Pain at the bottom of your foot or heel of your foot: PLANTAR FASCIITIS

What is plantar fasciitis?

Plantar fasciitis means that there is an inflammation of the plantar fascia, which is a long ligament that attaches on the heel and connects to the front of your foot. The plantar fascia acts as a mechanism to support the arch of foot for weight bearing, protecting the structures of foot and shock absorption.

What are the causes of foot pain?

• Pregnancy, overweight: Due to increased pressure on ligaments at the bottom of your foot.
• Runner: Constant pressure and overuse of the plantar fascia ligament
• Flat feet: Due to tight Achilles tendon, a tendon which connects to the heels from calf muscles
• High foot arch: Could be genetics or neurological disorders and People with high arch are more likely to develop plantar fasciitis due to enormous amount of weight placed on the heel
• Old age: Due to degeneration of fat pad, wear and tear on plantar fascia

Incorrect Footwear- make sure you have correct footwear and shoes are not worn out!!

Symptoms of planter Fasciitis:

• Pain over your heel after standing for a long time
• Worse in the morning (toe walking especially)
• Pain after exercise

How to diagnose foot pain:

Your practitioners will perform few physical examination to look for tenderness in your foot and location of pain to make sure it is the right diagnosis and rule out other possible cause for heel pain.

There are few test to confirm this diagnosis.

1. MRI/X-RAY of the foot
a. This is to rule out other problems such as bone spurs or stress fracture.
2. Windlass
a. Heel pain when flexing the big toe with pressure
3. One leg stance
a. Heel pain during weight bearing and pressure placed on the plantar fascia

Home remedies for plantar fasciitis:

Usually people will go after home remedies before trying out other treatments, which is completely normal. Some of the thing you can try at home are applying heat pack on your heel for at least 10-20 minutes, resting your foot as much as possible, find a shoe with good cushioning and arch support in your shoe. Get a massage on your calf.

Chiropractic Treatment of foot pain:

If none of the home remedies seem to be helping, we would highly recommend to consult a chiropractor. At Lakeside Chiropractic Clinic, we do soft tissue therapy, dry needling, electrotherapy, manual adjustment and cold laser therapy to treat plantar fasciitis. What we do is promote healing, provide effective management and reduce pain. Most patients who had their treatment done will experience pain relief. We can identify what is causing your heel pain and try find a permanent solution for you.

With regular visits to your chiropractor, you may find that the frequency and intensity of heel pain is reduced and your able walk better.

Plantar fasciitis can be annoying and painful, but with some exercises and proper care from your chiropractor, you can resume back to your normal daily lifestyle within no time. If you need to get your plantar fasciitis treated or some other problems that is bothering you, feel free to phone us at (08) 9300 0095 or head to our website to book yourself in.