Plantar Fasciitis Symptoms

 

I personally tore and then ruptured my left foot's abductor hallicus and plantar fascia. I have a good idea as to how plantar fasciitis develops and

there are differences in having a chronic case or a traumatic injury case. Both seem to usually respond well to the same treatment methods. Read

below to see where you fit in. Most people that are not athletic (or had a traumatic injury to the heel) will have the "chronic onset" form of plantar

fasciitis. I had both types in one foot. My injury was the worst of the worst and then some.

 

Trigger points can be caused by many things and can mimic plantar fasciitis. If you have plantar fasciitis, on the other hand, you will have trigger

points no matter what.

 

Keep this in mind:

There is a difference in treatment between these two. Chronic onset plantar fasciitis needs a new inflammatory response to kick start the healing

process again and to stop the degeneration. This is done with transverse friction massage/graston/eswt aka scraping techniques. When you try to

treat a severe injury caused by trauma to the plantar fascia, you need to focus less on the degeneration, and more on the healing aspect, such as

rest/systemic enzymes/taping and so on.

Chronic Onset:

  • Starts out slow, first it is a ghost of a pain, and every day it seems to get worse until it is completely unbearable. Pain can progress to be gradually worse over months
  • Pain with first steps in the morning
  • Extreme pain in heel/arch can be dull or and horrendous ache
  • Redness/Swelling/Heat/Sensitivity in heel
  • Dull ache in arch possible. Most common is extreme pain in heel
  • Sharp/dull pains that can move around the bottom of the foot
  • Pain after standing up from sitting/laying down for extended amount of time
  • Pain can subside for some after the first steps, but then more pain from extended walking there after
  • May have flat feet
  • May have collapsed knees going inward
  • Probably has anterior pelvic tilt
  • Usually has an unhealthy diet
  • Sedentary lifestyle likely
  • Heel spur possibly there, but this is not conclusive 
  • Can feel like a bruise on the heel. Some report that it feels like "stepping on a rock"
  • Can cause a limp


Usually caused from sitting down all day, causing the body to adapt to

that position, which causes the pelvis to shift anteriorly, femur internally

rotates, knees collapse inward, causing the foot's arch to collapse. This

set up is just asking for plantar fasciitis. DO NOT SIT IN A CHAIR FOR

LONG!!! Get up and walk around often!


Also, sitting causes the hamstrings to tighten and become dysfunctional

from adapting to the sitting position, which makes the calves tight (they

share the same myofascial kinetic chain, click here to learn more), which

causes excess stress to the plantar fascia. Tight hamstrings mean added

tension to the plantar fascia.

Wearing shoes causes plantar fasciitis because it makes the foot

musculature weak. When the muscles cannot support your body weight,

then the plantar fascia takes the grunt work and cannot handle the

stress and responds with degeneration (more on this by clicking here).

Inflammation is not technically present in the plantar fascia in chronic

cases. Inflammation is in the surrounding tissues around the plantar

fascia. These inflamed tissues cause hypersensitivity to pain signals in

the nerve fibers around the plantar fascia. What is going on in the

actual plantar fascia itself is degeneration. The plantar fascia has given

up on healing and is eating itself up so to speak. 

Can also be caused by lack of circulation due to a muscle that moves the

big toe becoming dysfunctional due to being inside a shoe. The muscle

cannot do its job and can cause nerve entrapment and blood flow

restrictions. Less blood flow equals less muscle strength and endurance

and causes more stress to the plantar fascia due to the plantar fascia

taking up more "grunt work" that the muscles are unable to do.

 

Severe Injury Onset:

  • Caused by a sudden trauma to the heel causing partial or complete rupture of the plantar fascia. Can hear a "pop", but not always
  • Pain all day long, from morning to night
  • Extreme localized pain. Usually much sharp as compared to chronic onset
  • Redness/Swelling/Heat/Sensitivity
  • Sharp pain in arch and heel present, can spread after a week to a dull pain in surrounding structures
  • Pain is still the same usually whether you have sat down for a long time or for a short time
  • Pain becomes worse the more you walk. Can be much worse at the end of the day
  • May have flat feet, but not always
  • May have collapsed knees going inward, but not always
  • May have anterior pelvic tilt, but not always
  • Can have a healthy/unhealthy diet. Depends more on the trauma inflicted to the plantar fascia
  • Can cause a limp

 

Partial tears can be hard to treat. Usually treated in the same way as

chronic onset. The rest is required after the injury.

Excessive running on hard surfaces with bad shoes, being overweight,

having bad posture and body mechanics and many other factors can

make it more likely that you will tear your plantar fascia after trauma to

the heel.

Minutes after a traumatic injury to the plantar fascia, trigger points

develop in the muscles around the heel. At first these are good, and you

should rest while you have these trigger points. After a couple weeks,

these need to be released. The plantar fascia can heal if you rest it after

a traumatic injury, but you want to be sure to try your best to avoid the

plantar fascia from going into "chronic degeneration mode". After the

injury is fixed in the plantar fascia, you need to fix the dysfunctional soft

tissues around the heel (more of this in my book).


You can recover from this injury if you rest and slowly go back into your

activities. If you push through the pain and limp around, it will get worse

extremely fast and turn into a chronic case of plantar fasciitis. You want

to avoid this. This can ruin a couple months to years of your life, and

you will regret not resting when you had the chance.

You can use a walking boot, but not for long (they cause lack of

circulation which causes oxidative stress and atrophy of the lower

extremity). If you have a full rupture or a big tear, you may need to see

an orthopedist. If not, just follow the usual treatment as outlined in my

book or on the many articles in this website.