I am officially suffering from plantar fasciitis.
...For the past months, my heels are so painful that it makes me just want to sh*t in my pants! And the worst thing is, it's getting in the way of my pagiging lakwatchera. All day long, from the moment I wake up, there is a constant pain in my every step that I just don't feel like going out anymore.
...In the past, I would look forward and actually enjoy a day of going to different places, jalan-jalan as they say here. But now, I just want to curl up on my favorite chair and spend the whole day being a couch potatie. And if ever I do make gala with friends, in less than one hour, I would be SIMANG the rest of the day because of the pain in my heel.
...I have free access to the gym in our office building but I don't want to go there because just thinking about the pain I will feel after going on the treadmill gives me migraines... On really bad days, I have to ask Tutuy to "get this, get that, do this, do that" because it's so painful for me to go around the house to do the chores (buti na lang superman tong si Tutuy! I just LOVE LOVE LOVE him!).
Oh the tragedies of My Constipated Life (shameless pluggin hehe).
I want to share this with you because heel spurs, although not life threatening, is quite common. So if you have the symptoms, or the causes match your lifestyle, then better do something to prevent it.
Plantar fasciitis, or heel spurs as some call it, cause the heel to hurt, feel hot or swell, is inflammation of the plantar fascia, a thin layer of tough tissue supporting the arch of the foot.
The plantar fascia is the ligament located at the bottom of our feet. It is attached to the heal and extends to the ball of the foot. When this ligament stretches irregularly, it tears bit by bit until it becomes inflamed.
And since I love visual aids *wink*, here's how it looks like: (thanks to Doc Noy Marasigan for sharing the medical sites with me)
It's quite common, actually. Maybe you have it too. Here are some of the symptoms:
- You feel a sharp pain in the inside part of the bottom of your heel, which may feel like a knife sticking in the bottom of your foot MOST ESPECIALLY when you take your first few steps after waking up
- This heel pain tends to be worse when climbing stairs or when standing on tiptoe
- Heel pain after long periods of standing or after getting up from a seated position
- Heel pain after, but not usually during, exercise
PF gradually develops so if you develop the symptoms, better take extra care and see what you can do about it...I knew I had it coming. After all, I almost have all it's causes:
- Walk or stand for long periods of time (Check!-Singapore: the walking capital of the world!)
- Overweight (Check!-leche)
- Common in people whose jobs require a lot of standing and walkin (Check!-from One Roxas Triangle to Globe to teaching grabeh!)
- Wear shoes that don't fit well (Check!-porma first before comfort! Since 4th year high school, my minimum heel requirement is 1.5 inches. It was only last year that I started buying flats.)
- An athlete, especially runners (eehhh uncheck!)
- Walk with an inward twist or roll of the foot or what they call pronation (Check!)
What's pronation? Eto yun:
So mine looks something like this right foot:
So when I had my foot scanned, it looked something like this:
As you can see, the pressure is mostly on the heel and balls of the foot.
The doctor said it can be treated. However, since mine is a bit bad na, it will take awhile for the pain to go away (awhile as in one to two years)!
I do have pain relievers and anti-inflammatory druggies but it all just brings temporary relief.
The best remedy for now is for me to wear a heel and foot support (which I haven't bought yet kasi ang mahal pala if they customise it for your feet and pang-orthotics pala talaga sha. wild!). It looks something like this:
Pde rin daw "foot taping" pero duh parang ang OA hehe
And also to apply ice packs every night (which I can't do recently cuz it's kinda cold in our place nowadays) and do certain stretching exercises like:
According to the doctor and based from the research (Ms Wikipedia etech) I've done, there are a lot of things I can do to help speed up the healing process, like
Always resting my feet, avoiding a lot of walking/running activities
Do the calf and towel stretches to help the ligament be more flexible and make the muscle that supports my arch stronger.
Wear well-cushioned shoes with good shock absorption (can my ballet flats and high-heeled pumps absorb shock?!?)..for example, athletic shoes (hay, i have only one pair of sports shoe and I use it 4 times a year only--the same number of times I go to the gym in a year haha)
Putting on shoes as soon as I get out of bed because going barefoot or wearing slippers may make the pain worse.
I should also get more rest (my favorite!)
When I consulted my doctor, he mentioned about giving a certain type of steroid shot but he said it's not recommendable cuz it can make the bone brittle or weaker in the long run.
Oh and another thing, the doctor mentioned that it's best that I lose weight to make it heal faster.
Lose weight? Bummer!!!
