What is Plantar Fasciitis?
Why does my heel hurt?
You wake up, take that first step out of bed, and you have a searing pain in the bottom of your heel. The first five minutes of walking around is uncomfortable and then that pain starts to go away. Then after working all morning at your desk, you go for your daily run and that heel pain is back. It goes away after a couple steps but then towards the end of your run, it comes back again. Sound familiar? You most likely have plantar fasciitis.
Plantar Fasciitis refers to an injury or inflammation of a structure called the “Plantar Fascia”. The plantar fascia is a thick fibrous band of tissue that runs along the bottom of your foot from your heel to the balls of your feet, and it helps absorb force and shock with every step.
When the plantar fascia gets overloaded, with an increased training volume or long hours working on concrete floors for example, it can become irritated and inflamed, most often right where it attaches to the heel.
To get better, we want to help alleviate the stress, while also building up the load tolerance and capacity of the plantar fascia. A thorough assessment will guide us in identifying where the specific strength, mobility or structural deficits are and help us formulate a well-rounded treatment plan to get you back on your feet.
What Causes Plantar Fasciitis?
There is rarely a single event, most often it is a result of repeated stress that builds up over time.
Common causes may include a combination of the following:
- Significant increase in walking, running or jumping volume in a short period of time
- Not enough recovery time between activity days
- Repetitive impact from sports such as running, pickleball, tennis, padel
- Foot structure such as flat feet (overpronation), or high arch rigid feet (supinated).
- limited ankle range of motion and "tight" calf muscles
Plantar fasciitis Treatment in Burlington
More than just rest
At our clinic in Burlington, we have a special focus on treating injuries in our local pickleball community. This means we see a lot of people with plantar fasciitis. To get the best, long-lasting results it takes a well-rounded approach, and more than just a few weeks of "putting your feet up and a frozen water bottle".
At the Recovery Room Chiropractic and Wellness, education always takes the forefront. We make sure that you understand exactly what and why you are experiencing your symptoms so that you can make good decisions in your recovery. We can also help you identify specific causes and modify activity to help take stress of your foot.
Custom orthotics can also be benefical when structural problems with the foot are found. Whether it is to provide more support to a over-pronated foot, or provide a more even weight distribution to supinated feet, orthotics can be a useful tool to help take the stress off the heel.
Hands-on treatment modalities such as manual therapy, soft tissue release and joint mobilizations can play a big part in pain reduction and improving the range of motion of your ankle, foot, knee or hip as needed and advanced technology such as shockwave therapy is used to help speed up recovery time and enhance overall recovery.
At the core of it all you are taken through a progressive loading and strengthening program to help improve the load tolerance capacity of your muscles, tendons and joints, and this is ultimately what will cure your plantar fasciitis over time.
Frequently Asked Questions about Plantar Fasciitis
Recovery time can be different for everyone, but generally the longer symptoms have been there, the longer it will take to get better. For someone that has only had symptoms for a short period of time, they may be significantly improved within 4 weeks for others; it can be significantly longer.
Most often people struggle with plantar fasciitis becoming a re-occuring problem because they never properly dealt with it in the first place. Most people will do the right things when it hurts, but once the pain is gone we think the problem is solved. But, it isn't. Since plantar fasciitis is truly a load tolerance issue, it is important to continue to perform progressive exercises, stretching, and following through with your treatment plan even after the pain has stopped.
Frequently we recommend reducing the amount of activity in the short term to help lessen the stress on the irritated tissue, but most times we want to avoid a complete stop of all activity. Sometimes complete rest can actually increase the time it will take to fully recover. For example, if you play pickleball 4 days a week, we may ask you to only play twice a week instead.
Dr. Phil Wessel
Chiropractic, Custom Orthotics Fitting
Dr. Phil Wessel is a chiropractor with over seven years of experience helping patients in Burlington and Oakville recover from injury and stay active. Throughout his career, he noticed that many common muscle, tendon, joint, and spine injuries were often treated without addressing the underlying causes, leading to ongoing pain and recurring problems.
This realization led him to create The Recovery Room Chiropractic & Wellness—a clinic focused on providing effective, evidence-informed care for active adults and athletes who want to get back to the activities they love.
Dr. Phil’s treatment approach combines chiropractic adjustments, manual therapy, shockwave therapy, and rehabilitation exercise to help patients recover from both acute and chronic injuries. He has a particular interest in treating tendon-related conditions, including Achilles tendinopathy, tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, plantar fasciitis, rotator cuff injuries, and jumper’s knee.
A graduate of the University of Guelph and New York Chiropractic College, Dr. Phil understands first hand the importance of staying active. Outside the clinic, you’ll find him spending time with his wife and two children, playing pickleball, or enjoying a round of golf whenever he gets the chance.
Helping active people recover, perform, and stay in the game.
The Recovery Room Chiropractic and Wellness
5041 Fairview St,Burlington, ON
L7L 4W8 View Staff & Treatments
