Stretching And Anti-Inflammatory Medications Are Plantar Fasciitis Treatments That Control Your Pain

Plantar fasciitis can make your life complicated due to the pain it causes in the heel of your foot. The plantar fascia runs along the bottom of your foot, so when it is inflamed, you could have pain from your heel to your toes. However, the pain in your heel could be the most troublesome and cause you to seek treatment from a podiatrist. Here are some plantar fasciitis treatments they might recommend.

Stretching Exercises

Your podiatrist might send you to a physical therapist or teach you some stretching exercises to do on your own at home. Stretching is one of the most important plantar fasciitis treatments since the fascia is inflamed and tight, and this causes pain when you walk. Your podiatrist might recommend things like rolling a ball with your foot, using your toes to lift a towel, and doing fascia and calf stretches.

A physical therapist might have other specific exercises for you to do that target your calf and foot. You may need to do stretches before you start moving after you've been sedentary for a long period of time so you can walk with less pain.

Stretching Devices

You can buy products that help you stretch your foot, but you should check with your podiatrist before using something you buy over the counter. You might want a rocking stretcher that you step in to stretch your calf or you may want a device that helps you pull on your foot to stretch the fascia.

Your podiatrist might even give you a boot or splint that you can use at night that holds your foot in a stretched position so your fascia won't be tight and painful when you get out of bed in the morning.

Anti-Inflammatory Medication

Controlling inflammation helps control pain. Resting your foot, keeping your foot elevated, and putting ice on your heel all help reduce inflammation of the fascia. However, you might also need anti-inflammatory medications. Your podiatrist might suggest taking over-the-counter drugs you buy at the grocery store or they might give you corticosteroid injections directly in your heel if the pain is so bad it interferes with your ability to work.

Everyone is different when it comes to plantar fasciitis pain. Your pain might be mild and heal in a few weeks with stretches and icing, but someone else might have chronic pain that has lasted for months or even years and is difficult to control. Your podiatrist treats the specific symptoms and type of pain you have and attempts to stop worsening of the damage to your foot and heel while providing the best treatments for pain relief.


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