Why Is The Bottom Of My Foot Hurting?

You may have heard the term plantar fasciitis when asking around about pain in the bottom of the foot or researching your symptoms, but what is it and why is it inflamed? The plantar fascia is a thick fibrous band of tissue that runs along the bottom of the foot, starting along the heel and connecting to the base of the toes. It’s main purpose is to provide support to the arch along the inside of your foot. Just like any other tissue of the body, it can become stressed, strained, irritated, and/or inflamed, leading to pain anywhere from the heel to the arch of the foot. The plantar fascia is most commonly stressed due to decreased flexibility, higher body weight, increased pronation (or flat feet), activities involving prolonged weight bearing, or a rapid increase in activity levels, such as the beginning of a new running program. All these factors can place increased stress along the arch of your foot and the plantar fascia, leading to inflammation and possible pain.

So what can you do to reduce the pain and improve mobility? Physical therapy is a proven method for treating plantar fasciitis, helping patients to develop a personalized program to reduce pain and improve mobility. Typically, physical therapists will address flexibility and strength impairments, while also utilizing specific taping methods and going over proper shoe selection. Here are a few exercises typically used to treat plantar fasciitis:

Calf Stretch

Seated Plantar Fascia Stretch

Plantar Fascia Myofascial Release

If your symptoms seem to be lingering or you have more questions, contact us in order to schedule an appointment with one of our qualified physical therapists for evaluation and treatment. Get started now!

-Brian Collins, DPT

Quick Tips To Avoid Over-Training

Who out there is currently training for an endurance race or athletic event? For those of you who are, are you battling any nagging aches and pains? Unfortunately, both competitive and recreational athletes are subject to injury and it is well established that the majority of symptoms related to your training program are most likely the result of over-training. Think of over-training as being synonymous with overuse, and overuse described as repetitive and excessive microtrauma that overloads various musculoskeletal tissues. More simply, tissue breakdown exceeds tissue repair, leading to injury. With respect to endurance sports such as running or cycling, over-training can include excessive mileage, a rapid change in intensity/pace, and/or a sudden increase overall training distance. In other words, too much, too soon, too fast. A recent study reported that approximately one-third of runners with injuries described that they had changed their running routines just prior to their injury development. Another study demonstrated that injured runners had an average progression in weekly distance prior to injury of 31%, whereas the non-injured controls had a progression of 22%.

So what can we do to minimize our risk of injury while progressing through a training program? Here are a few tips:

• Progress slowly

  • As touched on, the majority of overuse injuries follow sudden or significant increases in duration or intensity. When participating in endurance sports, such as running or cycling, we want to follow the 10% rule, which states that we should not increase our weekly training mileage by more than 10% week-to-week. For example, if I run 20 miles this week, next week I should run no more than 22 miles in order to minimize my risk of injury while still adding mileage.

• Listen to your body

  • Think of pain as an alarm system within our body, alerting us of a potential injury to our tissues. Pain experienced in conjunction with your training program could be your body’s way of warning you of an impending injury if you continue to push it. Avoid taking medications like ibuprofen before a training run or workout, as to not impact your body’s ability to alert you of the need to stop.

• Mix it up

  • Many individuals focus on training for their primary sport nearly every day per week. This behavior stresses the same tissues in the same way day-in and day-out, leading to an increased risk of injury. Solution? Try participating in other physical activities or sports one to two days per week. For example, if you are a runner, try going cycling in order to get your cardio for the day. Or if you are a rock climber, take a day off and go to a yoga class. The key is using your body in a different way than you do in your typical training program.

• Take a break

  • While this is somewhat obvious, many of us are guilty of burying our heads in the sand and bucking this recommendation. Rest is important in both injury prevention and performance. Well rested tissues will function better than chronically overused tissues.

• Cool off

  • Applying a cold pack to a region of the body that is hurting after an intense workout can be an effective way to reduce or eliminate discomfort. This is a much safer long-term alternative to popping ibuprofen each and every day.

Happy training!

-Grant Hennington, DPT