Have you ever felt a shooting pain in the sole of the foot while you have gone for a walk or practice 'running'? I do! At first I attributed it to the lack of practice and perseverance, but as I practiced more sport and seeing that it did not disappear, I realized that that was not the problem, or at least, not mainly.
If you also want to know What is plantar fasciitis and how to improve it because you sense that you have it, here we are going to tell you everything in our Health article today. Are you staying with us?
Plantar Fasciitis: What is it?
Plantar fasciitis is a inflammation of thick tissue on the sole or bottom of the foot. This tissue is called plantar fascia, it is what connects the calcaneus to the toes and creates the arch of the foot.
Plantar fasciitis occurs when the thick band of tissue on the sole of the foot is stretched or overstretched.
The injury: Symptoms and causes
The symptom they are usually pain and stiffness in the lower sole of the heel. The sole can also hurt or burn. When does it normally hurt?
- In the morning, when taking the first steps.
- After standing or sitting for a while.
- When going up the stairs.
- After strenuous activity.
Furthermore, the causes they are usually:
- Wrong footwear.
- Bad footprint.
- Inadequate training.
- Very tough training ground.
What treatment can we follow to improve plantar fasciitis?
Next, we put the treatment that you can follow if you have plantar fasciitis:
- Medication to reduce both pain and inflammation in the area.
- Placement of night splints to use while we sleep in order to stretch the entire sole of the foot.
- Wear shoes with good support and good cushioning.
- Apply ice to the area of pain at least twice a day between 10 and 15 minutes, on all the first three days that we feel the discomfort.
- Use insoles to absorb the impact on the ground with each step.
We can also perform the following exercises at home to prevent this injury:
- We stretch the toe of the foot towards us as far as we can for about 20 seconds. We repeat the operation twice with each foot.
- We place a towel on the floor and putting our foot on top of it, we try to wrinkle it with the help of our fingers. We repeat it 10 times with each foot.
- We stretch the calves by facing the wall.
These discomforts caused by this injury are usually temporary and just as they appear they end up disappearing by themselves but we have to act quickly in front of it. Otherwise, the pain could become chronic and have a greater difficulty to treat.