Relieving Plantar Fasciitis Pain – what worked for me
Today, I’m welcoming a guest voice to this space. Alex Z is someone I’ve known for a long time; thoughtful, grounded, and committed to sharing her lived experience. I’m honoured to share her piece with you.
I don’t know who “they” are but “they” say that your life will be miserable if you have tooth pain or foot pain. There are a lot of different kinds of foot pain but the pain of plantar fasciitis is like no other. You feel it on the bottom of your foot in the centre or at the heel, which is totally unexpected if you’ve suffered from blisters, osteoarthritis, ingrown toenails, etc. - the list of possible foot issues goes on and on.
Plantar fasciitis usually comes on suddenly and isn’t typically caused by an injury. It’s caused by overuse or repetitive strain, which means that it can appear out of nowhere and seemingly for no reason. This was my experience. One day in 2019 I stepped out of bed and found that I had agonizing pain down the centre of the sole of my right foot. Nothing would relieve the pain and walking was unbearable. For whatever reason, the plantar fascia – the ligament running from my heel to the front of my foot - was inflamed.
What worked for me, after trying everything I could think of without going to a podiatrist, was learning how to do Downward Dog, the yoga pose. I’d say this was after living with Plantar Fasciitis for about 5 months. I can’t remember everything I tried but a few things I do remember are: special insoles in my shoes, exercising my foot with a ball or roller, and wearing a brace (night splint) overnight to prevent my toes from pointing and the plantar fascia from shortening.
I think that when I understood the function of the night splint, I made the leap to figuring that there must be a more active way to stretch the plantar fascia and that’s when I learned how to do the Downward-Facing Dog pose. However, a night splint worked for a friend of mine who developed plantar fasciitis a couple of years after I suffered from it. Recently, I heard from someone who rolled a tennis ball under the inflamed foot every day and this eventually brought relief.
Still, I’d say that if you ever find yourself with pain in your plantar fascia, learn how to do Downward Dog FIRST, before you try any method that requires you to buy something. If stretching the plantar fascia every day doesn’t help, try the other methods and see if one of them works for you.
Bio:
You won't find Alex on the pickle ball court but you will find her on a plane sooner or later. She's pretty fluent in Italian and really enjoys her adventures in and around Italy. Retirement means more adventures and probably more destinations.