We’ve talked about plantar fasciitis on this blog a few times in the past, and it’s a condition that we see in our office pretty regularly. Plantar fasciitis involves inflammation and tearing of the thick band of tissue that connects your heel to your toes. Under enough stress, this band of tissue can actually rupture and cause significant discomfort.
When plantar fasciitis pain develops, oftentimes our first instinct is to get off our feet and avoid straining the area. However, inactivity can actually serve to make the problem worse. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at why inactivity can make plantar fasciitis worse, and how to best treat the problem.
Plantar Fasciitis And Inactivity
If you’re dealing with a sharp pain on the underside of your foot, especially if it’s worse in the morning after a night of inactivity, you may think that protecting the area by limiting how much stress you put on it is the best way to care for your feet. And while you don’t want to continue putting increased stress on the area, inactivity is far from the best way to protect your foot.
Inactivity can make plantar fasciitis worse for a number of reasons. For starters, inactivity can lead to atrophy in the muscles and tissues in your foot that help to handle stress and take pressure off the plantar fascia. If the supportive structures can no longer bear as much weight, your plantar fascia may be under more strain when you are moving. But perhaps more importantly, we’re prone to weight gain if we live a sedentary life. If you gain weight, you’ll be asking your feet to help handle an increased amount of stress, and that can lead to more fascia tearing and inflammation.
Instead of becoming inactive, you’ll want to fight your plantar fasciitis with activity. You’ll want to avoid high-impact activities like running or actions that involve jumping or landing hard on your feet, but low- or no-impact exercises like walking, swimming or moving on an elliptical can help to strengthen key structures in your feet and keep weight off. Just be sure that you slowly increase your activity levels so that your muscles aren’t overburdened. Get in the habit of listening to your body and taking it slow when it comes to increasing the amount of activity you pursue.
Instead of inactivity, a better way to protect your feet and your plantar fascia is to ensure that they are in the right shoe for the activity. You want a shoe that is comfortable and contours to the shape of your foot arch. If your arch isn’t adequately supported, it could be handling too much strain. Some foot specialists even advise that you wear these supportive shoes in the home, as going barefoot for extended period leaves us without additional foot support. Your foot specialist can provide you with a personalized recommendation based on your foot shape and how you’re being impacted by plantar fasciitis.