Will Your Plantar Fasciitis Go Away on its Own?

Plantar Fasciitis Treatment

Undoubtedly, plantar fasciitis can make your life difficult. With a sharp pain that you will feel every morning you get up from your bed and the inability to take part in your favorite activities, life will not be the same as before.

But, isn’t there a cure for plantar fasciitis?

The simple answer is plantar fasciitis can be cured. Although there is no single treatment for the condition that is suitable for everyone, there are several treatment options to try out. This means that you will not have to let the plantar fasciitis to last forever.

In the following article, let’s see the treatment options that are available for plantar fasciitis.

How Long Should I Wait for My Plantar Fasciitis to Go Away?

When it comes to the timeline to get rid of plantar fasciitis, we can see that exact time limit varies from person to person. Basically, the healing time of your plantar fasciitis will depend on the severity of the condition. In most cases, you can expect the pain and flare-ups associated with plantar fasciitis to last for 2 to 3 weeks. However, in some cases, patients will experience pain up to 6 weeks.[1]

In general, the worst thing you can do for your plantar fasciitis is to ignore the symptoms. The healing time will be longer if you don’t treat it.

Make Your Plantar Fasciitis Feel Better

As soon as you experience your first plantar fasciitis symptoms, try to rest your feet. Keep your feet in an elevated position, so as to relieve pressure and tension. Resting your feet will help decrease pain and inflammation associated with plantar fasciitis.

In addition, you will have to cut back on your exercises. If you are a runner, reduce the distance you’re running and decrease your running speed.

The other things you can do to make your plantar fasciitis are as follows:

Stretching Exercises

Stretch the calf muscles and Achilles’ tendon. It’s important that you do these stretches before and after your exercises. We advise you to warm up a little before doing the stretches at the start of your exercise program.[2]

Ice Packs

Use ice packs to massage the painful plantar fascia for at least two to three minutes, many times a day.

Hot and Cold Compression Therapy

Alternating between hot and cold will speed up your recovery and healing processes. There are ready-to-use hot and cold compression foot wraps available in the market, which can be effectively used to ease out the pain caused by plantar fasciitis. The cold pack will help decrease inflammation and swelling in the joints and muscles. On the other hand, the heat pack will enhance blood flow to the affected area, thereby decreasing the lactic acid accumulation.

Change the Activities

While you are advised to rest your foot, you can still try doing exercises that do not stretch your arch. Examples include swimming and cycling.

Choose Plantar Fasciitis-Friendly Footwear

Using the shoes and devices that can provide support to your foot can help protect the plantar fascia, thereby allowing it to heal. In this line, we recommend you use a combination of footwear and devices:

• Supportive Shoes: Choose the shoes that provide good arch, as well as heel support. The shoes with a higher heel can also help. Also, remember that you shouldn’t stand or walk barefoot or with your unsupportive shoes on until your fascia is healed completely.
• Arch Supports: Using arch supports inside the shoes will help decrease the amount of strain that is received by your plantar fascia. We suggest you use the semi-rigid arch supports for this purpose.

Take Over-the-Counter Pain Relievers

The over-the-counter NSAIDs like ibuprofen and naproxen can help deal with the pain and discomfort caused by plantar fasciitis. These can act as effective pain relievers if you have no medical conditions that prevent you from consuming them. However, you must make sure that you are consuming the appropriate dose by consulting with your healthcare provider.

Also, note that these OTC drugs can interact with other medications you take and lead to issues in patients with other medical conditions.

Wear a Night Splint

Using a plantar fasciitis night splint will help brace the foot and ankle in the right position while you sleep. Medical experts say that they recommend night splints for more severe cases to help stretch the plantar fascia, thereby alleviating the pain.

Buy a plantar fasciitis night splint here.

Give a Massage

Try rubbing your plantar fascia on a golf ball and give it a massage and release tension. The massage will also help stretch your fascia. You can also try tissue massage, which will help release your fascia without causing further inflammation.

If the Plantar Fascia Pain Continues

If the above home treatments didn’t  work, you need to consult with your doctor. An informed physician will go ahead and perform a thorough physical examination and may order for an X-ray or MRI scan and will start an appropriate treatment. The possible treatments that will be given by your physician are:

Steroid Injection

If you are an experiencing a severe pain or if your plantar fasciitis doesn’t respond to the above-mentioned treatments, your doctor may go for a steroid injection. Here, steroid will be injected directly into the affected part, which will help ease the pain and inflammation down for a long period.

Physical Therapy

A physical therapist can help you by making you do some exercises to stretch, as well as strengthen your plantar fascia. He may also use the other options like for long-term healing. They include:

• Massage
• Contrast baths
• Ultrasonography

Shock-Wave Therapy

This treatment will shock your plantar fascia using shock waves. Thus, it will stimulate the blood flow in your foot and help your tissues to heal. It will also stun your nerves to stop the pain.

Tenex Procedure

In this procedure, a small incision will be made and an ultrasound will be used to target and get rid of your scar tissues.

Surgery

This procedure will take your fascia off of the heel bone. This is usually the last resort and will be prescribed by the doctors if other treatments don’t help.

Conclusion

It’s not that your plantar fasciitis will not go away, but you need to accurately diagnose the condition as soon as possible. The quicker you diagnose the condition and start a treatment, the sooner you can get rid of the pain and discomfort.

References

1..https://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/structured-content/#/Condition_Heel_Pain.xml

2..https://health.clevelandclinic.org/chronic-heel-pain-4-simple-fixes-for-your-plantar-fasciitis/

3..https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/treatment-for-plantar-fasciitis#1

4..https://www.cedars-sinai.org/health-library/diseases-and-conditions/p/plantar-fasciitis.html