Plantar Fascia Pain (Plantar Fasciitis, Heel Pain)

Plantar Fascia Pain can be a debilitative condition that causes pain and stiffness in the Heel and foot region.  It is often referred to as ‘Plantar Fasciitis’.

Common signs and symptoms of Plantar Fasciitis can include:

• A stiff and painful foot when you get out of bed
• Heel/ foot pain with running
• Heel/ Foot pain and stiffness 1-2 hours after exercise
• A heel that is sore to touch

Plantar Fasciitis is often a response to abnormal over load of the muscle and tendons around the heel and foot. This can be from a sudden unaccustomed load like sprinting for the bus, general overuse like in training for a Marathon or simply poor footwear.

Treatment

As part of a comprehensive treatment plan to reduce your pain and return you to normal activity levels, your expert physiotherapist at Complete Balance will:

• Identify & correct contributing factors to your pain such as:
  1. Biomechanics
  2. Muscle strength and imbalance
  3. Improve range of movement
  4. Assess your training technique or equipment (e.g. Footwear)

• Treatment to the area around the foot and heel using techniques such as:
  1. Soft tissue massage
  2. Dry needling
  3. Trigger point release
  4. Taping
  5. Self massage
  6. Icing

• Prescribe a progressive strength loading program to build the capacity of the foot and calf muscles to take load away from the painful region.

Important Take Away Messages

• Get the right advice early from the experienced Physiotherapists at Complete Balance so you can reduce your pain as quickly as possible
• Plantar fascia pain takes time to improve. Be patient and trust the process and program your expert physiotherapist has you on.
• Reducing the pain alone is not enough, you must address the contributing factors and your build strength and capacity
• Slowly re building your training or running loads is imperative. Your Complete Balance Physiotherapist will assist you with this.

Contact Us today to ensure you are on the correct path to having a pain free heel and back running or moving with confidence.