Plantar fasciitis sounds like I’m swearing at you in Latin, but it happens to be the most common sources of heel pain.
Your feet take a beating. Let’s face it, they get ‘walked over’ for an entire lifetime. From bearing all of your weight to being squeezed into restrictive and sometimes odd-shaped shoes, your feet have to put up with a lot of physical strain.
When you walk your feet actually load-bear more than 150% of your body weight. And the pounding of a running workout puts the equivalent of about three to four times your body weight through your feet.
In the course of an average day, many people will walk 6,000 to 10,000 steps, which adds up to almost 129,000 kilometres in your lifetime. When you consider that we are advised to rotate our car tyres approximate every 5,000 kilometres and change them for wear and tear after about 60,000 kilometres, you’re expecting quite a bit more tolerance and performance out of your one set of feet.
So, it stands to reason that you should treat your feet with more care.
Considering how small the bones of the foot are, how complex the tendons and ligaments that control the foot, and the amount of pressure placed on these physical structures every day, your feet are prone to a wide range of injuries and problems.
Here are three things you need to know specifically about plantar fasciitis:
- Plantar fasciitis results when the plantar fascia ligament is over-stretched and tears at the connection to the heel. This ligament runs along the bottom of the arch, from the toes to the heel. The injury often occurs as the result of footwear with inadequate arch support, cushioning, or improper stretching before physical activity, particularly repetitive running or jumping.
- A person with plantar fasciitis will feel sharp or burning pain in the heel. The pain is a more intense first thing in the morning or after a period of sitting or resting. During those times, the ligament tightens to resume its normal position. When full body weight is suddenly exerted on the ligament, it is forcefully pulled again.
- Treatments can include custom orthotics, foot exercises and, in extreme cases, surgery. It’s important to seek a physiotherapist’s advice for the treatment of plantar fasciitis so that you avoid more severe injury and don’t allow the pain to cause you to alter your foot position and throw the rest of your body into misalignment.
With the day-to-day impact of every step you take, chances are you will experience foot pain or injury at some point in your life. Not only that, but the shape and mobility of the foot have an enormous impact on the posture and movement of the rest of the torso above it. They may be small and sometimes unsightly parts of our body, but the feet have a huge influence on our overall health throughout life. Take your feet seriously, otherwise, you may find yourself without a leg to stand on when it really counts.
About Jason Smith
Jason T Smith is an award-winning physiotherapist who founded the Back In Motion Health Group – Australia and New Zealand’s largest allied health network. He is the author of international bestseller Get Yourself Back In Motion – a physiotherapists secrets to pain relief and optimal health. He is also the Chair of the SOS Health Foundation, improving the health of disadvantaged indigenous communities around Australia.
