Will Physiotherapy Help Plantar Fasciitis?
It’s the start of the day, but you suddenly experience pain when you hop right out of bed. Or maybe you’re just waiting in line to get your coffee and feel pain out of nowhere. This can be frustrating, but it could be a sign you have plantar fasciitis.
Fortunately, physiotherapy is known to effectively treat plantar fasciitis. Let’s see what plantar fasciitis is all about and how physiotherapy can help reduce its symptoms.
What is Plantar Fasciitis?
This condition affects your feet, and it develops when repeated activities strain your plantar fascia, which is a thick tissue band supporting the arch of your feet.
People who are diagnosed with it may also suffer from bony growth forming on the heel bone called heel spurs. This mostly occurs in individuals who are in their 40s but can generally happen to all age groups.
Plantar fasciitis can happen to athletes who jump or run a lot. It also develops in people who have jobs that always require them to be on their feet most of the day. These individuals include police officers, restaurant workers, and cashiers.
While those with sports and physically demanding jobs are most at risk, anyone can suffer from plantar fasciitis. It can make working and going about your daily activities very difficult.
Plantar Fasciitis and its Causes
There is no single cause for all plantar fasciitis cases. However, it generally occurs when the body can’t adapt quickly enough to the strain placed upon it.
Generally, the plantar fascia is resilient and strong since it needs to meet the demands of your daily physical activities. However, if these activities increase and the strain becomes unbearable for the body to keep up with, the plantar fascia will struggle to cope.
If you get adequate rest time, your tissues will slowly thicken, grow stronger, and will remain healthy & pain-free. The frustrating issue with plantar fasciitis is trying to find that rest time, as most people can’t avoid walking around every day.
When stressed, small tears will form in the plantar fascia. These can then cause inflammation and pain, which takes a long time to recover from. Thankfully, physiotherapy can help.
Physiotherapy for Treating Plantar Fasciitis
Unfortunately, plantar fasciitis can be a chronic issue. And for a lot of people, it can take over a year to fully heal. If you leave it untreated, the recovery time is most likely to be on the longer end of the scale.
Physiotherapy is considered an effective treatment, but the recovery time will still be slow. For those who are lucky and get early treatment, you can recover from plantar fasciitis in four to six weeks, but for most people, it’s usually a lot longer than this.
It’s important to set your expectations when it comes to physiotherapy and plantar fasciitis. It will help to reduce your symptoms and speed up recovery, but you won’t come out of your first appointment pain-free. Full recovery takes several appointments and a lot of patience.
How Can a Physiotherapist Help?
Physiotherapists are trained to treat plantar fasciitis, and diagnosis is completed with a physical exam and a simple history. Once diagnosed, your physiotherapist will work with you to create a programme that will help reduce the symptoms.
Here’s what your programme could consist of:
- Stretching exercises to optimize your ankle and plantar fascia’s flexibility
- Strengthening exercises to optimize your supporting muscle’s strength
- Iontophoresis delivers medication through your skin
- Gait training to help reduce symptoms while improving your ability to walk
- Applying ice to lessen inflammation and pain
- Using night splints to maintain the correct position of your ankles and toes while sleeping
Also, they might suggest orthotics or shoe inserts and supportive footwear to decrease abnormal foot motion. These can also support your arch while decreasing stress on your plantar fascia. Fortunately, most plantar fasciitis cases improve over time with the help of physiotherapy. And that means surgery is rarely necessary.
Stages of Physiotherapy Treatment for Plantar Fasciitis
The first treatment stage focuses on decreasing the symptoms you’re experiencing as quickly as possible. The best way to do this is with the help of an ice pack and anti-inflammatory medication to reduce the pain.
Then, your physiotherapist will start using specific techniques to further reduce the pain. These can include massage, dry needling, and joint mobilization for stiff joints.
Depending on the cause, braces, taping, or heel cups can be used to support as well as protect your plantar fascia. Aside from these, calf flexibility exercises are also beneficial, and it includes calf stretches or a foam roller.
The second stage of treatment involves rehabilitation and progressive exercises. Specifically, the exercises utilized to load your plantar fascia. This includes exercises such as heel raising with only the big toe pressing against a towel.
Aside from exercises, your physiotherapist will address other factors that could possibly cause your plantar fasciitis. Usually, these can include reduced muscular strength/endurance, poor footwear, and decreased joint flexibility.
How to Prepare for Your Physiotherapy Appointment
To prepare for your physiotherapy appointment, it’s best to have a list of the following:
- Your symptoms and when you started noticing them
- Medications, supplements, and vitamins you take
- Relevant personal information such as activities that could have contributed to your symptoms
- Your family’s medical history
This will allow your physiotherapist to get a clear idea of your needs so they can start putting a personalized plan in place. It’s important to be honest with your therapist to optimize your treatment and recover as soon as possible.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve been diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, physiotherapy is one of the most helpful and efficient treatments to go for. When meeting with your physiotherapist, they will ensure that the treatment is specific to your needs and activities.
Once you’ve started, you’ll soon be on the road to recovery and a pain-free future. Complete recovery from plantar fasciitis can be painfully slow, but with the aid of a physiotherapist, You’ll get there sooner rather than later.
