PLANTAR FASCIITIS

Plantar fasciitis is a painful condition that can make walking the smallest distances a nightmare. Kathleen Grealis could barely walk one city block without excruciating pain.
“I was taking Motrin, Advil, any other kind of pain killer I could get my hands on.”
Apprehensive to make a trip to the doctor, Kathleen suffered in agony for weeks. “It was progressively getting worse to the point that I said OK, I’ll put an ace bandage on my foot. But it just became too painful.”

Finally, Kathleen surrendered to the pain and she was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the tough, fibrous band of tissue, the fascia, connecting your heel bone to the base of your toes.
But now, for sufferers like Kathleen, aggressive treatments of steroids injected directly into the plantar fascia, are relieving pain fast. According to recent data from the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, when compared with patients who underwent traditional therapy, patients who received a steroid injection regimen sooner in the course of treatment, reported a significant decrease in pain.
“The cortisone injection essentially consists of an anesthetic and steroid mix. The anesthetic immediately takes the patient out of pain, and the steroid works on decreasing the inflammation,” explains podiatrist, Dr. Oliver Zong.
For plantar fasciitis patients, the pain can be completely debilitating. People with very flat feet or very high arches are prone to plantar fasciitis. The condition can be caused by an increase in activities or no arch support in the shoe. Also at risk include those who are overweight, and people whose jobs require a lot of walking or standing on hard surfaces.
“90% of the time, a person will come into the office and they’ll say, I wake up, the first step out of bed feels like someone is sticking me with a knife,” says Dr. Zong.
When the plantar fascia is excessively strained, it triggers heel pain, arch pain and heel spurs. The bottom of the foot usually hurts near the inside of the foot where the heel and arch meet.
Pain is often most severe first thing in the morning or after a long rest, because while resting the plantar fascia contracts back to its original shape.
“The problem is that you only have eight hours before you put your foot down again. So, it’s not a complete healing. So, the first step of the day is all that scar tissue being torn apart,” reports Dr. Zong.
As the day progresses and the plantar fascia stretches, the pain subsides.
Standard treatment for plantar fasciitis includes anti-inflammatory medications, rest, stretching exercises and the use of over-the-counter heel cups or orthotics. Most medical experts consider steroid injections as a treatment for plantar fasciitis, if initial care is not effective after 4-6 weeks.
Kathleen admits getting the injection is quite uncomfortable, but says the plantar fasciitis treatment has returned her quality of life. “Getting the needle, yes, that does hurt, it does. But, I can put up with that for a minute or 10 seconds of pain to be relieved. It’s worth it.”
According to medical experts, you can reduce the strain and stress on the plantar fascia by avoiding running on hard or uneven ground, losing excess weight and wearing shoes that support your arch to prevent over-stretching of the plantar fascia.
For more information on plantar fasciitis, click here:
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_report.cfm?Thread_ID=144&topcategory=Foot
http://www.aafp.org/afp/990415ap/2200.html
For more information on foot pain, click here
http://www.healthnewsconnect.com/page0048.html