The feet perform critical body functions, including supporting body weight, enhancing body balance, and promoting body movements, such as walking and running. For this reason, proper foot care is necessary to improve feet’ function and prevent foot health issues. Wearing fitting shoes and proper footwear also goes a long way to lowering your risk of foot problems. Midtown East plantar fasciitis specialist and a certified podiatrist, John Jurcisin, offers holistic feet and ankle diagnosis and treatment for improved foot health. Continue reading to learn more about foot care and plantar fasciitis.
What is plantar fasciitis?
It is a condition that occurs due to wear and tear of the plantar fascia, which is an extensive tissue covering your foot’s bottom.
The plantar fascia’s role is as a shock absorber, protecting your foot arch. Stress and repeated stretching on the tissue cause small tears, inflammation, and severe pain in the heel. Initially, the pain becomes worse when you wake up or after exercising, then worsens to affect your life activities, including walking.
Plantar fasciitis can occur in anyone; however, it is common in athletes, mostly runners. You are also likely to suffer the condition if you are overweight and as you get older. People who work on their feet experience the situation more, such as nurses, factory workers, and teachers.
When not treated, plantar fasciitis causes chronic heel pain that may interfere with your daily life activities. As a result, you may modify your walking to ease the pain, which may cause other foot and back problems.
Plantar fasciitis diagnosis
Different issues lead to chronic heel pain. A thorough diagnosis is critical to determine the exact cause of your condition and design a personalized treatment plan.
Your provider at Precision Footcare conducts a comprehensive treatment plan and discusses your symptoms to identify the location of the pain. Your provider may also request an X-ray to identify other causes of foot pain, including bone spurs and fractures. They also assess your medical history and ask about your routine activities to determine whether plantar fasciitis is the root cause of your pain.
Your provider at Precision Footcare also tries to find out what caused plantar fascia damage to prevent further damage.
Treatment for plantar fasciitis
Different treatment options are available to enhance relief from plantar fasciitis pain, including the following:
- Stretching exercises
- Over-the-counter medications
- Limiting physical activities
- Rest
When your heel pain does not improve after several days, your provider recommends orthotics, such as night splints, shoe inserts, padding, or a removable walking cast. They help release and stabilize your foot’s pressure, relieving pain.
Other treatments include steroid injections and physical therapy. Though rare, surgery may be necessary when you do not find pain relief from conservative treatments. At Precision Footcare, Dr. Jurcisin offers surgery to remove tension and stop inflammation. Surgery helps promote mobility, ease pain, and enhance healing.
If you have chronic heel pain that limits your walking, you may be having plantar fasciitis. The condition develops when the tissue across your foot’s bottom wears and inflames. Dr. Jurcisin offers advanced and customized foot care to promote pain relief and foot health. Contact his office at Precision Footcare today or access their website to schedule your appointment.
