Page last reviewed: 01 April Next review due: 01 April Plantar fasciitis. Check if you have plantar fasciitis The main symptom of plantar fasciitis is pain on the bottom of your foot, around your heel and arch. Do rest and raise your foot on a stool when you can put an ice pack or bag of frozen peas in a towel on the painful area for up to 20 minutes every 2 to 3 hours wear wide comfortable shoes with a low heel and soft sole use soft insoles or heel pads in your shoes regular gentle stretching exercises exercises that do not put pressure on your feet, such as swimming take paracetamol.
Find a pharmacy. Non-urgent advice: See a GP if:. Ignoring plantar fasciitis can lead to ongoing pain and possible damage to structures in the foot. A doctor will usually ask the individual about their symptoms and medical history, as well as any lifestyle factors that may have contributed to the problem. They may also wish to know the exact location of the pain and whether it is worse at certain times of the day or after exercise. Plantar fasciitis can cause significant pain and difficulty moving the foot normally.
However, most people make a complete recovery from the condition. Treating plantar fasciitis with home remedies and simple lifestyle changes is usually effective. A person can reduce the risk factors by engaging in low impact exercise, wearing appropriate footwear, and maintaining a healthy body weight.
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What is plantar fasciitis? Medically reviewed by Timothy Gossett, M. Causes Symptoms Home remedies Lifestyle changes Treatments When to see a doctor Summary Plantar fasciitis is a common condition that causes pain in the heel. What causes plantar fasciitis? Share on Pinterest Regular high impact exercise is a possible cause of plantar fasciitis. Home remedies. Lifestyle changes. Share on Pinterest Investing in supportive shoes may help prevent plantar fasciitis from developing.
When to see a doctor. Share on Pinterest A person should talk to their doctor if plantar fasciitis does not improve with home remedies. Latest news Adolescent depression: Could school screening help? Exposure to air pollutants may amplify risk for depression in healthy individuals. Related Coverage. What causes a bump on the bottom of the foot? It also occurs in younger people who are on their feet a lot, like athletes or soldiers.
It can happen in one foot or both feet. Plantar fasciitis is caused by straining the ligament that supports your arch. Repeated strain can cause tiny tears in the ligament. These can lead to pain and swelling. This is more likely to happen if:. Most people with plantar fasciitis have pain when they take their first steps after they get out of bed or sit for a long time.
You may have less stiffness and pain after you take a few steps. But your foot may hurt more as the day goes on. It may hurt the most when you climb stairs or after you stand for a long time.
If you have foot pain at night, you may have a different problem, such as arthritis , or a nerve problem such as tarsal tunnel syndrome. Your doctor will check your feet and watch you stand and walk. He or she will also ask questions about:.
Your doctor may take an X-ray of your foot if he or she suspects a problem with the bones of your foot, such as a stress fracture. No single treatment works best for everyone with plantar fasciitis. But there are many things you can try to help your foot get better:. If these treatments do not help, your doctor may recommend splints that you wear at night, shots of medicine such as a steroid in your heel, or other treatments. You probably will not need surgery.
Doctors only suggest it for people who still have pain after trying other treatments for 6 to 12 months. Plantar fasciitis most often occurs because of injuries that have happened over time.
With treatment, you will have less pain within a few weeks. But it may take time for the pain to go away completely. It may take a few months to a year. Stay with your treatment. If you don't, you may have constant pain when you stand or walk. The sooner you start treatment, the sooner your feet will stop hurting. Health Tools help you make wise health decisions or take action to improve your health. Exactly what causes plantar fasciitis is not well understood.
But it probably develops as the result of repeated small tears in the plantar fascia. Normally when you walk, your plantar fascia stretches as your foot strikes the ground. If the plantar fascia is strained by the way you walk or by repeated stress, it can become weak, swollen, and irritated inflamed , and it can hurt when you stand or walk. Conditions or activities that may lead to plantar fasciitis include:. The classic symptom of plantar fasciitis is heel pain when you take your first steps after getting out of bed or after sitting for a long period of time.
You may also have:. Plantar fasciitis may be mistaken for other conditions with similar symptoms, such as arthritis or a nerve problem such as tarsal tunnel syndrome. Plantar fasciitis usually develops gradually. You may have heel pain only when you take your first steps after getting out of bed or after sitting for a long period of time.
If you do not rest your feet, the pain will get worse. Other things, such as the repetitive stress of walking, standing, running, or jumping, will add to the injury, inflammation , and pain. The injured ligament may never heal completely if you are not able to stop the activity or change the condition that caused it. If the condition is not treated, plantar fasciitis can cause constant heel pain when you stand or walk.
You have a greater chance of developing plantar fasciitis if you:. If you are a runner, you increase your chance of developing plantar fasciitis if you:. If you think you might have plantar fasciitis, call your doctor. The earlier a doctor diagnoses and treats your problem, the sooner you will have relief from pain. Call your doctor immediately if you have heel pain with fever, with redness or warmth in your heel, or with numbness or tingling in your heel.
