If you’re here, you’re probably experiencing the uncomfortable effects of chronic plantar fasciitis — in other words, that intense heel pain on the bottom of your foot that just won’t go away. Made worse by the fact that humans are bipeds who use their feet to get everywhere, chronic plantar fasciitis can make a perfectly healthy person feel seriously restricted in just about everything they do.
Luckily, there are ways to treat — and yes, cure — chronic plantar fasciitis, all without the need for surgery. Here, we run you through the basics of plantar fasciitis, what makes it chronic, and the best ways to treat it to get you back on your feet… literally.
Your feet are full of tendons, ligaments, tissue, and bones, evolved with the sole purpose to help you balance upright. One piece of the anatomic puzzle we have to thank for our ability to stand, walk, and run on two feet is the fascia, a band of fibrous tissue on the bottom of your foot that connects your heel bones to your toes and supports the arch of your foot. Plantar fasciitis happens when the fascia becomes inflamed, leading to dull or intense heel pain, which is often worse in the mornings or after spending time on your feet.
Because plantar fasciitis is so common, its causes are, too. Some of the most well-known causes include:
Pain is usually characterized as chronic when it lasts or reoccurs beyond 3 to 6 months. So if your foot has been throbbing for what feels like forever, or you’ve had days when you think it’s gone only for it to flare up after a long walk or weird misstep, your plantar fasciitis has become chronic.
The good news is that plantar fasciitis is one of the top reasons people visit foot and ankle specialists, which means there are tons of tried-and-true methods to fixing the fascia. Below, we list some of the best ways to treat plantar fasciitis, both short-term and chronic.
Treatment options for chronic plantar fasciitis are different from those which treat regular, short-term plantar fasciitis. Here is a list of options for both.
If the pain isn’t going away even after you’ve tried some (or more) of the above fixes, it’s time to consider these additional treatment options.
Physical therapy is an effective process, but can be painful, slow and time-consuming. If you work a job at odd hours or can’t take time off, or simply have a busy life, it can be a difficult option for many to realistically pursue.
Multiple studies show that this treatment option is especially effective over time, and as this study puts it, the sound waves “turn a chronic lesion into an acute lesion” by stimulating the blood flow in the area to encourage your injury out of chronic status and into the next phase of the healing process.
Shockwave is a good choice for chronic plantar fasciitis patients who have busy lives, less time, and want to get back to doing what they love without the downtime that comes with surgery. It requires virtually no recovery time and no anesthesia, and can take as few as three appointments to get you feeling “back to normal” again.
CuraGenex provides regenerative solutions like shockwave to help those experiencing both acute and chronic pain. If you would like to talk to a shockwave expert, or set up an appointment at one of our locations, just contact us at any time.