distribute your bodyweight over your feet and legs rather than overloading the small bones at the front of the foot. You may notice that your lower back feels better too!
I hope you find this helpful. Any questions, just ask.
Want to know more? Details of my next healthy feet workshops can be found here.
Be well.
Michelle
