Tag Archives: Plantar Fasciitis

Treading lightly

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The RAC 10km race is one of my favorite road races on the running calendar. It’s well organized, you can enter on the morning and the best part is the 8am start which means you still get to sleep in and enjoy your Sunday long run (bonus)!

Having taken a break since last year for his stress fracture in his femur, KK decided to run with me. We never run together. He’s too competitive and runs almost double the pace faster than what I can run. Which usually means we fight. And besides, I was worried about his leg. Would he manage 10kms?

But 2kms into the race, my worries turned to my own pain. My foot!

When I had X-rays taken in November last year for my sprained ankle, what surprised me most was finally seeing what had caused months of heel pain. The plantar fasciitis was in actual fact a heel spur!

I had not felt the stabbing hot poker to my heel since I started running again in January but boy did it rear it’s nasty head at this race.

I was disappointed. Was it ever going to go away? Most probably not.

Did it ruin my race? Definitely not!

Watching KK’s body language, the glee written all over his face at the fact that he was running: priceless! We stuck together for the entire distance.

And when he pushed me up that last 500m into the RAC field, I didn’t hate him. I would’ve run another 10kms if he asked me to.

Running through the Jo’burg streets engulfed in the most beautiful autumn colors. Just beautiful!

There are a few more winter races coming up soon and we’re both looking forward to them.

Will we run them together? Judging from his motivation to regain his running strength and fitness, most probably not. As I blog this post, KK keeps moaning about the DOMS from his training. There’s no such thing as baby steps in his life! Dude’s on a mission!

Tips for treating that dreaded Plantar Fasciitis

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Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common injuries among athletes, affecting approximately 10% of runners at least once during their lives. It sparks fear in most runners because it’s a stubborn injury that can take weeks, even months to heal.

When I was struck down by plantar fasciitis (a little dramatic, I admit), I started to do everything I could to treat it. And I mean everything! Here’s my top 5 treatments:

Plantar Fasciitis treatment

1. I changed my running shoes from Asics to New Balance. Best decision ever to follow the advice of an Orthotist. The tests he performed were so interesting and have made a huge difference. My NB’s are so comfortable.

2. One of my Running Junkie mates recommended the FS6 foot sleeves from Hunt Orthopaedics. These compression socks are designed specifically for sufferers of plantar fasciitis. I wear the sock around the house or whenever I don’t have shoes on.

3. I bought the B4Play ball from Sportsman’s Warehouse. This gadget ties itself around your ankle so while you watch TV, you can comfortably do your exercises with no hassle at all. The best part is that it’s designed specifically to treat plantar fasciitis.

4. This photo is me as a baby, crying. I still enjoy a good, ugly cry. But whatever you do, you need to deal with the frustration that a stubborn injury brings. It demands patience. Plantar fasciitis is a debilitating injury that can take months and even years to go away. For a runner, it’s a death sentence but be patient. Try something else while you wait. I tried hot yoga at the gym and it’s fabulous!

5. Physiotherapist & friend Francis hooked me up with a Strassburg sock. I sleep with it every night religiously and for me, it has made the biggest difference. The compression part irritates me & sometimes I will pull the sock off in the early hours of the morning in my sleep, but it works. I’ll say that again. It works!

6. Calf stretching & massages. My bio Mari alerted me to new research in the beginning & I’ve been disciplined in following her stretching program. It’s worth the read.

There’s a whole range of other treatments which I haven’t even begun to explore yet. Needling, taping, electroshock therapy. The list is endless. What have you tried that’s worked for you?

It’s been almost 6 months since I started treating my stubborn heel. Six difficult and long months. It’s taught me an incredibly valuable lesson in patience. It’s forced me to stop and rest. I think out of everything, for me as a runner, that’s been the hardest part. But it’s humbled me. I long to be out there, running pain free. The time is coming. The foot is healing. Eventually!

I’ll keep you posted!

Fixing my feet

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I had my feet checked out by an orthotist last week. I arrived at his office with a pair of my old and current running shoes and a history of how the stabbing pain all began. He questioned me about my running history, scribbling notes on a fresh A4 piece of paper. “When did the plantar fasciitis begin? How long have you run for? How old are your shoes? How often do you stretch?”

You can clearly see that the older model on the left looks very different to the one on the right.

When I showed him the two pairs of running shoes, it was quite obvious I had not noticed how completely different the same shoe was. I have been an Asics fan since I started running. I have bought the Gel Nimbus shoe year after year. But when we studied the older model with the newer one, they looked like two different shoes! WTH?

The image on the left is how normal feet run. My feet, shown in the image on the right, is where you can see how my left foot hardly touches the ground and how all the weight is sitting in my right heel (where all the pain is).

Image on the left is how a normal person’s feet should stand. My feet, on the right, shows how much weight I am distributing on the balls of my feet. And yes, the right heel taking strain.

He made me run up and down a computerized mat to assess my feet. Again, quite revealing. The plantar fasciitis pain runs into my right foot, but it’s mainly caused by the lazy left leg.

The conclusion: There’s nothing wrong with my feet. The problem lies in the weakness of my hamstrings, glutes and calves. My current running shoes are too big for me and my feet slip up and down inside the front of the shoe. Ironically, I’ve always bought a men’s shoe for the wider fit. Don’t ask me why I’ve never considered other brands before? The shoes also cause me to over-pronate. I’m also tying my shoe laces incorrectly.

He wrote out a few instructions for me to take back to my bio, Mari. I need to focus on key strength exercises but quite honestly, I need to be disciplined to do the exercises if I have any hope of recovering.

New Balance Fresh Foam 1080s

I must admit, I walked out of his offices relieved that I knew what was wrong. I was gutted to miss the Pick ‘n Pay half marathon this weekend but I did buy new shoes! Say hello to my New Balance babies! How did I choose these running shoes? Blog post to follow this week.

My right foot aches

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Plantar fasciitis. It sounds like some sort of fungal disease. An itch of some sort. When I say the words, people give me the look as if I’ve sworn at them. But it’s simply a foot injury which sends shivers up the spines of most runners.

My foot is sore. Again. I had plantar a few years back. It sent me into recovery and rehab for a good few months. No running, no walking, just rest. I recovered but here we are again. I’m miserable and irritated.cooling feet in the pool

I’ve Googled the hell out of this one, as one does. I know which exercises to do – the foot stretches, the calf stretching and the rolling of a ball under my foot. But in the back of my mind, I remember how long it took to get rid of plantar last time and I’m gutted.

The last stretch of Bobbies.

Today’s Bobbies 10km race wasn’t pleasant. My foot was sore from the minute I put my running shoe on. I thought the pain would go away, as it has for the last couple of weeks, even through Johnson Crane 10km, but not today. I struggled while the dude carrying a tog bag on his back passed me, I ached as the two speed walkers marched right passed me and I nearly passed out up that last dreadful hill as the 80-minute bus sang it’s way to the finish.

I have the Pick ‘n Pay half marathon next weekend. That’s twice the distance I ran today. It’a going to be a very long week ahead deciding what to do. Any advice? Send it my way!