Plantar Fasciitis Secrets to Immediate Relief - Part 1

Plantar Fasciitis Secrets of Getting Immediate Relief - Footwear 1

The secrets to getting immediate relief of your plantar fasciitis pain is that making sure your foot is well supported when you are weight bearing and walking and doing your activities. Support for your feet is important as it requires you to make sure that your foot is supported in a fashion that is going to enable you to walk with freedom and ease yet at the same time help to take the pressure off the plantar fascia... a soft tissue structure that is important to holding the foot in it's correct alignment.

\"Foot Specialist\"

Most problems that affect the feet, legs, knees and hips tend to relate to either, alignment issues or a direct traumatic injury to the area of concern. With plantar fascia injuries direct trauma's tend to be either during sports, running, jumping or high impact activities such as boxing, aerobics. Though occupational injuries can cause problems as well. Jumping off the side of a truck and landing on uneven ground, drum players in bands, retail workers who work on their feet all day. Construction workers, landscapers and concrete cutters all can sustain this type of injury from direct trauma. Even the home gardener can sustain injuries such as using the humble old shovel/ spade when using soft shoes that don't support the bottom of your feet. Support for your feet and plantar fascia can come in many different forms. The first and easiest form is footwear.

Plantar Fasciitis Secrets to Immediate Relief - Part 1

Footwear runners... joggers, athletic shoes are ideal as they provide total enclosed support for the feet. Supportive runners should include...a stiff heel counter (heel of the shoe) with soft padding. Flexible through the ball of the shoe (that is the toe section of the shoe should bend where the toes bend) and firm through the midsole of the shoe. They should have laces ideally. Why laces you ask...the important thing is that laces can be adjusted to the size of one's foot. Foot size and fluid volume of the foot vary from day to day and having laces will enable you to accommodate those changes in volume. Then insole, shoe liner or foot bed should be able to be removed. So that if any other style of foot bed needs to be placed inside this can be done very easily.

Footwear Sandals...Many people wear sandals particularly in the warmer climates. There are sandals that are ideal for supporting the foot with plantar fasciitis and there are sandals that are not. I would highly recommend investing in sandals that have a contoured sole and that the sole of the sandal is made from a cork or EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) base. If you go to many of your specialty shoe stores, outdoor, camping or hiking shoe shops there will be numerous style of sandals you can try on that will help support your plantar fascia. Some of the brand include..Naot, Teva, Keen, Homy Ped, are just some brands that will help support your feet.

One of the important plantar fasciitis secrets is using the correct footwear to help support your feet when you have pain and discomfort. If you find you don't get the success from shoes alone you may need to visit a Podiatrist (foot specialist) or MD to help you.

Written by Ben Sibley
http://www.plantarfasciitissecrets.com

Plantar Fasciitis Secrets to Immediate Relief - Part 1

Ben Sibley is a qualified Podiatrist in Australia. He has treated in excess of 3567 cases of plantar fasciitis and has developed a unique system of care that gives clients a greater than 87% chance of pain relief and resolution of this problem. http://www.plantarfasciitissecrets.com

5 Home Remedies for Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar Fasciitis is a medical condition which affects the feet. It will cause extreme pain and this pain is more pronounced during the morning when the ligaments and tendons in the feet are not yet warmed up. Many patients describe the pain they experience in the morning as being stabbed repeatedly in the feet. The onset of pain is largely due to long periods of immobility of the feet such as a long day of using the computer. As the activities around the leg increases, the pain will decrease. The most common treatment method is the use of anti-inflammatory medication as well as pain killers to provide pain relief. However, some home remedies can actually work wonders.

Ice

\"Pain Foot\"

Ice is probably the cheapest and one of the most effective home remedies. If you have an ice pack, use it. If not, you can even use frozen peas. Massage the painful area for around 15 minutes, 5 times a day. Ice can help to bring down swelling and reduce inflammation.

5 Home Remedies for Plantar Fasciitis

Protective arch support insoles

You should purchase insoles that provide arch support and place them in your shoes. It can help to reduce pain and divert away some of the impact to bring relief of pain when you move around. If possible, you should even wear them at home when you move around.

Stretching

Whenever possible during the day, you should perform stretching exercises targeted at your legs. Exercises that stretch the Achilles tendon and Plantar Fascia will help to increase flexibility and warm the area up, reducing pain.

Massages using creams or oils

If able, you should massage the painful area with pain relief creams or even medicated oils multiple times during the day. Massages with medicated oils will help increase the blood circulation level at the legs and bring pain relief and promote healing.

Foot splints

When you turn in for the day, you should use foot splints to brace the foot, ankle and lower leg. The main purpose of the splint is to provide gradual stretches of the plantar fascia throughout the night, reducing stress levels and reducing pain and inflammation. Since the stretching continues through the night, you will experience lesser pain when you first wake up in the morning.

Plantar Fasciitis is a troublesome and painful leg condition that will cause a lot of discomfort throughout the day and night. It is not good to depend on pain relief medication always and whenever possible, you should substitute the pain relief medication with some home remedies.

