Plantar fasciitis pain is often felt at the front part of the heel on the bottom of the foot. This heel pain spreads along the bottom of the foot towards the toes. If the ligaments of the foot bottom have tightened up overnight due to inflammation, putting your weight on your foot to walk when getting out of bed in the morning becomes painful. The tight foot area is stretched as you put your weight on your foot, which causes a 'hot' kind of pain that runs along the heel toward the toes.
Besides having pain when getting out of bed in the mornings, you may find that the pain in heel of foot condition is only a problem after being stationary for a while, or late in the day or while doing certain kinds of activities.
Here are pain in heel of foot treatments that help reduce inflammation of the plantar fascia:
• Use Ice Massage - fill a sports water bottle with water, freeze it and place it on the floor. Roll your foot over it for 20 minutes two times a day. Doing this will both help decrease the inflammation causing the pain in heel of foot condition while stretching out the arch.
• Use a Contrast Bath - to help decrease chronic inflammation, try contrasting treatment between ice and heat. Pay attention to how the pain in heel of foot condition feels when alternating between ice and heat since some people find they do better with ice while others have better results with heat.
• Take Anti-inflammatory Medications - medications such as ibuprofen will help decrease inflammation that occurs in the fascia. However, don't simply mask the pain with a medication. If you reduce the pain with the anti-inflammatory medication but keep on participating in activities which cause tearing and inflammation of the plantar fascia, you are not healing and will likely not improve. Continue resting, icing and stretching while you take the medications.
• Reduce or Avoid Activities that Aggravate the Condition - climbing stairs, walking or running on hills, squatting, lifting heavy items and walking on uneven terrain all can make the pain in heel of foot condition worse. Limit the number of times you go up and down stairs and try to avoid hills and uneven terrain. If you have to squat down, keep the inflammed foot flat on the ground and in front of the other. Do not lift heavy items.
Besides reducing pain in heel of foot inflammation, stretching exercises can be effective in helping treat heel pain. Learn as much as you can about self treatments for pain in heel of foot conditions. Plantar fasciitis pain can be just annoying or it can become so serious that you cannot walk. Understanding heel pain causes can help you know how to find relief. Foot surgery should always be considered the very last resort.
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