Call your doctor if you have been diagnosed with plantar fasciitis and the home treatment you agreed on is not helping to control your heel pain. Your family doctor , general practitioner , or podiatrist can evaluate and diagnose plantar fasciitis and recommend non-surgical treatment.
If non-surgical treatments fail to relieve your pain, your doctor may refer you to a specialist such as an orthopedic surgeon. If you are an athlete, your doctor may refer you to a sports medicine specialist to look for problems with how your feet strike the ground, how your feet are shaped, or your training routine.
The following health professionals can do surgery:. To diagnose plantar fasciitis, your doctor will ask questions about your symptoms and your past health. He or she will also do a physical examination of your feet that includes watching you stand and walk. X-rays aren't helpful in diagnosing plantar fasciitis, because they do not show ligaments clearly. But your doctor might take X-rays if he or she suspects a stress fracture , bone cyst, or other foot or ankle bone problems.
X-rays may show whether a heel spur is present, but a bone spur does not necessarily mean that a person has plantar fasciitis. If the diagnosis is not clear, you may have other tests. Tests that are done in rare cases include ultrasound, MRI , blood tests, bone scans, and vascular testing, which can evaluate blood flow in the foot and lower leg.
If your doctor suspects nerve entrapment, you may have neurological testing. The goals of treatment for plantar fasciitis are to:. Most people recover completely within a year. Out of people with plantar fasciitis, about 95 are able to relieve their heel pain with non-surgical treatments. Only about 5 out of need surgery. Treatment that you start when you first notice symptoms is more successful and takes less time than treatment that is delayed. There are many methods you can try to relieve the heel pain of plantar fasciitis.
Even though their effectiveness has not been proved in scientific studies, these methods, used alone or in combination, work for most people. Avoid using only heat on your foot, such as from a heating pad or a heat pack for at least the first 2 or 3 days.
Heat tends to make symptoms worse for some people. If you use contrast baths , which alternate hot and cold water, make sure you end with a soak in cold water. If you try a heating pad, use a low setting. If your weight is putting extra stress on your feet, your doctor may encourage you to try a weight-loss program. If non-surgical methods such as rest, ice, and stretching exercises help relieve your plantar fasciitis symptoms, continue using them.
If you have not improved after 6 weeks, your doctor may recommend that you continue those methods but add other non-surgical treatments, such as:. Formal physiotherapy instruction can help make sure you properly stretch your Achilles tendon and plantar fascia ligament. Doctors usually consider surgery only for severe cases that do not improve. Your doctor may suggest corticosteroid shots if you have tried non-surgical treatment for several weeks without success.
Also, the shots themselves can be painful, and repeated shots can damage the heel pad and the plantar fascia. Plantar fascia release involves cutting part of the plantar fascia ligament in order to release the tension and relieve the inflammation of the ligament. If you are trying to lose weight and you develop plantar fasciitis when you begin exercising, especially jogging, talk with your doctor about other types of activity that will support your weight-loss efforts without making your heel pain worse.
An activity like swimming that doesn't put stress on your feet may be a good choice. If your plantar fasciitis is related to sports or your job, you may have trouble stopping or reducing your activity to allow your feet to heal.
But resting your feet is very important to avoid long-lasting heel pain. Your doctor or a sports medicine specialist may be able to suggest a plan for alternating your regular activities with ones that do not make your pain worse. If you exercise frequently, ask your doctor whether physiotherapy or referral to a sports medicine specialist, podiatrist , or orthopedic surgeon is appropriate.
Some questions you may want to ask about exercise include:. The following steps will help prevent plantar fasciitis or help keep the condition from getting worse if you already have it:. If you feel that work activities caused your heel pain, ask your human resources department for information about different ways of doing your job that will not make your heel pain worse.
If you are involved in sports, you may want to consult a sports training specialist for training and conditioning programs to prevent plantar fasciitis from recurring. The first steps your doctor will recommend to treat plantar fasciitis are ones you can take yourself. Different people find that one method or a combination of methods works best for them. Often athletes develop foot problems because they train in shoes that are worn out or don't fit properly.
Replace your shoes every few months, because the padding wears out. Also, replace shoes if the tread or heels are worn down. While replacing shoes is expensive, it is less expensive—and less painful—than a long-lasting heel problem. Other sensible training techniques, such as avoiding uneven or hard surfaces, can help prevent plantar fasciitis from occurring or returning.
To be successful at treating plantar fasciitis, you will need to:. The healing process takes time—from a few months to a year. But you should begin to have less pain within weeks of starting treatment. If you have not improved after trying these methods for 6 weeks, your doctor will suggest other treatments. Your doctor may recommend medicine to relieve the pain and inflammation caused by plantar fasciitis.
Drug treatment does not cure plantar fasciitis. But by reducing pain, medicine may make it easier for you to follow other treatment steps, such as stretching. You should not use medicine as a way to continue the activities that are causing heel pain. Injections of botulinum toxin are being studied for use in plantar fasciitis.
Surgery is usually not needed for plantar fasciitis. About 95 out of people who have plantar fasciitis are able to relieve heel pain without surgery.
Your doctor may consider surgery if non-surgical treatment has not helped and heel pain is restricting your daily activities.
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