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Plantar Fasciitis - Winter shoes (need advice)

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Hi,
I got Plantar Fasciitis, the pain is on the arch (both feet), I got custom insoles.

1. How long does it normally take to recover/cure from Plantar Fasciitis? any extra advice will always be helpful! and Do's and Dont's?
2. Could you still ski if having Plantar Fasciitis?
3. I will be working in a restaurant on the Pist (Zermatt), could any body recommend a good shoes for waiters with Plantar Fasciitis?


Thank you!
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1. I've had it over a decade Very Happy
2. yes you can, this pair of boots have custom footbeds, before that I was fine with without them, is its bad Google Low Dye Taping, if you are renting boots, if not get some custom insoles
3. I use off the shelf insoles , most are half sole, I have Superfeet Green in my walking boots (Cotswold Outdoors supplied them), I also like Sole Insoles, the have various times and you can heat them in the oven for a better fit, www.yoursole.co.uk, I use the active thin, you may want more padding so they do a casual, you will need to remove the inner sole from the shoe.

Hope that helps, I'm not a waiter , just a fellow suffer

Edit:
I have a pair of these bought in Austria, that I wear without any special insoles, just as bought, quite a few waiters seem to wear them too, https://www.dolomite.it/global/en/product/dolomite-54-low-fg-gtx-shoe?article=2479591077010
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@Manual, I've had PF on and off for 3 years - it's one of those things that you often have to manage in the long term.

In terms of recovery, 2 things helped me: 1. Stretching, 2. Strengthening. Both are equally important, be rigorous in your program. Loads of resources on the internet, you'll find over time what works for you. Don't neglect the strengthening...

Skiing is one thing that causes no problem as there's no heel strike which is what causes the sharp pain in the affected area.

In terms of footwear, what you really need is an appointment with a podiatrist to assess whether you need corrective orthotics... In the absence of that, superfeet type insoles may be helpful. I only had a minor pronation issue but corrective orthotic insoles helped me a lot.

One last thing - PF pain is normally where the heel meets the arch, rather than on the arch itself - have you actually been diagnosed with PF?
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I had it for over a year, skiing was great it made it go away temporarily, what fixed it was better shoes and exercise, after I started running during lock down it started to get better, I then got new running trainers and walking shoes and it has now gone.

I tried physio, I tried foam rolling, whilst helped it didn’t fix the issue.

My physio said I don’t have as much movement in my ankles as I should which could be the cause.

I suspect the constant flexing whilst skiing helps that and combined with weight loss from running and new shoes has reduced the issue further.
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Another recommendation for ProFeet-type insoles.
My physio also recommended hard massage on the length of the plantar morning and night in order to stretch it.
I used a small wallpaper joint roller in order to get increased pressure.
Tip - in order to avoid that painful stabbing feeling when first putting the foot to the floor in the morning, I put my insoles in my slippers and left them by the bed so that my first step had a supported arch.
Took me 6 to 9 months to cure it and I have been clear for 3 years.
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+1 for decent insoles in slippers for when you get out of bed. I'm of an age where I need to get up in the night, and I think it definitely helps to have arch support for a floppy foot.
I have a knobbly roller thing which feels as though it helps but it's hard to be sure.
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red 27 wrote:
@Manual, I've had PF on and off for 3 years - it's one of those things that you often have to manage in the long term.

In terms of recovery, 2 things helped me: 1. Stretching, 2. Strengthening. Both are equally important, be rigorous in your program. Loads of resources on the internet, you'll find over time what works for you. Don't neglect the strengthening...

Skiing is one thing that causes no problem as there's no heel strike which is what causes the sharp pain in the affected area.

In terms of footwear, what you really need is an appointment with a podiatrist to assess whether you need corrective orthotics... In the absence of that, superfeet type insoles may be helpful. I only had a minor pronation issue but corrective orthotic insoles helped me a lot.

One last thing - PF pain is normally where the heel meets the arch, rather than on the arch itself - have you actually been diagnosed with PF?


Thank you for the tips m8 everyone Madeye-Smiley
Yes Im diagnosed with PF, the pain is on the arch near the heel.
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Little Martin wrote:
I had it for over a year, skiing was great it made it go away temporarily, what fixed it was better shoes and exercise, after I started running during lock down it started to get better, I then got new running trainers and walking shoes and it has now gone.

I tried physio, I tried foam rolling, whilst helped it didn’t fix the issue.

My physio said I don’t have as much movement in my ankles as I should which could be the cause.

I suspect the constant flexing whilst skiing helps that and combined with weight loss from running and new shoes has reduced the issue further.

