What Are My Treatment Options for Plantar Fasciitis?

When the alarm went off, you used to be able to jump out of bed and start your day. Thanks to plantar fasciitis, you linger a little longer knowing that you’ll be met with fairly severe foot and heel pain, putting a decidedly negative spin on your day right from the start.

The team here at Rocky Mountain Foot & Ankle understands your situation, which you share with two million other people in the United States who develop plantar fasciitis each year. To help put that spring back in your step in the morning, we offer comprehensive plantar fasciitis treatment plans.

Why the pain?

Plantar fasciitis is a condition in which your plantar fascia — a tough band of tissue that travels along the soles of your feet from the base of your toes to your heels — is inflamed.

This thin ligament is designed to provide support for the arches in your feet and absorb the stresses you place on your feet when you walk and run.

If there’s added stress on this tissue, tiny tears can develop, which leads to inflammation. This inflammation tends to worsen when you’re off your feet and the tissue tightens. That’s why the pain flares when you first stand up and the tissue stretches out. In most cases, this pain subsides as you take more steps.

Complicating matters, bone spurs can develop in your heels in response to the plantar fasciitis, which creates more discomfort in your heels.

What causes plantar fasciitis?

There are several ways you can stress your plantar fascia, including:

• Increasing your activity level
• Having structural abnormalities, such as flatfeet or high arches
• Repetitive stresses on your plantar fascia, such as daily running
• Tight calf muscles
• Having obesity

Age can also play a role, as most people develop plantar fasciitis between the ages of 40 and 60.

Treatment options for plantar fasciitis

There’s no single treatment when it comes to treating plantar fasciitis, but there are many ways we can effectively manage the condition so you experience relief.

In the early stages of plantar fasciitis, there’s much that you can do on your own. As examples, we recommend:

• Stretching exercises, such as those found here
• Resting your feet
• Ice and anti-inflammatory medications to reduce inflammation
• Custom orthotics to help take the pressure off of your plantar fascia
• Wearing shoes instead of going barefoot

If these measures prove ineffective in relieving your plantar fasciitis, we can turn to more aggressive solutions, such as:

• Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections, which rely on platelets to help your tissues heal
• Extracorporeal shockwave therapy
• Procedures to remove scar tissue or release the fascia

To figure out which plantar fasciitis treatment is right for you, we invite you to contact one of our offices in Wheat Ridge, Thornton, Evergreen, or Granby, Colorado, to set up an appointment.