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These Habits Might Be Irritating Your Plantar Fascia

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Plantar fasciitis can be really hard to shake once it sets in. That nagging pain and pulling sensation from your heel to your arch can make it tough to walk around, let along run or exercise. So many patients partially recover with rest, but then their plantar fasciitis comes back. If you've had this experience, you need to carefully look at your habits and lifestyle and determine what you're doing to irritate your foot. Here are some common habits and mistakes that tend to irritate the plantar fascia.

1. Wearing shoes without arch support.

The arch of your foot consists of numerous muscles and ligaments. If you are standing all day without any structure to support these muscles and ligaments, your plantar fascia — the ligament that attaches directly to your heel bone — will be put under considerable strain. This is why you might first develop plantar fasciitis after walking around in flat flip flops or sandals all summer.

Go through your shoe collection, and set aside any shoes without arch support. Whether sneakers or sandals, you should only be wearing shoes with proper padding in the arch area.

2. Standing in one place all day.

If you have a job that requires you to be on your feet all day, there's not much you can do about that. But it is a lot better to move around, shift your weight from one foot to the other, and walk a bit than to stand in one place. Standing in one place lets inflammation accumulate in your feet, which can cause plantar fasciitis to worsen. 

Whenever you are able, take a little walk. Even hopping up and down in one place is better than nothing. When you have a longer break, take a minute to stretch out the bottoms of your feet by putting your toes up against the wall.

3. Building up your exercise routine too quickly.

If you go from doing little exercise to a lot of exercise, you may simply be being too hard on your plantar fascia. You're straining the muscles in your foot, causing them to tighten and pull on the ligament. This is common in runners, especially. 

Take a step back, and increase your training volume slowly. If you are a runner, only add a few miles per week to your training routine instead of going all in. Your body needs time to adapt.

If you break these habits, you should have better luck battling plantar fasciitis pain. Reach out to a podiatrist for assistance, like those at Advanced Foot Clinic. 


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