Hi! Thank you and everyone Madeye-Smiley


I dont have flat feet, i got diagnosed after using flat foot shoes for 2 weeks walking 20km a day, i didnt know what it was and thought the pain will go away, i went hitch-hiking for 10 days. and then running every two days even when I started waking up with pain in my feet yet still went running every 2 days. I looked on google and was suprised that PF could be severe if not treated (hopefully not)
I went to an expert, and received my custom insoles a week ago, i have another appointment in 1 month, to adjust the insoles again, my left ankle leans a bit slightly to the left while walking which will be checked again in one month!

I do roll my feet on iced bottled 2 times a day and do stretching, my feet are getting better day by day, however reliefing the pain does not mean they have cured xD

Im an active person but my expert advised that i could only start jogging in 1 week and gradually-meaning slowly and improving day by day.

Will jogging help cure PF? As it adds pressure on the heel shouldnt it be avoided?

My PF pain is on the arch.

Thank you again everyone and Snowhead is
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I don't know if running was a cure or just helped as it aided weight loss, but could just be movement freeing up my joints - I'm doing up to 15k now and no pain (apart from muscle and knees!)

I did a lot of reading on footwear and what was good for PF and decided to replace so now I have:

I have a pair of:

https://www.oofos.co.uk/collections/men/products/mens-ooahh-sport-flex-black

for in the house

For walking (have dogs walk a lot!)

https://www.startfitness.co.uk/merrell-moab-2-ventilator-mens-walking-shoes-grey-j06015.html

For running:

https://www.saucony.com/UK/en_GB/hurricane-22/43064M.html

For muddy running:

https://www.sportsdirect.com/merrell-peak-flex-3-trainers-mens-189055

I definitely notice now when I'm not wearing footwear with the same support
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Had it, made skiing agony.

Stopped wearing rigger boots in work, and started using proper heavy lace up safety boots.
Lost weight.

Went back to factory insoles in ski boots (Head)

Had flare ups over about five years, not fun.
Losing weight and better footware made a difference.
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If the pain is in the arch then without stretching the plantar/ foot and lower leg chain (ie serious long term stretching as in months) including the anterior tibialis.... then your buying into hope below .
Doing no physical work and only dropping your credit card on insoles is a four letter outcome .....Hope .


Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Sun 18-10-20 18:00; edited 2 times in total
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I have struggled with Plantar Fasciitis for a bit, but I found these socks helped a ton.
https://getrelief.feetures.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwrKr8BRB_EiwA7eFaphsRuitab9_IxiAJQ9j-0vfkZChdJmB_Fjq_3mdgyGBOsKVQuR1K1BoComwQAvD_BwE

I wear these socks almost exclusively when I know I'm going to be on my feet.
Another thing I did was go to a PT and get some excercises that stretch my leg all the way from my lower back to my foot. If I do these excercises religously the PF doesn't come back.
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My husband has suffered with this quite a bit. Insoles in all his shoes helped but the game changer was Birkenstock Zermatt slippers worn at home on our hard wood and stone floors.
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@Skimum1, Hi Skimum. Was it the Birkenstocks with the soft or hard insole? Thanks.
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 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi @Matt1959, he has standard footbed:
https://www.birkenstock.com/gb/zermatt-wool-felt/zermatt-cozyhome-woolfelt-0-latex-u_523.html
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@Skimum1, Thanks!
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@Skimum1,

Thank you for recommendation, I’m just ordering some Zermatt slippers now .
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Hope they work for you guys too! He did keep up his physio exercises, and still wears insoles in his outdoor shoes too, but it had worsened so much during lockdown (spending much more time at home on the hard floors) the slippers have seemed to crack it. Touch wood!
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The underlying mechanical issue is usually tight calves causing abnormal loading of the structures under the heel due to a fixed calcaneum.

Lots and lots of calf stretching, night socks off Amazon and two five minute wedge stands a day usually sort it out over a couple of months.
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Highly recommend Oofos recovery sandals. I wear them all the time at home. I do have insoles in my work shoes as I am on my feet all day too but the Oofos have pretty much eliminated my pf. I have never suffered whilst skiing though.
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I had plantar faciitis and still find myself cautious about it returning.
What helped me is a combination of things.

Stretching the muscles from the hip to the feet. I had a Physical Therapist help me with that.

Lay on your stomach and do superman stretches getting the most range of motion you can from your leg.

