Dealing with Plantar fasciitis

I had Plantar Fasciitis when I was in Middle School and I was on the Cross Country team. It was awful, and it was every step I took I felt like I was being stabbed in the heel. I didn't think anything was wrong with it at first, but eventually, I told my mom about it.

We went to a Doctor about it and he recommended I get better running shoes(Asics) with a lot more support, and he also recommended I put gel inserts into them for even more support. I also had to get taped a certain way by the doctor and had to go back a few times to get re-taped. Funny thing about this was the Doctor told me that this only usually occurred with middle-aged men that were runners, and he had never really seen a kid have this problem.

I don't remember exactly how long it took to recover, but I think it healed on its own after a few weeks to a month.

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So after a little research and a self diagnosis I’ve concluded it’s Plantar fasciitis

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Feet are complicated and I wouldn't be so confident with my conclusion if I were you (although you very well could be right), just be open minded because if you get it set in your mind it's plantar fasciitis and that's that....and you attempt to treat it as plantar fasciitis but your symptoms get worse and it never goes away you'll eventually have to go to a podiatrist and get it professionally diagnosed. There is many causes for heel pain.

All that said, you know what your symptoms are and I second what the other poster said, roll the bottom of your foot over a ball of some kind. I use lacrosse balls, they cost $6, but you can definitely use a baseball you may have laying around or a tennis ball or a racquet ball. I find tennis balls and racquet balls too squishy to be any good for me, and golf balls are too small and hard, the lacrosse ball is perfect due to it's size and density, and I use it on several different body parts/areas. I would only roll your foot on a frozen water bottle if it's killing you and you need to numb the pain, but what you need to do is warm your foot up, roll it out with the ball daily for 30 seconds to 2 minutes each. Just set a reminder on your phone to get in the habit and see if that handles it.

Leaving a lacrosse ball in the freezer and using that to roll over is slightly more effective than the water bottle.

But yeah, stay off your foot when you can. It can be from 2 weeks to a month before it's better.

ASICS is a good shoe for mine. Pain comes and goes but it’s at the high point of left arch.

Your shoes may last longer if you have a couple of pairs in rotation. Supposed to allow the foam to recover. Don't remember the time on rotation, it's been a long time since I ran enough for it to matter. Plantar fasciitis had me crippled for months. Daily stretching is the only thing that helped clear it up. I slept in those stupid socks with the straps forever. So now if my feet start to bother me I just do the stretches.

I got it from wearing 2 year old tennis shoes. Took months to fix it but new shoes were the answer.

I've cured it twice through the following:

1) Jump Rope - start doing like 250 a day...increase when you can
2) Wear Boots - start wearing boots as often as possible. It holds the foot in the proper alignment that helps in the recovery

3) Find Good Tennis Shoes for you - Got mine from doing HIIT stuff in cheap 59 UA shoes. Bought more expensive, better padded arch and sole shoes for exercise.

4) Forget running for awhile - Do cardio through the bike or by walking. Also remember that the jumprope you do is cardio. All you will do by running is is reinjure it.

stretching, rolling the ball, rolling the frozen water bottle did zero for me but i understand it works for others