Plantar Fasciitis: Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of the tissue in the foot used for walking. It can be caused by a number of factors and causes heel pain.
I’m gonna make this quick and get right to the point. How to recover from it.
I won’t get all into what Plantar Fasciitis is. If you have it, you know. I’m sure you’re here because you’ve been researching how to get rid of it. I’m getting over it right now as I type. It’s horrible, affects our daily life and just down right sucks! For me it started many moons ago. I never really learned how to run correctly. The Army didn’t teach me, so I just fell forward and caught myself with each step. Ruck marching MANY miles up and over hills, through creeks, in snow, desert, mountains have all attributed to my fallen arches and busted feet. Around 2008 I begin barefoot running because of the book, “Born to Run”, and would run the streets in my neighborhood, neighborhoods in Jerusalem, through the desert on base in Afghanistan and other places. I know that contributed to my busted feet as well. I did that to strengthen my legs and toughen my soles. It worked, but with a price.
So fast forward to me, now, at 47. Retired from the Army and contract work around the globe and just living the simple life. All those experiences are affecting my body. A couple years ago I began getting out of bed in the morning and hobbling to my closet to get clothes on. As soon as I put pressure on my feet I would feel a burning sensation. After walking for about 3 minutes the sensation went away and I was good to go. The past year it has gotten worse. I would hobble longer and periodically get that feeling that I had a rock stuck in my heel. I’ve been convinced it was a bone spur or something. I went to the VA to get this thing checked out about 4 months ago. They took x-rays and did an MRI. Yep!! Plantar Fasciitis; along with some other tearing and microfractures in my metatarsals.
The past couple weeks have been almost unbearable. Walking has been a chore. I bought a pair of On Cloud shoes a few months ago to help when it started getting worse. They’ve helped a bit, but not much. About 4 days ago I really started to hit a depression due to the pain and not being able to figure out what to do. I’m not a proponent of “treating the symptom”. I want to fix the problem. What is causing the problem and how do I fix it? I know what has happened to cause it, now let’s work on fixing it. So, here’s what I’ve learned and what has been working. Somewhere in this culmination, something has worked.
1. Cherry Juice twice per day about 10oz at a time.
2. Sangre de Drago “Dragon’s Blood”. I got this in November when I was down in Ecuador. Taking 10 drops/day for the past 4 days.
3. Rolling my feet on cans of soup.
4. After the cans of soup, I found my old Rogue Supernova. It’s a textured ball. I don’t think they sell it anymore but I found one for you on Amazon. It does the same thing and is MUCH less money. See below. Honestly? I think this has made the biggest impact. I started this yesterday and I have no pain this morning. It pulls on the fascia itself and massages the affected area. It has been amazing. The past two mornings, I wake up and go right to the chair in our room to sit and roll my feet out. Throughout the day, when I think of it, I’ll sit down and roll again. I just got done doing it. In my opinion, this ball is a MUST HAVE!!!
5. Insoles. I found an old pair of combat boots I used to wear when I’d ruck. This particular pair had been modified for long rucks. We called them “SOPC Specials”. Inside was a pair of SOLE Moldable soles. I TOTALLY forgot about these!! I’ve been wearing them and they have taken the pressure off the area of pain. I ordered two more pair this morning.
Those are my fixes. When I drill it down to what I feel has really helped me, it’s the rolling my feet on the ball and the insoles. If you do those two things I honestly believe it will help decrease or alleviate your pain completely. Hope this helped!!!
Hoodlm's Thoughts, Reviews and How-To's 