Plantar Fascia (Heel Pain)

The plantar fascia is a band (tight group) of tissue, kind of like a tendon, on the bottom of your foot. The band of tissue starts at your heel and goes along the bottom of your foot. It fastens to each of the bones that forms the ball (bottom front just before your toes) of your foot.

The plantar fascia acts like a rubber band between your heel and the ball of your foot. This makes the arch of your foot. Short band = high arch; long band = low arch (flatfeet)

You have a pad of fat in your heel that covers the plantar fascia. This helps absorb the shock of walking. If you hurt the plantar fascia it can cause pain in your heel.

Causes:

As you age, your plantar fascia does not stretch as well and the fat pad on you heel gets thinner, so it is not able to absorb the shock of walking as well. This extra shock can hurt the plantar fascia. The plantar fascia may swell, tear, or bruise. You may have a bruise on your heel or it may be swollen.

Symptoms:

• Pain in your heel when you stand up for the first time in the morning
• Pain feels like a knife or a pin sticking into the bottom of your foot
• Knife-like pain changes to a dull ache after you have been standing for awhile
• Sharp pain comes back after you sit and then stand up to walk again

Treatment:

• If running is the cause, you must stop the activity for a while. Check with a physician.
• If your arches are too low or too high, sometimes shoe inserts can help. You should ask your doctor. The inserts need to be fitted just for your feet
• If you are overweight, losing weight can help.
• If you do something that you need to stand in one spot on a hard floor for a long time, try putting padding under your feet where you have to stand, You can do stretching exercises.

Exercises:

• Do calf stretches at least 2 times a day.
• Repeat each stretch 10 to 15 times.
• Do not bounce when stretching.
• Hold each stretch for 10 to 15 seconds.