Today, on the Doc On The Run podcast we’re talking about the single best treatment for plantar fasciitis in runners.
If you are running and you get plantar fasciitis, you probably want to get back to running as soon as possible.
Many doctors will tell you to quit running. Doctors may also recommend lots of other treatments for plantar fasciitis like cortizone injections, custom orthotics, icing, elevation, supportive shoes, physical therapy, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and even surgery.
Most runners with plantar fasciitis simply don’t need most of these treatments.
When you get injured with something like plantar fasciitis, there really are lots of things you can do, but there is one thing that’s most important.
Healing, if you think about it, it really is a lot like training for a marathon. When you’re training for a marathon, you need to run, you need core strength, you need to do planks, you need some time in the gym, you have to do some weight workouts, you have to do lots of different things. But of all the things you could possibly do to help get you ready for a marathon, if you had to choose one, wouldn’t it be to run? I mean, don’t you agree? That’s the most important thing, you have to get your running fitness in shape. You have to be ready, you have to be prepared, and most of that comes from running.
Now, the same concept holds true when you’re healing plantar fasciitis. You have inflammation, you have pain, you have tightness, you have lots of issues that contribute to the condition that we call plantar fasciitis, but there is one thing that is most important by a mile.
That one thing runners need is stretching the Achilles tendon.
There are lots of ways to stretch. You’ve probably seen 100 different stretches, some of them are good and some of them are bad when you have plantar fasciitis.
Now, we talk about all this in detail in the Runner’s Heel Pain Course, but there are really two ways that I really think are most effective for stretching the Achilles tendon, and one of them is to do a simple stretch at home, three to five times a day. If you go to the bottom of the page of this episode, you can get the video, I’ll show you exactly how to do it, it’s a video lesson from the Runner’s Heel Pain Course, and it’ll show you exactly how to do the most effective stretch for plantar fasciitis.
Equinus Brace
Now, the other way, which is even better, is to use the Equinus Brace. This brace is extremely effective. Now, I’ll tell you, it’s expensive, but it works. So, go to the show bottom of this page if you want to get the free lesson on the stretches, and, if you do those stretches and then you’re not better, you’re not getting better quick enough, you can always use the Equinus Brace. We have a special thing for our listeners where they’ve agreed to give all of our listeners free shipping if you just enter ‘DOCONTHERUN‘, all one word, all caps in the promo code when you check out for the Equinus Brace.
Now, a lot of people ask me, well, they don’t get it. They don’t understand why the Achilles tendon. They say the pain is in their heel, it’s not in their Achilles tendon, they don’t understand. The Achilles tendon is really what causes plantar fasciitis in runners. Part of the thing is the tight Achilles tendon, some of those fiber wrap all the way around the heel and blend in with and are contiguous with the plantar fascia. When you get plantar fasciitis, it’s because your Achilles tendon is too tight and it basically forces you to pronate more, which puts more stress on the plantar fascia, and then you get plantar fasciitis.
Most runners have tight Achilles tendons, and in the last 15 years or so, of all the runners I’ve measured to check them to see how much measurement in terms of dorsiflexion at the ankle, that is how we determine whether or not you actually have a tight Achilles tendon, I’ve only seen three runners, three, who have what we think of as being the normal range of motion and a normal sort of pliability to the Achilles tendon. I don’t really think it’s fair to say that every runner needs to have normal pliability or normal range of motion with the Achilles tendon, but I do think it’s fair to say that if your Achilles tendon is tight, it’s much more likely that you’re going to get plantar fasciitis and it’s also much harder to treat the plantar fasciitis if you don’t address the Achilles tendon. You have to do something to address the Achilles tendon. That’s crucial.
Again, there’s lots of ways you can do this, and there are lots of different treatments for plantar fasciitis. You’ve probably heard already about lots of different possible treatments, icing, injections, night splints, wearing compression socks, elevating your foot, stopping running, that’s one I hear all the time, which, of course, most runners like we want to run, we don’t want to stop running. So, when a doctor tells us, “Oh, just stop running. This condition’s self-limiting, it’ll eventually go away if you just stop running,” that’s sort of a half truth and it’s not really the whole truth.
Doctors will recommend lots of different things, most of them are expensive, injections, splints, surgery, custom orthotics, and most runners do not need custom orthotics. Most runners do not need injections, and I don’t inject runners as a routine when they have plantar fasciitis for several different reasons that we talk about in the Runner’s Heel Pain Course. I think I have actually other podcast episodes where I’ve talked about why you don’t really want to have an injection when you’re a runner in terms of a corticosteroid injection unless it’s absolutely necessary, and most of the time, it’s not absolutely necessary. But of all of those things, all of those possible treatments, all the things that you could potentially do to get rid of your plantar fasciitis when you’re a runner, stretching the Achilles tendon is by far the most important.
Just go to the bottom of this page, and I’ll show you, I’ll give you the video. It’s a video lesson from the Runner’s Heel Pain Course, I’ll give it to you for free, you can just get it, and most people, most runners, I believe, who do those stretches consistently will be able to get rid of their plantar fasciitis just by doing that. It doesn’t mean you have to stop running while you’re healing your plantar fasciitis.
Again, there is a faster way, it’s a better way, using the Equinus Brace, that’s one that I use myself. I have one. The Equinus Brace is more helpful because you only have to use it an hour a day, you can use it while you’re watching television, while you’re working on a laptop, whatever. You can get free shipping if you want to get that. But either of them will work.
All you have to do is go to the Equinus Brace website then enter our special discount code DOCONTHERUN (all one word, all caps). When you enter DOCONTHERUN in the discount code box, they will give you free shipping.
So, go to the link below and get started right now. The sooner you get started on healing your plantar fasciitis, the better. You do not want to wait. When you have plantar fasciitis for months and months and years and years where it’s just kind of bugging you off and on, you actually get degeneration of the plantar fascia that makes the condition worse. Not only does it get harder to treat, it actually changes the collagen in the plantar fascia.
You don’t want to wait, you do want to treat it right away, not just because it’s annoying you when you get up and step out of bed in the morning, not just because it’s annoying you when you go for a run, but because it will get worse over time. But it’s a simple thing to fix. You can address it on your own.
I believe most runners can fix plantar fasciitis without ever seeing a doctor.
Click on the link below to get the free lesson, check it out, and then get started today so you can get back to running without any heel pain.
If you have a question that you would like answered as a future addition of the Doc On The Run Podcast, send it to me PodcastQuestion@docontherun.com. And then make sure you join me for the next edition of the Doc On The Run Podcast!
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