Plantar Fasciitis

What is Plantar Fasciitis?
Plantar Fasciitis is as an inflammation of the tissue that connects the heel to the toes, known as the plantar fascia. Plantar fasciitis is a condition that affects hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers each year. The plantar fascia is a band of fibrous tissue. When off weight bearing, such as when sleeping the tissue contracts and shortens. When we’re on the move, the tissue pulls away from the bone, creating an inflammation at the origination point of the plantar fascia into the heel bone or calcaneus.

This inflammation is called plantar fasciitis. If you’re suffering from consistent foot pain schedule a podiatry consultation with our office.
Plantar fasciitis can be a debilitating condition. Pain and discomfort can make working on your feet unbearable. This can lead to missed work, the inability to exercise and as a result possibly cause weight gain. Weight gain makes treating the condition more difficult. Plantar fasciitis is often seen in people with flatter than average feet, sometimes referred to as a hyperpronated foot, because the plantar fascia is longer in a flatfoot then it would be in a high arch foot. If you can imagine, the heel to toe length is shorter in the high arched foot then, it is in a flatfoot. There are other contributing factors to plantar fasciitis as well including; obesity, improper fitting or worn shoe gear, “bad shoes”, or tight Achilles tendons whereas the foot has to flatten down more in the arch to compensate for a short or tight achilles tendon, when attempting to walk forward.

How do you treat Plantar Fasciitis?
Many people think the plantar fasciitis can be self limiting, that it will just go away, and often times in its initial presentation it can be, however, experience has shown that people who have developed the condition and do not address the underlying cause will most likely get a recurrence of that condition. Our podiatrists find that when this happens it may be even more difficult to treat.

Plantar fasciitis can last for many months and treatments range from conservative to surgical. Some alternative diagnosis that must be ruled out include a stress fracture, or tendonitis or a nerve entrapment in the heel area, amongst others. Learn how our podiatrists diagnose plantar fasciitis.
Plantar fasciitis is one of the most commonly treated conditions at our office.