Planter's Faciitis!

I'm so frustrated!
It looks like I'm getting PF again in my left foot! Grrrrrr!
I had it two years ago for 7 months. It took having physical therapy and ultrasound therapy on it for three months to get it better.

My heel is so tender to walk on and I have to hobble around.

I hope none of you have to deal with this aggrevation.

For some reason my kids get it in the late spring/summer and it goes away. They have no medical issues besides very mild allergies during tree pollen season.

I have had it. It is awful. It does just go away by itself after many weeks for me.
I also have started wearing very good shoes in the past years. Birkenstock sandals (Gizeh style for me) in the summer, and Finn Comfort for winter. I have not had it in a few years, and maybe it could be because of the switch to good shoes? I don't know. But Joy, I know the pain you are in and sympathize greatly.
HEART

Joy, Birkenstock sandals worked and are working for me. My heels were so bad that just putting them on the floor killed me. I bought the Arizona style Birkenstocks and haven't looked back. I was so bad that it took me a few months before all the pain let up but I haven't had pain since. I now can go barefoot occasionally but I still prefer wearing the sandals...even as bedroom slippers. It's been 20 years since I have had plantar faciitis.

I hope you get some relief soon. It's miserable when you can't walk without being in incredible pain.

Sherrine

I can't afford berkenstock shoes right now. :-(

Since being out of work I've developed a habit of going barefoot or wearing socks around the house. I really hate shoes of any kind, but if I have to, I wear padded sandals or tennis shoes to go places.

I have an unusual birth defect where my left leg turns outward from the knee down. Because of that I'm prone to having more issues with that foot. I turn my ankle a lot and the arch is flatter than the other one. I have a night splint from last time and I need to find it and use it again. Sigh.....

I found those gel inserts helped. I also have a gel seat cushion that I carry around with me everywhere. It stops the sit bone pressure points from hurting after sitting in a chair for some time.
I would like to have all gel furniture....LOL Everything gel and then it wont hurt to sit on it.
only dreaming

Thanks, Sherrie.
I massaged some Australina Dream into my foot last night and it felt better today. It's a lot more tolarable this afternoon.

Heart and Joy, I lived in the Cleveland area for years and still wore my Birkenstock sandals. I wear the Arizona mostly and I would wear thick socks and adjust the straps on the shoes. I even was walking on a glacier in the Canadian Rockies wearing my Birkenstocks.

They have made a huge difference for me. I now have osteoporosis and I have great balance in these shoes, too. Love them! Can you tell? LOL. I had plantar faciitis in both feet and surgery was suggested. I opted to head to the shoe store instead.

Sherrine [\blue]

Ljm2014: I have some Spenco inserts, too, and like them. The custom-made inserts were very hard and worked well for me years ago, but over time my feet became just too sensitive for them. But I think they probably were better for my feet than the soft type, personally. Wish I could still wear them, but I do like the soft type I've found. So far, so good. :)

I once tried both my custom-made, then a soft type of insert on top, but it was too thick for my shoes and caused instant foot cramping. I've had some interesting experiments with them all, LOL!

That's interesting that your PT found your posture in the Spenco to be better than the custom-made. Sometimes, 'less' is 'more' and it's a winning situation. :)

I have to apologize this is longer than I realized....
The pain of plantarF is excruciating. Injections, custom inserts, therapy all the excercise never worked. Finally after months of experimenting I found a hard/soft shoe insert in a catalogue. Worked wonders and use them for the past few years. Comes with different heights and sizes of inserts to insert into the inserts. Under the heal and ball of the foot soft to medium support depending on the shoe and foot. So versatile & made such a difference from the other inserts from shoes stores, customs, soft gels etc.. I know it sounds funny but the height and width was a issue in my shoes.

I also remove the original shoe lining & arch and replace with a silicone lining then add the arch support. Now after a few years I can walk barefoot for the first time in years without that feeling of walkin on spikes golf shoes sole side up on the bottoms of my feet stabbing pain with every step.

ALSO ultra sound treatments to break the spurs in the heal area work well. Spurs on the heal area...so painful. Soft sole inserts in the heal area only as described above helped stop the spurs from forming and eventually went away.The ultra sound Works similar to blasting kidney stones into small pieces to pass thru the body, by breaking spurs away. Problem ...it was so new at the time (at the peak of my pain) that it was only available in certain areas of the country. None near where I live. Went to Hawaii with a suitcase load of foot, toe separators, cold/hot treatment wraps,walking was a exercise on making my own inserts padding...lifts bla...bla... It all worked just was so time consuming.

Cortisone shots was a exercise in torture... Shots in the bottom of my feet gave way to saying 4 letter words I didn't know I knew! ... Freaked out the podiatrist ... Ha ha...he should have sprayed them with freeze spray first to numb the injection site, which I later found out after firing him & moving on to a new podiatrist .
I will never have foot surgery it's just not worth it for bunions. Seen to many suffer long term recovery and little results.

Long story short finding the right insert is tricky and once that issue is solved do not do things that are repetitious and cause the issue to get worse, which is generally why we had the plantarF in the first place. Then UR on the way to recovery. Good luck. It is a struggle and with determination we will make it thru this tunnel.

Peace & healing

Yes here is my link to saving my failed arches. On the Internet now...
I hope it works for you...

*****walk fit platinum****
I am not selling anything just advice on what helped me. I have many for each type of shoe.

It won't hurt to give them a try? Cheap and functional. Beats those spendy custom fit numbers that don't work . These are adjustable and podiatrists hate the competition.

Peace & healing

When I was working and on my feet all of the time I would only wear SAS tennis shoes. I had some gel heel cups the doctor gave me after my last episode. It was heaven!
I might just have to dig those out of the back of the closet again.