I also got Features socks to wear if I'm going to be on my feet a lot.
These socks are pricy but worth every penny.
http://getrelief.feetures.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwlvT8BRDeARIsAACRFiW7cP3UgDoPCjtfAKTqZY1ruMLUJ1ea9ImGocoefehn9Kh15k9iD1IaAvo2EALw_wcB
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I've had it for more than 10 years. I couldn't stand for long periods (crap when you're lecturer and on your feet all day) and found even walking 1/2 a mile excruciating.
Initially I saw a podiatrist and had orthotics prescribed. When these wore out, I bought new ones online that were the same brand.
I have to wear them in my shoes every day, and like @Skimum1, said, I wear Birkenstock clog slippers at home as these have a firm sole with enough lift for me to keep the pain at bay.
I now buy new pairs annually and fit a pair in to my ski boots, or any sport shoes. Never had a problem skiing related to the PF.
I also have found some flip-flops (Pro II Wellbeing) that have enough lift in them to wear in summer as wearing anything pancake flat brings the PF back.

With shoes, what you might find is that if you get an orthotic, the volume fills the shoe. It is a bummer if you want to wear sandals (no heel counter at the back to keep the orthotic in) or low slip on shoes. Best to have something that will accommodate the volume of the orthotic and your foot. It means you have to try stuff on to find out.

I probably should stretch, but the orthotics worked for me. I know they dont always work for everyone. I know it hasn't gone, but I am happy with the solution I have.
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I did a search and found this thread as I’ve got this problem at the moment. I see I am far from alone!
It’s been going on about 6 months.
It all started after my ankle turned 3 times on the trot going down Whernside. Seems to have been since after that healed. The ankle sprain took about 3 months to heal and I worked hard on ankle mobility exercises so it didn’t stiffen up. It’s perfect now but now I’m plagued with this heel pain, but only if my feet have been at rest for say at least an hour. It’s ok once up and about. The other thing that sets it off is say I’m stood for a long time decorating or something then that is awful once I rest (and then get up again).
I have found some insoles for my work shoes and they helped massively but I still get the pain and limping if I get out of bed and stand up straight away instead of using my foot roller first or doing some foot stretching exercises whilst still laid on the bed.

I do find the calf stretching helps a lot too but what was strange was I always had good ankle mobility so I didn’t think my calves were tight in the first place Puzzled
You just wonder how long it will take to go away!
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@VolklAttivaS5, I've had this and it takes a while...

I saw a podiatrist through my work health insurance and he used that odd tape and also blasted it with some strange ultra sonic massage gun thingy - all good fun...

But what actually fixed it more was sticking religiously to a regime of stretching and stengterning performed every day - you need to do both in my experience, just stretching is not enough

Stretching is easy - but you need to hold for 30 secs min

Strengthening is a bit more tricky - I did 'Alfresdson protocol heel drops' and also normal calf raises but with the toes curled round a rolled up tea towel. Google & youtube will show you those exercises.

Last thing - before you get up in the morning, and after sitting for long periods, try to stretch it out as the sudden pain you feel in those circumstances is actually the soft tissue re-damaging itself, so best to avoid that as much as possible.

In terms of shoes. custom insoles would be helpful but they're expensive (I got some on the NHS) bit otherwise I think well cushioned trainers (asics Gel series or similar) would probably be best

Once I started on the regime it got better in about 2 months. Good luck!
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Anyone tried using those long time available shoes, the classic Scholl wooden base sandal ? They make use of toe gripping the sole to keep them located, try walking up a gentle hill in them Very Happy and seem to help foot strength overall.

Note: I'm not in anyway qualified in the subject, but anecdotally by someone that is suggested to try these which have been effective for foot health for me.
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@red 27, thanks!
I do calf raises and calf drops a lot but not every day admittedly, it’s something I do on the build up to the ski season and it helps with hiking up mountains too, I don’t get calf trouble going up hill like some do so that’s why I do the raises and drops, it’s worth it for the first steep bit of a hill walk.
I’m away skiing at the moment and those stretches I did last night definitely helped. I will try the calf raises with scrunched toes though! Good tip.
Also good point about the pain in the mornings being essentially a re-injury so it’s like a vicious circle.
Riding my bike to work has helped too because it’s door to door without the 5 min walk from the carpark on a hard pavement (and getting out of the car when the feet have been rested for say 30 mins in traffic, owww)

2 months from now sounds great, I’m meant to be climbing Mont Blanc in Sept after it got fobbed off last year because of the Covid stuff. So I’ve been panicking thinking how on earth will I manage that with this, the heel pain can be so bad I can’t hardly put weight on the foot.
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@VolklAttivaS5,Thinking back, modifying the standard calf stretch like this guy shows at 7.30 ish helped a lot too.

I didn't put my foot onto the wall like he does, I kept it flat on the floor, but the movement of bringing your front leg across a bit really made me feel the stretch all down the inside of my calf and down the inside of my ankle and even right in the PF itself where the pain was (slightly on the inside of the heel for me).

