Plantar Fasciitis

The main symptom of plantar fasciitis (PF) is pain on the bottom of your foot, around your heel and arch. It is a common condition, caused by straining the part of your foot that connects your heel bone to your toes (plantar fascia).

Symptoms of Plantar fasciitis

• Stabbing pain in the heel and/or foot and stiffness that’s much worse when you start walking after sleeping or resting
• Pain feels better during exercise, but returns after resting
• Difficulty raising your toes off the floor
• Often worse first thing in the morning

Common causes of Plantar fasciitis

• Recently starting exercise on hard surfaces
• Starting a new form of exercise or increasing the intensity of your exercise
• Standing for long periods of time each day
• Wearing shoes with poor cushioning or support
• Having a tight achilles tendon
• Having flat feet or an unusually high arch
• Having other medical conditions such as systemic lupus erythematosus or rheumatoid arthritis
• Obesity

How we treat plantar fasciitis:

We use Radial Shockwave therapy as a treatment for plantar fasciitis. Radial shockwaves are low energy pressure waves that are delivered to damaged tissue. This increases blood flow, has an analgesic effect and stimulates the body’s natural repair and regenerative processes. Research shows Radial Shockwave is remarkable effective. Most studies showed a greater than 80% success rate in reducing heal pain. We will also use an osteopathic approach to assess your biomechanics and your gait. Any restricted movement in the joints in your foot, ankle, knee, hip, pelvis or low back will be treated. We will treat tight lower limb muscles and give you appropriate exercises to stretch or strengthen affected tissue.

Achilles tendinopathy is an injury to the band of tissue (tendon) that connects the muscles in your lower leg to your heel bone. You may get pain, stiffness and sometimes swelling around your heel. It’s a common injury, especially if you’re very active or do lots of sports. You may sometimes hear Achilles tendonopathy called Achilles tendonitis. This means your tendon is inflamed. But because there isn’t
always inflammation when your tendon is injured, this term isn’t strictly accurate.

Symptoms of Achilles Tendonopathy

• pain in your heel – this may be an ache or a sharp pain, which feels worse when you’ve been active or put pressure on it
• stiffness in your tendon – often this is worse first thing in the morning or if you’ve been resting for a while
• swelling at the back of your ankle
• tenderness when you touch your tendon
• a grating noise or creaking feeling (crepitus) when you move your ankle

How we treat Achilles tendonopathy

For an Achilles tendonopathy that has been present for 3 months or more, we recommend Radial Shockwave treatment together with a program of loading and stretching exercises. Radial shockwaves are low energy pressure waves that are delivered to damaged tissue. This increases blood flow, has an analgesic effect and stimulates the body’s natural repair and regenerative processes. Extensive research has shown Radial Shockwave treatment combined with exercise to be remarkably effective for chronic tendinopathy. We would also examine your gait and the biomechanics of the lower limb to determine any biomechanical factors that might worsen the condition, and treat them by mobilising restricted joints or relaxing tight muscles. More acute tendinopathies can be treated by resting from any causative exercise, gently stretching the tendon, treating tight muscles in the lower limb, using needling and low light laser to trigger the body’s own healing mechanisms around the tendon.