[sshannon]

I had this condition about 6 years ago in both heels at the same time and it was nightmarish. I was crawling from bed into the kitchen in the morning.

I cured it short-term by taking NSAIDs, resting my feet on ice packs (bags of frozen veggies work, too) whenever I sat down, and stretching the tendons across the bottom of my foot by pulling my toes back toward me with straight legs (calf muscle stretch). It took about 4 weeks to get relief.

Long-term I lost 50 lbs. That helped immensely and I haven't had any recurrence.

I also make it an absolute habit to do the calf muscle stretch before I get out of bed in the morning so I don't "shock" and overstretch those tendons on the bottom of my foot. If I do any kind of bouncing exercise (i.e. step aerobics), my right heel will act up. So I've learned to go low-impact.

I feel for you!

[oramar]

My hubby just went to foot doctor today for this very problem. He has to freeze bottle of water and roll foot over it for exercise. Plus he was fitted for arch support.

[Diahni]

I have it too, but only rarely with exercise, never going barefoot, orthotics, ice it when it hurts, and NSAIDs. A good arch in my shoes seems to work for me.

[Jolie]

This website has lots of good information, including a diagram of how to tape your foot.http://heelspurs.com/tape.html

[BBFRN]

I highly recommend the taping- it works for me. One tip to add to Heelspurs' instructions: Take an extra piece of tape and place it across the others, up around your arch if you have high arches.

I notice a definite difference after working with a taped foot, and wearing a night splint. Heelspurs.com is a great resource, and they're very good to buy from. If you don't want to buy from them, you can get athletic tape at your local drug store for about $2.50 a roll.

[ellescorpio]

I had problems with plantar fasciitis too and I bought a pair of z-coil shoes and I could tell a difference within a week. I have been wearing them for a few months now and I don't have anymore problems, I get sore all over on long days but the next morning I can get up with out wanting to crawl to the bathroom because my feet still hurt so bad. It's so nice to enjoy my days off without foot pain!

check it out:
http://www.zcoil.com/

[Lucyinthesky]

I have had problems with my feet since I was a teenager (and so have my mother and grandmother BTW). I have found that going barefoot is the worst thing I can do, even around the house. If I am barefoot alot one day, I am literally limping the next day. For me, my relief has been to wear Croc Flip-Flops around the house - they provide so much cushion, I love them! I have been fitted twice by podiatrists for custom made orthotics and they only made my arches ache like someone beat them with a baseball bat. I'll take my Crocs anyday (for some reason the flip-flop style seems to more cushiony than the clog style).

[pannie]

sshannon, that was my routine and it worked. I'd previously had the cortisone shots. They worked but wore off in about a month. I knew if there was a fire at night, I'd be doing the right thing by crawling out, 'cause I sure couldn't walk. Now I do the calf stretching every day to keep it at bay. Oh, probably not walking miles on concrete during a 12 hour helped, too. Thank goodness it's gone!

[KYnightnurse]

I dealt with this for years before realizing what it was. Here is my experience. I tried to fix it myself by using motrin and icing my heel a few times a day. I got to the point I was driving to work (an hour drive) with my heel on ice and would ice me heel at work every chance I had. I do high impact aerobics about 3 times/wk. and had to cut back to once/wk. It was just my left foot, when my right heel started to hurt too I knew it was time to see a podiatrist. This was a few months ago. He started me on Lodine TID which I can now take BID. He sent me to a local shoe store for Spenco brand inserts which you can boil and bend to make more of an arch if you need to. I wore the inserts for about 3 weeks and took the Lodine, it helped a LOT. What a relief. My left foot still ached some but not near as much as it used to. After 3 weeks I began to get a little paranoid that things weren't 100% better, I went back to the doc and got a long acting cortisone shot in my heel. It was only 1cc and took about 10 seconds to do. It stung but wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated. I still use the inserts and take the Lodine because I'm afraid not to. If I go too long without using the inserts I can feel it in my feet but it's not nearly as bad as it was. I still do calf and hamsting stretches frequently.
Good luck!!

[ann945n]

Wow thank you everyone for the great advice! Thats what i love about allnurses its great! Sounds like i should go to a podiatrists to get the best results. I bought some insoles with good arch support and have been stretching my feet every chance i get and staying off of them as school permits. Its slllllooowly getting better which i guess is a good sign, i just dont want to deal with this forever, sounds like i might Thanks everyone!