Ten minutes before I have to race out the door to another networking meeting. So here’s an amazingly short post:
Got plantar fascitis? Hurts like the dickens, doesn’t it…and it takes weeks and weeks and weeks and then some more weeks to go away. If it ever does.
Among the various things you can do to help yourself is to apply cold to the pained foot. This is not every practical if you’re on your feet for hours at a time, as, say, yours truly happens to be. But…I figured something out.
First, take your gel heel cups or your orthotics and keep them in the freezer. If you have several pairs, you can pull out a fresh pair and stuff them in your shoes as you’re about to hit the road.
But…second, and better yet, FREEZE YOUR ENTIRE DAMN SHOE!
Yes. It doesn’t harm leather to put it in the deep freeze. And if you have a fairly hefty shoe, like a Dansko or Sanitas clog, the bulk in the heavy soles will keep the shoe cold for a surprisingly long time. Put your shoes in a plastic bag and stash them in the freezer. Let them live there. Take them out and put them on just as you’re ready to head out the door.
Or…put a fresh pair of frozen shoes on as soon as you come back in the door, after traipsing around on your feet.
It feels sooooooo good to slip your sore foot into that icy-cold shoe!
And I think it may actually help. The current episode I’m enjoying has been particularly stubborn–it’s gone on for about three months now. And lo! Since I came up with this idea, it started healing (heh!) up. Most of the time now, the foot hardly hurts at all.
Combine a frozen shoe with your usual stretching therapy and see what happens.
w00t! 6:41 a.m.! Got this done in less than 10 minutes. And….she’s off and running!
I don’t have this plantar thing you’re talking about, but when I was reading I went from, “this lady’s crazy” to thinking you’re not so crazy. In the summertime when it’s hot out is another great time to freeze your shoes! My feet get so hot out working all day and it would be awesome to have them be cool for awhile. My grandpa used to put his sunglasses in the freezer during the summertime for the same reason. He was a weird but awesome dude, and he swore that it kept his head cool!
LOL! Crazy like a fox… 😉
Truth to tell, I’ve tried both heat and cold on the pained foot. Apparently the pain is caused when the tendons that run from the heel to the ball of the foot get inflamed; this is associated with or aggravated by Achilles tendonitis, yet another fun function of advancing maturity.
In my case (maybe not anyone else’s!), the inflamed tendons spanning the arch from back to front even feel hot to the touch. Resting the foot on a heating pad not only doesn’t help, it actually makes it hurt even more! Rolling the recommended plastic bottle of frozen water under the foot for 20 minutes helps a lot.
But sometimes (most of the time?) you can’t sit or stand around for 20 minutes pushing a frozen water bottle with your foot.
A clodhopper like a Sanitas or Dansko clog not only shapes to fit snugly under the sore arch and around the agonizing heel, it encloses the entire foot. These clodhoppers are about all I can wear when the feet are acting up; the problem is, a heavy leather shoe is kinda contraindicated in 110-degree heat, especially when heat makes your foot feel even worse. But if the whole shoe is freezing cold, you swaddle the entire miserable foot in soothing coolth.
I’ve found that Sanitas clogs stay cool for a good half-hour or 45 minutes, long enough for the cold treatment to have some therapeutic effect. Plus it sure feels great.
Ha! love it. I’ve had a bout or two of pf and it’s not fun at all. Oddly strengthening my forefoot seems to have helped the most in preventing my arch from hurting. Now I wear the “barefoot” shoes a lot of the time and have no arch problems since my feet are so much stronger.
Weirdest exercise – put a tennis ball on the ground. Pick it up using just one foot. Start by doing it sitting so you don’t have to worry about balance. Work your way up to standing. It’s actually really good for strengthening your feet!
I’ll try that. From what I can tell, it looks like all the superstructure in your foot and calf work together, so that if one part weakens or goes out of whack, another part can start to hurt.
Try taking frozen bottles of water in a cooler so you can roll your soles on it once your shoes warm up and you are still on your feet.
Good idea if you’re going to an office! If I were sitting at a desk, I’d certainly do that.
Not so practical when you’re teaching adjunct and have no place to alight. Hauling a cooler around campus would be difficult, as would standing in front of a classroom full of 19-year-olds rolling a frozen bottle back and forth with your foot.
LOL! They’d love that!