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Plantar Fasciitis & Calf Strain: An Update

I saw my regular chiropractor today. You have no idea HOW odd it sounds to hear (see?) those words coming out of my mouth (hands?) because I have never EVER sought chiropractic help for anything in my life. And I’m not saying that I’m sold on it YET but so far everything he is telling me jives with the research I’m doing. And he still hasn’t told me to stop running so I’m gonna hang in for a while longer and see if I get better with his treatments and advice.

From everything I’m reading (this article, The Truth About Plantar Fasciitis sums it up rather well), plantar fasciitis is still largely misunderstood, or at least, it might have multiple causes and multiple treatments/cures so that makes it complicated. For me, I think that I’m doing all the right things, and I think my chiropractor is giving me good advice.

I also just bought Katy Bowman’s book, Every Woman’s Guide to Foot Pain Relief: The New Science of Healthy Feet, at the recommendation of Carrie at Natural Moms Talk Radio. I’m looking forward to diving in.

Since it is hard to reply to comments on my post about my battle with plantar fasciitis, I thought I would just write an update, for the 5 of you who care. As for the rest of yous (sorry, it’s Philly slang) I have an AWESOME SUMMER COCKTAIL RECIPE ready to post in the morning, so stay tuned!

As for the update I promised, my calf pain has subsided, although the Grafton technique has left some residual tenderness. As soon as I pressed the “Publish” button on my post yesterday, I put on my running clothes and laced up my sneakers and set out verrrry slowly to see how I felt. I was willing to walk or just come home if I felt like I was injuring myself further, but my trainer (who told me to run, but with no speed) has never ever steered me wrong with any of her running advice and has kept me running through various setbacks, so I decided to give it a shot. I’m so glad I did.

My muscles felt tight at first, but not painfully so, and about a mile in, I started to feel really good. I wore my Garmin and kept an eye on my speed and didn’t let myself run too fast (I kept it between a 10:30 and 9:30 mile, for those who care) and I only ran a total of 2.5 miles, but it felt great to be out there, even in the heat and humidity.

I’ve been very dedicated to stretching and icing and wearing good shoes for the past few days. Also, I’ve been carrying around a water bottle and sipping on it constantly to keep myself properly hydrated.

This morning I opted to stay inside, but I wanted to burn some calories, and I’ve also missed my strength training workouts the past couple of weeks while my trainer is on vaca (how dare she!?) so I chose a vigorous 30-minute Bootcamp workout with FitnessGlo. It was great, and exactly what I needed. (Disclosure: I have a free membership with FitnessGlo from a blogging campaign a few months ago, but I mention it here purely organically; I was SO GLAD I had that membership this morning when I decided not to run, and there was no time to hit the gym.)

ANY-WHO!

I felt good, did some stretching, and then hit the shower. I was eager to see my chiropractor, to fill him in, and to see what his advice was. I was willing to stop running for a while if he suggested that I do so.

I drove to my appointment feeling pretty dejected about the whole situation, but when I explained everything, he was confident that I don’t need to stop running. He’s convinced that the calf issue I experienced isn’t even related to the plantar fasciitis, and it was due to the fact that I ran too fast and overworked my calf on a unusually hot and humid day. I knew that is what aggravated it, but I assumed that since everything in our feet and legs are connected, that the two issues were related, but he’s not so sure about that.

At any rate, my calf feels much better today, and I’m happy to follow his advice to get back out there, but I will take it slowly. He did some more massage and manipulation, and they applied more ice and stim, and now I’m back home, raring to go in the morning!

I’ve also been drinking water like a camel. I know staying hydrated is key in this heat.

So that’s the latest on my plantar fasciitis and running woes. Thanks for ALL the advice and encouragement. It is all so greatly appreciated!!

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9 Responses

  1. Thanks for the mention 🙂 And you won’t regret it! The book is required reading for my kids around here, although I don’t know whether it counts as homeschool P.E. or science. Katy’s info is truly life changing. And her blog is a hoot to read.

  2. Good for you for wanting to keep up with the running. It would be easy to just give up until your issues dissolve but I think you’re right in wanting to keep moving. Chriopractors intrigue me. I saw one once when I was desperate with back pain during a pregnancy. After 3 visits I was as good as new and that was the easiest labor and delivery out of all of my children. I read articles in his office about how it helps heal chronic ear infections as well. I’ll be curious to see if this helps your foot…hoping it does because I know that pain is miserable. It took a long time for mine to heal with just stretching alone.

    1. Yeah, in some ways I think it is better to keep it moving as long as I’m doing all the stretching and things that are recommended. I’m very torn on the shoes – I definitely believe that barefoot is the ideal, but we have basically ruined our feet by encasing them in shoes all our lives so that now we have to wear shoes to protect them. But I feel that somehow there has to be a better way. I’m really eager to get into that Guide to Foot Pain book. I think she’s going to have some answers.

  3. How did I miss your original post about plantar fasciitis? I’ve had this painful issue since January and just went to the doctor last month because it never subsided (wishful thinking on my part.) My doctor gave me the injection right into the heal of my foot which was extremely unpleasant, but in a couple days I was as good as new ♥

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