Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar Fasciitis is one of the more common types of foot pain and it generally affect people after an increase in activity or changes in foot wear. It is basically an irritation of the connective tissue on the bottom of the foot. How do you know if your foot pain is plantar fasciitis or any other type of pain?

• Pain on the bottom of the foot in the morning when you wake up
• Localized pain at the heel
• Stiffness and pain after walking, running or any type of activity
• Sometimes you might see some swelling or redness on the bottom of the foot

generally you can expect inflammatory pain to decrease and subside within 5-7 days. However, if you're not seeing any improvements or the pain is worsening or coming on with shorter bursts of exercises that is your call to seek some physiotherapy advice.

The first part of any successful physiotherapy sessions is taking a full proper patient history; Understanding the triggers for the pain, what brings it on and whether its been improving or not since it first started. this is the part in which the therapist tries to distinguish between multiple different diagnosis to determine what else could be going on if its not plantar fasciitis. One of the most important thing we will need to know is what your goals are and what you would like to take away from physio.

Following the thorough history the therapist will need to look at how you walk, generally this is done with shoes on then shoes off. After that you will be asked to take your socks off for a more thorough assessment of the foot and its movements. Once the therapist has an idea of what is happening they will discuss with you treatment options and working together with you to find the best way for treatment. Lastly you should always expect to leave the physio clinic with exercises and stretches to do till your next follow up.