Foot/Ankle Issues! Help Knotted Yet and Wahine!

[spokewench]

Knotted and Wahine:

You both seem to know a lot about orthotics, foot and ankle issues. I have some questions for you.

I went to the doctor and was told I had plantar fasciitis, which I had already diagnosed for myself and she sent me to a physical therapist. I don't know the technical terms, but they did the sonogram type treatment and the electrical stimuli treatment, as well as a little massage. I have been doing lots of stretching, not only the ankle area, calves, foot, hamstrings, quads, back, since I believe things are all connected! I also bought a runners orthotic to put in my tennis shoes. I play tennis regularly.

It has helped. Most of the pain has gone away in the arch/heel of my foot. What I have noticed now and this may have been the culprit all along, is that my achilles gets really tight and starts to hurt some and the outside of my foot has started to hurt now. I'm not sure if the achilles being tight caused the plantar fasciitis first and that maybe the orthotic which has a good arch support pushes the weight of my body more onto the outside of my foot and caused the outside of the foot pain?

I'm thinking that maybe I should go to get a custom orthotic made. This, however is rather expensive, so I am wondering if you think this would help?

spoke.

[Wahine]

It has helped. Most of the pain has gone away in the arch/heel of my foot. What I have noticed now and this may have been the culprit all along, is that my achilles gets really tight and starts to hurt some and the outside of my foot has started to hurt now. I'm not sure if the achilles being tight caused the plantar fasciitis first and that maybe the orthotic which has a good arch support pushes the weight of my body more onto the outside of my foot and caused the outside of the foot pain?

I'm thinking that maybe I should go to get a custom orthotic made. This, however is rather expensive, so I am wondering if you think this would help?

spoke.

Knott really does more with orthotics than I do but the first thing I'd say is that you may be getting an over correction. Ways this can happen include putting an orthotic that limits pronation into a shoe that is also designed to limit pronation. The other thing that happens is that sometimes people put orthotics into shoes without taking out the originial insole first.

Tight calves strongly contribute to plantar fasciitis so keep stretching them. It's also a good idea to massge your calves out using a rolling pin works. You just roll it up and down. You can also buy "the Stick" or the trigger point releaser that you roll your calve on. Or you can roll on a ball or food can. You put the ball or food can on the floor, lay your calf on top, lift your body weight up with your arms so that your supporting yourself on your hands and the contact with the calf and move your bum forward and backward to create a rolling action.

Here's a link to a thread from a while back with tons of plantar fasciitis stuff.

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...ntar+fasciitis

Hope that helps.

[spokewench]

Thanks Wahine - yes, I took the regular insole out of the shoe before I put the insert in.

Thanks for the help. I have one of those foam rollers that I used for IT band syndrome - can I use that for the calf rolls too?

spoke

[Wahine]

Absolutely. The work really well, especially if you put your full body weight on it by crossing the other ankle over the ankle of the offending leg. Hurts sooooooo good.

[OakLeaf]

Ways this can happen include putting an orthotic that limits pronation into a shoe that is also designed to limit pronation.

Ahhhhhh.....

How come two pedorthotists, one PT and two apparently skilled shoe fitters failed to explain this to me?

So if I'm going to continue to use the orthotics I have - which I'm inclined to, since they've completely resolved my arch pain - my next pair of shoes should be designed for a fair-striker? And just putting my orthotics inside my motion control shoes - rather than the orthotics per se - could be the source of my heel/Achilles pain? Hoo-boy.

[Wahine]

It's not always the case that this is a bad thing, but yeah, that could have something to do with your heel pain. I will usually watch a person walking in their shoes with an orthotic and if they look over corrected (which is often the case with beefier motion control shoes) then I'll get them to try a more neutral shoe.