Back when I was heavier, I don’t really remember feeling aches and pains. Today, I watch many obese people hobbling around town and think to myself, “That’s really got to hurt!” When I was obese, I didn’t feel that way. I managed to play basketball three times per week and coach baseball to a bunch of 9th graders. And I was an active coach, participating in many of the drills, and almost all of the conditioning with my players.
Even with that level of activity, my weight wasn’t under control, which meant two things. I was eating too much and not exercising enough. These days, I’d say that my weight IS under control. Yeah, it’s not quite where I want it to be, but I’m definitely maintaining the status quo. So I guess I’m in a pretty good calorie balance at this time.
A big part of why I’m in this caloric balance has to be due to my increased activity level. But there’s definitely a trade off that comes with the benefit of a calorie balance. I’ve often got aches and pains somewhere in my body. In fact, even though I feel healthy, I also feel a little bit old. My back still isn’t perfect from the multiple run-ins with my 25 pound son last month. It’s not keeping me from doing any of my daily activities, but it is sometimes difficult getting comfortable in bed at night and it’s stiff in the morning when I wake up.
The Plantar Fascia are the thick tendons that run from your heel bone to your toes. Their main function is arch support.
And recently, I’ve self diagnosed a case of plantar fasciitis in my right foot. Plantar fasciitis is no fun. Back in my high school teaching days, I had a previous case that took a few months to completely resolve.
Plantar Fasciitis Defined
Basically the tendons on the bottom of my right foot that connect my heal bone to my toes are inflamed and causing me some foot pain. My current case is no where near as bad as the one from 2004, but it’s still significant enough to cause me worry. The pain is located in my right foot, towards the front near my 4th and 5th toes. It is worse in the morning when I wake up or after a long period of inactivity during the day but feels much better when I’m moving around and stretching the fascia out
Inflammation of the Plantar Fascia can cause severe heal pain, known as a "stone bruise," but can also be felt all along the arch up into the balls of your feet.
Plantar Fasciitis Risk Factors
Plantar fasciitis mostly affects overweight, long distance runners who over-pronate, pregnant women, people who stand a lot for their jobs, and people with either really flat feet or really high arches. I’m a runner who over-pronates and I have totally flat feet. And maybe I’m still a little overweight. No wonder my arches hurt!
Plantar Fasciitis Treatments
Treatment for plantar fasciitis varies depending on how long you’ve had it and how painful it is. The most common treatment is a non steroidal anti inflammatory product such as Advil combined with stretching exercises for your arches and Achilles’ tendon. Strengthening exercises of your lower leg muscles may also be prescribed. Sometimes, physicians also prescribe orthotics to maintain permanent arch support or night splints which keep a permanent stretch on your plantar fascia while you sleep at night. Failure of these treatments can result in more aggressive ones such as steroidal injections or (in extremely rare cases) even surgery to detach the plantar fascia from the heel bone.
At this time, my plantar fasciitis is barely even a problem. I’ve got some pain in the morning and some tenderness throughout the day but I’m not even taking any Advil for the pain. Also, I’m able to run with no problems and haven’t even considered missing a workout because of it. However, I did finally go buy some new running shoes with built in arch support and I’m wearing a set of neoprene arch supports on both feet at all times. For now, I think this treatment will be sufficient.
Combined with my back pain, the plantar Ffsciitis is definitely making me feel a little bit older. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, I’ll be able to post about a lack of back and foot pain. But until then, I’ll keep pushing through.
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Great article, Mac.
I’ve officially been running for 2 months now, but spent several weeks of that time fighting through tendinitis in my knees — mostly due to running in 10 year-old basketball shoes with feet that over-pronate. I ended up going to Road Runner Sports and letting them analyze my gait, and was fitted with a pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS9 stability running shoes. They actually gave me a plethora of choices, but the GTS9′s felt the best to my feet.
My analysis showed moderately flat feet and over-pronation, so I didn’t need to go with full motion-control or arch supports. So far, I love the GTS9′s. It took a little while for my arches to get used to the extra support, which led to a little soreness in my feet, but after a month of use, they feel good on my feet.
I still have a little bit of trouble with the tendons around my knees getting inflamed and tightening up, but a few minutes with an ice-pack usually helps. Like you, I will keep on pushing on. I can already feel the benefits of being more fit and healthy, but I know I have a long way to go. I played basketball for the first time in a year Monday night, and it didn’t kill me; and I now have energy to keep up with the bunch of 7 & 8 year olds at soccer practice (which is what spurred my drive towards fitness in the first place).
I’m not on course to lose 35 lbs. in 3 months or anything (as I did 10 years ago), but I hope that by getting fit slowly, I will develop habits that become part of my daily regiment for years to come, and not just a flash-in-the-pan craze.
There is a sock that you can wear at night that will keep your foot flexed and the muscles stretched out. I have no arch whatsover (several reconstructive surgeries) and am overweight, but trying to deal with that by starting out with walking. Even after walking, my foot is so tight that I can feel everything stress out. My orthotic guy recommended it and it’s wonderful. I wear it at night and wear a light splint during the day when I don’t have shoes on to give that ankle a little more support.
Good orthotics are a great thing, though.
I had the chance to meet the godfather of barefoot running, Barefoot Ken Bob, over the weekend. After hearing him speak, and reading others’ testimonials about barefoot running, I would suggest you give it a try. If you do it, you really have to listen to your body at first, because it feels a lot different than running with conventional running shoes.
One thing that really stood out to me when I met him, is that he says things such as orthotics are a crutch, yes, they hold up your arch, but they don’t teach you how to do it yourself.
Many people with plantar faciitis find that after running barefoot, or learning to run in a flat-soled shoe (such as running flats or even converse) their problems tend to go away, because their form gets better by default. Conventional running shoes allow you to strike the ground with your heel, which can cause problems in your joints all along your leg and even into your back.
If you can, try taking a POSE method running class, and make sure you take one where they video tape you running. I did that as well over the weekend, and they showed me supinating, which was in turn causing lower back pain and hip pain over the weekend.
For more information:
Barefoot Running: http://runningbarefoot.org/
CrossFit’s Website for Endurance Athletes (if there is one in your area, I would recommend going to a running and endurance certification, no CrossFit experience necessary): http://www.anaerobicendurance.com/
POSE method of running: http://www.posetech.com/