What is plantar fasciitis?

Plantar fasciitis is an injury of the plantar fascia, the thick strip of connective tissue that moves across the bottom of your foot. Your plantar fascia supports your foot arch and bears your body weight when you stand, walk, run, and jump. 

When the plantar fascia develops small tears, it grows very irritated and inflamed. That leads to a condition called plantar fasciitis, the most common cause of heel pain. 

Heel spurs — small bony protrusions on your heel — occur in about 10% of people with plantar fasciitis. While they sound painful, heel spurs only cause pain in 5% of people who have them alongside plantar fasciitis. Treating the plantar fasciitis almost always resolves the pain if you also have heel spurs. 

What are the symptoms of plantar fasciitis?

The main symptom of plantar fasciitis is a stabbing pain in the bottom of the heel. The pain may move up your foot to the start of your foot arch. Plantar fasciitis usually affects one foot. 

Plantar fasciitis pain comes and goes, typically reappearing after any extended time off your feet — most people have severe pain when they take the first steps of the day. 

As you walk around, the pain usually fades. But, when you’re asleep or off your feet, the plantar fascia tightens and shortens. As soon as you stand up and start moving, the plantar fascia quickly stretches, causing additional tiny tears, inflammation, and pain. 

What causes plantar fasciitis? 

Plantar fasciitis occurs because of repetitive stress on your plantar fascia. Some of the many reasons for that repeated stress include:

• Frequent exercise with a lot of heel impact, like running
• Starting a new running or walking program 
• Extra weight
• Pregnancy
• Standing still on a hard surface for long periods 
• Abnormal foot structure
• Abnormal gait (walking pattern)

Although it’s less common, some diseases, including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, reactive arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis, can cause plantar fasciitis. 

How is plantar fasciitis treated?

Plantar fasciitis treatment at Dearborn and Livonia Orthopedics & Sports Medicine starts with non-surgical measures such as: 

• Rest
• Activity modification
• Physical therapy
• Foot bracing or splinting
• Shoe orthotics
• Anti-inflammatory medications
• Corticosteroid injections

About nine out of 10 people with plantar fasciitis improve significantly with non-surgical treatment. However, in cases where non-surgical measures do not work, you could need plantar fascia release, a minimally invasive surgical procedure to ease the tension on your plantar fascia. 

If you have sharp heel pain, Dearborn and Livonia Orthopedics & Sports Medicine has effective treatments. Call the office nearest or click book online today.