Heal Your Heel Pain

Eli Manning is just one of countless athletes to acquire the dreaded malady plantar fasciitis. His injury could heal up in short order, or it could linger for the entire season, or longer. It all depends on the actions taken to rectify the condition.

I happened upon a couple of articles on Eli’s injury, and read them with interest, since his condition is the topic of my book Injury Afoot. Sure enough, just a few sentences into one of the stories, a doctor interviewed for the piece mentions injections of corticosteroid, often called cortisone, as one of the top treatment options. I cringed. Horror stories abound regarding heel pain sufferers turning to cortisone injections and experiencing side effects that make plantar fasciitis look quite tame. Yet some in the medical field keep recommending these injections. Yikes.

I’m sure Eli has a team of therapists and trainers working with him on active recovery methods such as icing, stretching and strengthening. Active recovery is what you want Eli; steer clear of the cortisone injections.

Patrick Hafner, Author, Injury Afoot: 30 Things You Can Do To Relieve Heel Pain And Speed Healing of Plantar Fasciitis.

Came across a good article that discusses some unexpected results from frequent use of ibuprofen. This story focused on runners, but the physiology principles are the same for anybody who comes to rely on NSAIDS like ibuprofen for aches and pains.

My thoughts: for the most reliable, long-lasting recuperation from plantar fasciitis, a person should stretch, strengthen, brace, and accommodate – don’t medicate.

Poor footwear is a major contributor to plantar fasciitis. Case in point: the flip flop craze. It’s hard to believe that the recent surge in popularity of flip flops and the continued rise of plantar fasciitis cases is pure coincidence.  Flip flops give no support to your arch, and provide about as much shock absorption as a sheet of cardboard. If you’re in a warm weather area and want the flip flop style, you’d be better off with a high-quality sandal featuring an arch support in its design. Brands like ecco, Birkenstock, and Dr. Martens all make quality products in this regard, but this list is not exhaustive. These are just brands I’ve worn personally. The point being here, better alternatives to flimsy flip flops exist.

The opposite extreme is high heeled shoes, meaning anything from stilettos to cowboy boots. High heels jack the back of your foot way up, and in addition to providing little support, contribute to a shortening in your calf region and Achilles tendon. This is bad news if you already suffer from plantar fasciitis, and will increase the odds of acquiring it immensely if you don’t.

For a full description of what to look for in footwear, you may want to check out my book Injury Afoot: 30 Things You Can Do to Relieve Heel Pain and Speed Healing of Plantar Fasciitis. But in short, avoid flip flops and high heels as one more step in conquering and staving off plantar fasciitis.

In addition to running in one form or another for the past 30 years, I spent many years as a wrestler and judo athlete, and through that experience learned lots of things about flexibility, and what works and what doesn’t. Stretching is an integral part of a plantar fasciitis recuperation plan, so I thought it apt to pass along some of my thoughts on the subject. I’ve posted a section straight out of my book Injury Afoot: 30 Things You Can Do to Relieve Heel Pain and Speed Healing of Plantar Fasciitis relating to stretching and flexibility.  (Fellow publishers, feel free to use any of the text below for your own content, but see the Copyright section on the sidebar first.)

A Word About Stretching

No absolute verdict has ever been reached on the very best method with which to stretch muscles of the human body. If a person researched the topic until locating 100 articles or books on stretching, I think that person would find some glaring discrepancies. Probably 30 or 50 or 70 different takes on the number of repetitions, length of time to hold a stretch, stretching a cold muscle vs. a warmed-up muscle, and how far to stretch an inflexible muscle would appear. Overwhelming agreement amongst the experts on stretching does not seem to exist.

I don’t have the final answer on stretching, but I know a couple of things:
- Stretching can help you recover from plantar fasciitis, and
- Stretching can injure you.

Over the years, I got into the bad habit of never stretching. My best guess is that this lack of stretching helped me acquire plantar fasciitis in the first place. But once I started stretching on a regular basis, the healing process accelerated. I mean, really accelerated. The healing seemed to take place several times faster. And on walks and hikes where the soreness would recur, taking the time to stretch again would usually reduce the pain or make it go away completely. Stretching is a good thing, and most experts on the subject agree that it is not only helpful but imperative to stretch to resolve a case of plantar fasciitis.

But if you stretch a muscle with too much force and in too much of a hurry, the muscle can tear. And your injury problem will then become compounded. So keep three words in mind for a successful stretching venture: Consistent. Patient. Gentle.

Stretch regularly, at least once a day, as you help yourself heal from plantar fasciitis. A few times a week will not be enough. And try not to hurry. You must hold a stretch for it to work, and you might find yourself becoming a bit bored. Practice patience. And above all, be gentle when stretching. If it hurts, back off. If a stretch goes no further without discomfort, don’t force the stretch past that point. Ever. Be gentle and you won’t injure yourself while stretching.

How long should you hold a stretch? Over the years I’ve heard figures from two seconds all the way up to sixty seconds, and a wide variety within that range. Basically, they’ve all worked for me. As long as I did the stretches in the first place, and didn’t get too rough while doing them. I’ve listed the very general estimate in this book of holding a stretch 15-20 seconds, then repeating that stretch three or four times. Why? It’s worked for me. If you find holding a stretch shorter or longer than 15-20 seconds works better, then do it that way. Experiment and find the best duration of stretching for you personally. Just remember to be consistent, patient, and gentle, and your stretching endeavor will be effective.