Plantar Fasciitis
Plantar fasciitis,
more commonly known as “heel pain” is a painful inflammatory condition caused by
excessive wear to the plantar fascia of the foot or biomechanical faults that
cause abnormal pronation of the foot. Heel pain is commonly
associated with weight gain, jobs that require a lot of walking on hard
surfaces, shoes with little or no arch support, and inactivity. The pain is most
intense with the first steps of the day or after standing for long periods of
time.
The mainstays of treatment
are stretching the Achilles tendon and plantar fascia, resting, discontinuing
aggravating activity as much as possible, night splints to keep the foot in a
pronated position, cold compression therapy, weight loss, arch support and heel
lifts, taping, and manipulation. For chronic cases, or for those seeking
faster results, our office is the first to offer RadialspecTM in our
office, the latest in extracorporeal wave therapy. “Extracorporeal” means
“outside the body”. Radial waves, or pressure waves, are focused onto the
targeted tissue to relieve pain and trigger your body’s own repair mechanisms by
stimulating and reactivating the tissue to promote normal healing. The best
part about this therapy is that there are no shots and zero downtime so you can
walk right away.
In our experience of treating thousands of heel pain patients over a period of 20+ years, we’ve found that 95% of our patients find relief without surgery.