#1----------------------------
Thank you for these postings, everyone. I too was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis years ago, as well as flat feet and bone spurs in my heels. I wear special orthotics, and, two years ago, due to tarsal tunnel in both feet, I had to have surgery on each foot. The doctor told me I had varicose veins in my feet (yes, I'm around 200 lbs and 5 ft. 2"--this is with weight loss!) that were squeezing the sensory nerves. Like you, Tom, I can't walk for more than about 15 minutes at a time without having to take a break. It's a hell of a lot better than when the tarsal tunnel was raging (felt like constant running hot water under the soles before it numbed out completely and I went into surgery!), but it's still frustrating. My doctor has checked for the 'sock pattern' of nerve damage, but it's seemingly not there. I walked up a hill for 15 minutes the other day and at the end of it my feet were getting numb. Sounds as if neuropathy is more widespread and more crafty than I thought. Any ideas? And good luck to all of us.
#2---------------------
Hi - Thanks so much for your collection of information on plantar fasciitis. I am 41 years old, female, with a severe case of PF in my right foot. It was a mild case for the past 6 years, after the birth of my daughters, but the condition was aggravated about 8 months ago when I went on a longer than normal run.
Under a physicians care, I've been stretching, icing, taking anti-inflammatories, had acupuncture treatments and am now on my 5th pair of custom orthotics. I limp around most of the day, particularly after sitting a few minutes. Now I am seeing a physical therapist regularly who has me doing more stretches. The only time it feels a little better is when I am consistently active all day (but I have an office, "sit-down" job so this isn't part of my usual day).
I still run (it doesn't really hurt while I'm running) but I've reduced my mileage to 5-10 miles per week.
This condition makes me miserable and crabby!
If the current therapy isn't effective, I will consider surgery. After having problems with my feet for years, I thought I would pass along my experience with "bone spurs" and plantar fasciitis to others.
#3----------------------
I've had a lot of trouble with PF myself, and mine is also "uncharacteristic". In fact, I'm not positive I have PF at all anymore. I went through a period ten years ago when I could hardly walk, even with $200 orthotics *and* my feet taped *and* naprosyn.
I started having trouble with it again about six months ago. I went in and got some night splints, which is one of the newer treatments for PF. I understand they are very helpful for some people but they didn't help me much. As my condition got worse I started taping my feet again. Bad idea; since the feet couldn't bend the ankles had to bend more to compensate and I ended up with a *bad* case of achilles tendinitis that has kept me home for most of the past two months.
When I had the night splints made, the doctor wasn't sure of my diagnosis because I also didn't have pain on pressing the heels, and I have never had the "first step in the morning kills you" symptom that's characteristic of PF. My pain always just got worse the more I walked. Also, I noticed that I can reproduce some of the symptoms that I was assuming was PF (prickly feeling in the heel) by palpating nerves in the foot; for example tapping the nerve that runs just underneath and to the rear of the ankle bone on the inside of the foot makes my heel tingle. This made me wonder if my "PF" was actually some kind of nerve entrapment.
The other weird thing about my "PF" was how I got rid of it ten years ago. I was limping around for weeks feeling fragile; it seemed like I could hardly take a step without feeling some kind of tearing sensation in my feet. One day I guess I was forced to run to catch a bus or something and I noticed that I felt *better* afterwards. None of the doctors or physical therapists I've met since believe this, but for the next couple of months whenever my feet started to bother me I *ran* a couple of blocks and they felt better. After a couple months of this I just forgot about the problem and it didn't bother me for ten years.
I certainly can't recommend that you try this, but it shows that things aren't always as they seem and the answer isn't always what the doctor thinks it will be. Early on in my current achilles problem I was tempted to try "running it off" but I'm afraid it's too risky an experiment; damaged achilles tendons can *rupture* and I would really like to avoid that! The only bright side to the achilles problem is that my feet aren't really bothering me anymore, since I've been forced to rest them for so many weeks.
Anyway, I wish you luck. I am lucky to be in a situation where I'm able to work from home (I do computer support and can dial in and do 80% of my usual tasks). I hope you have something to keep you busy while you recover.
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