Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar Fasciitis is an umbrella term for the inflammation of the connective tissue on the plantar (bottom) surface of the foot connecting on your heel and up towards the toes. It can range from being mildy uncomfortable to excruciatingly painful. Anyone can acquire it, but mostly it occurs to athletes, people standing on their feet for long periods of time, pregnant women, and those with inadequate support. How do you know if you have it? Easy. Does the bottom of your feet hurt when you wake up in the morning? Does the pain return if you've been standing or when you get up from sitting for awhile? If you answered yes, you more than likely have plantar fasciitis. Of course you would need to see a doctor to diagnose this.

For those that have suffered from this condition know that it is quite painful and seems to take forever to heal, but there are a few things that you can do to avoid it:

• Avoid walking in barefeet (In shoe-less households try having house-shoes or wearing slippers)
• Make sure you have appropriate support in your footwear.
• Wear orthotics if necessary
• When standing for long periods, take a break and stretch and sit with your feet up.
• Have someone you live with massage your feet at the end of the day.

If you think you have plantar fasciitis, make an appt. with your doctor so that you can start to heal as quickly as possible. Your recovery might include new shoes, orthotics, stretches, exercises, massage, anti-inflammatories, and/or a special boot from your Dr. it is very important to treat this as soon as possible as it can get worse and start to effect the rest of your body. If your foundation is off, it is going to reverberate up your whole body and effect the muscles in your legs, hips and back.

Massage can tremendously help to alleviate the pain and discomfort of plantar fasciitis. During the day (and while you sleep) fluid builds up in your feet. Massage geared towards this condition will assist the body in circulating the fluids back up as well stretching the fascia, tendons and ligaments. With your feet in pain, you are most likely walking differently. This is going to effect the muscles all the way up to your back. To prevent or troubleshoot this chain reaction, a deep tissue massage is your best bet.