5 Home Remedies for Plantar Fasciitis

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A Lump in the Sole of the Foot - Plantar Fibromas Explained

Anytime one feels a lump in the body, mental alarm bells ring out with fears of cancer. This natural reaction is fairly universal for most people. When the lump is felt in the bottom of the foot, where it can cause pain with every step, the fear can be even greater owing to the noticeable symptoms the lump has when walking or standing. Fortunately, true malignant tumors of deep tissue in the foot are very rare. However, it is not uncommon for many people to develop a benign firm mass on the bottom of the foot arch called a plantar fibroma (or superficial fibromatosis).

Plantar fibromas develop from a part of the foot known as the plantar fascia. The plantar fascia is a thick, strap-like dense tissue that connects the heel bone and the ball of the foot. This tissue is broad, traversing across the entire width of the foot in three distinct bands. It is essentially a thick ligament, and provides some rigidity to the arch of the foot. In some people, small nodules, or growths, can develop along the surface of the fascia, and can slowly expand over time. These growths can be single, multiple in number, or one mass with numerous areas of bulging. The nodules are well affixed to the fascia, and do not move when one tries to move the overlying skin around. In general, these nodules grow very slowly, and do not appear 'overnight'. However, they may seem to suddenly appear as most people cannot feel them until they become very large or develop pain. At times, people who rub their feet might notice them early on, but most people only notice the mass all of a sudden when it is big enough to expand the underlying skin or is tender to pressure. One can rest assured that these masses are benign, and conversion to a malignant cancer (fibrosarcoma) is almost unheard of.

\"Foot Specialist\"

Symptoms are usually related to irritation of the fascia tissue and inflammation around the nodule when one stands on the foot and places pressure on the fibroma. Many of these plantar fibromas are painless masses that are not irritated by pressure on the sole of the foot. Some are painful, though, and can limit one's ability to comfortably walk. This is especially true when the mass pushes into a sensitive tissue, such as one of the many nerves found traversing the bottom of the foot above or below the plantar fascia. Barefoot walking and shoe use can be uncomfortable due to the 'lump', and other parts of the plantar fascia can become irritated as a result.

A Lump in the Sole of the Foot - Plantar Fibromas Explained

Treatment is geared towards either accommodating the mass to make those who suffer with it more comfortable, or removing it all together. It should be noted that if the mass does not cause any discomfort, it does not need to be treated. Its growth cannot be slowed or prevented with early treatment, and aggressive treatment of a non-painful plantar fibroma is not necessary. When there is pain involved, treatment with accommodation or removal is clearly recommended. Accommodating the mass involves the use of stretches to keep the fascia limber, anti-inflammatory medication, and accommodative inserts that pad and protect the area around the mass. In some people with painful plantar fibromas, this can help relieve, or at least temporarily control, the pain. If this is not effective, then surgery is typically needed to remove the mass itself. This surgery can run the range from simple to highly complicated depending on the size of the mass. Small plantar fibromas are easily removed with out too much tissue loss, and the resulting tissue gap can eventually fill with scar tissue to keep the structure of the plantar fascia intact. In any removal procedure, it is vital that all of the fibroma, along with a margin of normal fascia and the overlying under surface of the skin be removed to help prevent recurrence. Medium and large size fibromas are much more difficult to remove. Their removal causes large gaps in the plantar fascia, and can effect the stability of the bottom of the foot to a certain degree. This also leaves open an internal area that can be apt to developing scars and adhesions in the surface under and on the skin. At times, the resulting tissue can potentially be more painful than the original fibroma if healing is poor. These gaps need to be filled in if possible to maintain integrity of the fascia and limit scar tissue. Newer tissue grafts that act as scaffolds for whatever tissue is attached to them can help with this problem. The remaining fascia tissue will creep into these grafts, effectively restoring the fascia to a similar state as before surgery (and before the mass). Whether large or small, all plantar fibromas have a fairly high rate of recurrence, and even the best surgical technique cannot necessarily prevent this from happening. Simply put, some people quickly regrow these masses even after removal. This is not a sign so much for malignancy as much as it's a sign of a common problem after excision surgery for plantar fibromas. There is no way to effectively control this potential for regrowth after surgery unfortunately.

One final note should be made regarding plantar fibromas, and foot masses in general. As stated previously, true deep foot malignant tumors are very rare...but they do occur. It is recommended that a medical evaluation by a foot specialist (podiatrist) be performed to ensure that the mass felt is simply a common plantar fibroma. An MRI may need to be performed if there are unusual characteristics to the shape or location of the mass (or even if surgery to remove it is being planned). Less commonly, a biopsy may be considered if there is great abnormality or questionable findings on the exam. While all this may seem like a lot of time and money for a little mass, it can potentially make the difference between a healthy foot and a leg amputation if there truly is something more abnormal to begin with.

A Lump in the Sole of the Foot - Plantar Fibromas Explained

Dr. Kilberg provides compassionate and complete foot and ankle care to adults and children in the Indianapolis area. He is board certified by the American Board of Podiatric Surgery, and is a member of the American Podiatric Medical Association. He enjoys providing comprehensive foot health information to the online community to help the public better understand their feet. Visit his practice website for more information.