Do you feel acute pain at the bottom of your feet when you take your first step in the morning? If yes, you need to consult your doctor as this could be the primary symptom of plantar fasciitis. Although it is more common in runners and overweight people, it can occur to anyone who doesn’t wear shoes with enough support.

Normally, the plantar fascia acts as a shock-absorbing tissue that connects the heel bone to the toes. These tissues support the arch in your foot, but under high stress and tension could damage the tissue resulting in inflammation. Ultimately, the inflammation becomes the cause of acute pain.

You can do several things to control the pain arising from the plantar fasciitis. The first thing you need to do is to keep weight off your foot until the inflammation subsides. To control pain, you can use the ice pack on the affected area for 10 to 15 minutes, 4-5 times in a day.

Remedies of Plantar Fasciitis

The reason behind the plantar fasciitis could be your age, weight, some exercise, walking style, the structure of the foot like a flat foot or simply the demand of your profession to remain in standing position for a longer period. The only remedy is to bring the stretched muscle in normal status by removing the undue stress. Some time tested remedies are:

• Night Splints Socks
  

When we are sleeping we keep our feet pointed down, which in turn shortens the plantar fascia and Achilles tendon to be in a non-functional state. Night splints socks help you keep the foot in a particular angle so that the muscle remains stretched and maintain the functional length of the plantar fascia. This might feel heavy on your feet, but the benefits you get over-weighs the load you feel.

• Pain Medication 

The doctor could recommend some non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to control inflammation. This could help you control pain, but this isn’t the remedy. You have to try other things to bring your muscles back to normalcy.

• Exercise & Stretching

It is not just about treating the plantar fasciitis but maintain the shape of the muscle. You have to stretch your calves, the bottom of your foot and Achilles tendon so that it could remain in good shape.

• Athletic Tape

This could be temporary relief you can use athletic tape as this gets you to support so that you could move easily. However, this could cause some problems if used for a longer period.

• Shoe Inserts

The foot needs a proper cushion to take the stress of your body weight. If your shoe has good insoles you can protect your toe and avoid plantar fasciitis. So, be careful when you are buying your new pair of shoes. Go for a shoe that has custom arch support.

You can prevent plantar fasciitis from recurring very easily. Try to lose some weight and do some stretching exercises so that your foot muscles remain stronger. It is too risky to ignore the plantar fasciitis, as this could give you chronic heel pain and hinder your natural walk and other activities. Use night splints socks to keep your plantar fascia muscle in the right position. Enjoy the painless walk!