Heel Pain Plantar Fasciitis Part 4

Heel Pain Plantar Fasciitis Part 4

How to prevent heel pain or plantar fasciitis:

1. Make sure that you have properly fitted shoes.  Many patients come into my office with shoes that are too big or too small.  If you need help, call shoe stores or your Podiatrist to get your feet measured.  Unfortunately for many people, their feet do not stay the same size throughout their lifetime.
2. Replace your shoes regularly.  Although shoes can get expensive, it is usually cheaper then visits to your doctor or time off from work due to foot pain. Check the bottom of your shoes; if you see that there is a lot of wear in the heels or soles of the shoes, it is time to get new shoes!
3. Make sure that you get shoes that are supportive and have cushioning!  A good way to check both of these is to bend the shoe from the heel to the toe, if you can fold the shoe in half, it doesn’t have the support that you need. If you can press down on the inside of the shoe at the heel and there is no cushioning then that is not the shoe for you unless you can remove the innersole and put your orthotics in for your cushioning. 
4. Prepare yourself before exercise; make sure that you stretch before and after exercise as well as getting warmed up. 
5. Although exercise is important, it is also very important to pace yourself.  Many people want to start out by running or walking 10 miles the first day.  If you have not been exercising start out with 5 minutes.  Always remember no matter how far you go, say 5 minutes from home; you still have 5 minutes to go back, unless you have just gone around the block that leads back to your home! 
6. Make sure that you are taking care of your total body when exercising, if you do not have proper nutrition and support for the rest of your body, you will not be able to sustain any activity properly.
7. Although no one wants to talk about this, if you are overweight, you need to lose weight.  Multiply your weight by gravity:  g = 9.8 m/s² and 32 ft/s^{2 and} that will be the force that is hitting your feet when you walk. 
8. Remember if you are overweight, you didn’t put it on in a day or a week or even a month, so you want to take it off at the same pace that you put it on! Small changes can make a huge impact, such as swapping out a soda or pop for a glass of water.  Only eating half of the bag of M & M’s, and leaving at least a small portion of food on your plate at every meal!

Next: we will discuss what your doctor can do for you if you have heel pain plantar fasciitis