PF: When did you start treatment?

[adiallo]

Been following threads on plantar fasciitis (now that I've got it) and realize everyone's recovery is different. But how soon after you realized there was a problem did you start treatment (icing, stretches, strength exercises, night splint, etc)? And how long after treatment did you notice a significant difference? Was it a smooth progression from pain to discomfort to fully healed or was it up and down with some good days followed by bad ones?
In my case, I had never even heard of PF until a hitting partner told me why he preferred to play on Har-Tru. Of course, I immediately thought, hmm my heels are a little sore sometimes after playing. The next time they felt sore, I did the tennis ball massage. Felt better right away. About a month later, I had a light hitting session during which my heels felt a bit tender. Later that day walking was very painful. The tennis ball massage hurt too much to feel like it was doing any good. I iced and the next day was better, but still the most soreness I had ever had. I started doing stretches, bought insoles with arch supporrt and saw a podiatrist a couple of days later. He did an X-ray and ultrasound to confirm PF plus a heel spur. He sold me a night splint, prescribed rest from tennis and running and gave me 2 weeks to see how things progress with icing, massage and stretching.
Does this sound like I caught it early? It's not like I was playing through pain for weeks or months. The acute pain following the hitting session was what prompted me to see a doctor and I can't really imagine most people scheduling an appt for the very mild and temporary soreness I had intermittently experienced in the 4-5 weeks before then. But judging by the heel spur, my podiatrist felt the issue had been there for some time.
I know PF doesn't go away overnight, but I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not headed for the "couldn't play for 6 months " horror stories I've been reading. And I've read that treatment started early on usually takes much less time than if you let it linger before taking action. So hopefully I can get a ball park sense from those who felt they acted at the earliest signs of symptoms. Or, more horror stories from those who just played through it.

 

[Fedace]

I had this since May, and it is still killing me with all the orthotics and so on.

 

[adiallo]

Have you seen a chiropractor? Just came back from my first visit and he says my pelvis is out of alignment, the right side has moved up higher than the left. Also found an issue with my ankle and top of the foot. He said that rest, ice, massage, stretches (all the stuff I've been doing) is about all there is for treating PF, but that this misalignment could easily have contributed to and be aggravating the PF. With me it has been the case that any knee leg issues have always been on my right side. After his adjustments in this first visit, I did feel a bit more "balanced" walking to the subway and my heel soreness seemed slightly less than before the visit (I'm almost sure I'm not imagining it). He's prescribed multiple sessions over the next 2 weeks so we'll see. Feels odd to have someone adjust almost everything but what's hurting, but to me it does make sense to try and eliminate any aggravating factors while treating the PF.

 

[plasma]

I don't beleive that chiro-hype. saw this Chiropractor's display, he had two scales to measure how much weight you put on each foot. I put 10-20 pounds more body weight on my non injured leg when standing.
Looks like my stupid injured body is compensating on it's own.
Can PF occur in the ball of the foot????

 

[adiallo]

The plantar fascia is a band of tissue that runs from the toes to the heel. The inflammation typically occurs near the heel, which is where the pain/discomfort is felt, although it can also be felt along the arch.

 

[Cindysphinx]

My PF situation was kind of like this (as best I can recall):

In January 2008, my pro started encouraging me to split-step consistently. Although I had been running and playing tennis for years before that, the split-step did me in and started the PF.

I remember that by March, I was noticing significant heel pain that had become progressively worse. I had changed my shoes a number of times and tried Superfeet, but it didn't help. I was stretching also.

The straw that broke the camel's back was a run with a friend. We went for about an hour. I hadn't seen my buddy for a long time, but my feet were starting to hurt. I wanted to continue the run (rather than dropping back and walking). So I kept going (besides, I was going to have to get back home somehow). By the end, I felt like I was walking with a golf ball under my heel. I made an appointment with a sports podiatrist the next day.

He said that treating PF is a progression. You try the easy stuff first (oral NSAIDs, icing, stretching, rest, shoe changes, OTC orthotics). If that doesn't work after about six weeks, you dial it up (PT, custom orthotics). If that doesn't work, you can try an injection. If that doesn't work, you can do shock wave therapy. If that doesn't work, you can do surgery.

In my case, the first six-week round of conservative management helped a lot and got me back to mild pain instead of hideous pain. I tried the boot. That helped a little. I couldn't turn the corner, though, and I was the same after another six weeks. It was time to ramp it up. In June or July, we ordered custom orthotics and I declined to try PT, hoping that the orthotics would do the trick.

The orthotics took three weeks to be made. Right before they arrived, I ruptured my left fascia. That was a week in a cast and six weeks off. Once it was healed, I started using the custom orthotics and gradually returning to running and tennis. I continued the stretching. Ironically, the one that ruptured felt better than the one that did not.

By the end of 2008, I had no pain and I consider myself cured. I do not do any stretches or massage. I find that if I leave it alone it does best. The one that ruptured never gives me a problem. I will sometimes feel a vague, phantom ache in the other one, but it goes away on its own pretty quickly. And my split-step is second nature now and doesn't hurt a bit!