I had a decent case of plantar fasciitis I dealt with for 2-3 weeks. The pain peaked about a week ago, and I’d say 2 days ago I woke up with zero first step pain.
How did I get it?
I decided to increase my step count. I usually average about 9200 steps/day. Summer is coming so I started doing more Hot Bengal walks, was hitting 12-15k steps/day. The problem is..
I did not slowly build to this, I just started walking.
The first day I just added two 30 minute walks. Basically I’d try to get 3-5k steps per outing.
I was fine, I think what set me over the the edge was a CrossFit WOD that had double unders. The pain got worse after that.
How did I fix it?
I’ll summarize the 3 (ish) things I did to manage it.
It’s the same protocols we discuss in our Plantar Fasciitis Treatment Guide. You can get that by clicking the button below:
#1 - I wore cushioned shoes
I usually wear Xero wide toe box minimalist shoes. I started wearing my Topo cushioned running shoes.
They are still zero drop and have a wide toe box, they just have more cushion.
The pain was night and day compared to the two shoes. If I did NOT have a job where I walked around all day, this would have been less of an issue.
The goal is to keep the pain manageable during the day, so shoot for no MORE than 4/10 pain during the day.
#2 I did some heel raise isometrics
I did not do these that often. Maybe 1-2 sets of 30 seconds every other day. Really only when I’d think about it. Other than pain first thing in the morning, with my Topo’s on, the pain was barely noticeable.
Isometrics have a pain relieving quality, so doing a quick 10-20s hold can help reduce pain.
#3 I kept living life normal(ish)
I’d kept being active. I wanted to keep my activity level high so if I wasn’t getting steps I’d use the bike or rower. You can see my month average increased and some peaks and valleys as I managed pain.
I did a few CrossFit workouts in my Topos. At the regular gym I’d still shoot some hoops (on a court) in my Xero’s before a lift.
I did avoid higher impact stuff (sprints, plyo’s, more Bird vs Jordan shooting hoops) for a little bit since that would was too much pain IN the moment. If I kept the volume low, I’m confident my pain would not have been worse, but no need to poke the bear.
Long term management
I can say with 100% confidence that this was plantar fasci-ITIS, the acute version, since this was the first time in YEARS I’ve had this issue on this foot. In general I don’t need to do anything for long term management because…
because I stay active
But it would be a good idea to start to cycle some high intensity work directly at the plantar fascia throughout my year to make my feet stronger.
If I was prone to flare ups and wanted to take preventative measures, this is a non negotiable. The steps I’d use we lay out in our Plantar Fasciitis Treatment Guide.
Grab it here >>> Plantar Fasciitis Treatment Guide 2.0