On Sun, 17 Jan 2010 06:36:01 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 23:08:16 -0500, the infamous Paul Franklin
scrawled the following:

On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:49:30 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:26:25 -0500, the infamous Paul Franklin
scrawled the following:

On Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:56:39 -0700, "charlie"
wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:03:45 -0500, the infamous
scrawled the following:

Has anyone else gotten over plantar fasciitis? What worked? (In case
it's not coffee.) I really -need- full use of my left foot.

my wife has been treating her's with ice. 30-45 minutes of resting her foot
on an icepack at night will cause the problem to not be there in the
mornings. that lasts for a couple of days. there's some research that shows
it can also be alleviated with a foot brace, so your foot is flat during
sleeping hours. when you sleep, your toes can curl down. hours in this
position can cause the problem.


My wife had this real bad a few years back. Her doc sent her to a
physical therapist who gave her a bunch of exercises to do. Many of
them involved one of those giant stretchy bands.

After a few weeks of the exercises all the pain was completely gone.
She now wears custom orthotics (shoe inserts) to prevent reoccurrence
and they seem to work well as she hasn't had any more trouble.

Paul, was hers at her heel or the ball of her foot? Mine's at the
ball, under the index toe of my left foot. Occasionally, the right
foot gets a similar (much milder) pain under the index and 4th toe
proximal/metatarsal joints.
http://www.landholt.com/Graphics/Ima...t_bones_01.jpg

The ball of her foot. One foot, I forget which right now, was much
worse than the other, but both bothered her, too.

Excellent. Does she still have the instructions? Most of the
exercises should have names. Could you ask her what they are for me?
TIA.


A bit of a search did not turn up her instructions, but she described
them for me.

She would freeze a water bottle and then place it on the carpet and
roll it slowly back and forth with the bottom of her foot for a
minute or so, then switch feet, then repeat several times. The
combination of cold and stretching really helped when the pain was
bad.

Stretches included standing on a step with only the toes and ball of
foot and then lowering heel and holding for 30-60 seconds. Then
alternate feet and repeat several times.

Using one of those wide stretchy resistance bands (you can get at
sporting goods stores) she would lay on back, loop the band under the
toes and ball of her foot, and pull on the band firmly to stretch the
foot. Again, alternating and repeating. This was done with the toes
pointed up (toward ceiling) but also to the left and right (twisting
the leg). Supposedly stretches slightly different parts of the foot.

Then, also using the band and while still lying on back, raise one
leg straight up and pull down on the band to stretch the foot again.
Alternate, repeat....

Those were the main exercises. My wife said during the 2 or 3
sessions she had with the physical therapist, the PT did a long deep
tissue massage of both feet. It was uncomfortable during the massage,
but gave her a lot of relief afterwards. The PT said it helps loosen
scar tissue and stretch the tendons.

HTH,

Paul F.