I did 3 sets of 3 of these, 30 secs each, twice day.

With the strengthening exercises and the toes, try to be actually gripping something with them, rather than just scrunching them - for me that seemed to actually strengthen the PF itself which I think is part of long term recovery and management


http://youtube.com/v/72p58Iy6u7M
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@red 27, ok thanks I will have a look at that
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By the way I know my arches are ‘normal’ or ‘normal to high’ rather than ‘high’ from having ski boots fitted (and my footprint test)

Who has high arches here?
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@red 27, tried the strengthening exercises as well as stretching and it made a difference almost immediately snowHead .
I found a toe lift exercise online too and those are good.
The calf stretch with the other leg in front instead of to the side, yes you can feel a better stretch. Thanks.
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@VolklAttivaS5, Oh good! Hope it continues to go well.

2 years down the track and I get the odd morning twinge these days (in my foot that is Toofy Grin ), which reminds to me to re-start the stretches for a week or two.

Regarding your MB trip, I do lots of hiking and scrambling and while I have superfeet insoles now in all my outdoor shoes and boots, the PF has never returned to any great extent

Like most of these tendon injuries, although they never really disappear completely, once you've had them the first time you immediately spot the early warning signs and can nip things in the bud
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red 27 wrote:
@VolklAttivaS5, Oh good! Hope it continues to go well.

2 years down the track and I get the odd morning twinge these days (in my foot that is Toofy Grin ), which reminds to me to re-start the stretches for a week or two.

Regarding your MB trip, I do lots of hiking and scrambling and while I have superfeet insoles now in all my outdoor shoes and boots, the PF has never returned to any great extent

Like most of these tendon injuries, although they never really disappear completely, once you've had them the first time you immediately spot the early warning signs and can nip things in the bud


Yes I did put some Superfeet Trailblazer Comfort insoles in my mountaineering boots instead of the original ones that came with the boots but I think they aren’t ‘enough’ on the arch so I’m going to put something else in there.
My Sidas Winter 3 high arch they put in my ski boots when fitting them seem to do the trick as I’ve had months and months of comfortable skiing in them.

I bought these off Amazon for my work shoes based on just the reviews really and they seem good.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FootActive-Full-Length-Extra-Cushioned-Tendonitis-Metatarsalgia/dp/B07N46163X?tag=amz07b-21

Like someone else said though you can wear these insoles until the cows come home but you’ve got to sort the problem by strengthening and stretching or it never goes away I guess.
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@VolklAttivaS5, Actually, now you mention it, one of the first things I did was to take the custom insoles from my ski boots and wore them for that summer's mountaineering trips. Trouble is they made some of my approach shoes too tight so had to trawl ebay for more, but I think the extra arch support helped

One other thing was that I got a Strassbourg (sp) sock and wore that for an hour or so each evening while watching TV. I think that helped a bit
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@red 27, yes that’s it, I did try the Foot Active ones in my ski boots as I bought 2 pairs off Amazon, one for work shoes one for ski boots in case it caused me problems skiing and actually, I just switched them back to the Sidas Winter 3 High Arch ones the boot fitter put in originally as these Foot Active ones made my ski boots just a bit too tight.
Good idea to get a pair of Winter Sidas 3 though for my B2s because the reflective aluminium on the sole will help up Mont Blanc as sometimes they say B2s aren’t enough warmth wise. I find B3s too cumbersome though having worn them before especially for the lower levels they are just too hot!!
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@red 27, thanks will check out them socks Laughing
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@VolklAttivaS5, I've never worn B3's but people do seem to say they're pretty brutal on your feet.

Who are you using for the MB ascent if you don't mind me asking?

I used to go rock climbing in Chamonix in summer with a company called Icicle Mountaineering and they always had lots of other clients who were climbing MB.
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red 27 wrote:
@VolklAttivaS5, I've never worn B3's but people do seem to say they're pretty brutal on your feet.

Who are you using for the MB ascent if you don't mind me asking?

I used to go rock climbing in Chamonix in summer with a company called Icicle Mountaineering and they always had lots of other clients who were climbing MB.


High Mountain Guides Rob Jarvis
I’ve used Icicle before for my Alpine Intro (which was in June/July) a few years ago and B3 boots were the recommended ones but not B2s, says they aren’t stiff enough or warm enough on their website.
The B3s were overkill for me though far too hot and got terrible blisters as a result, damp sweaty feet are a no no as you know as it makes the skin really soft like you’ve been in the bath and blisters are more or less inevitable particularly in a French summer heatwave.
Sold those B3s on EBay when I got back and bought some B2s instead. Far more versatile.

I think they partly say it’s got to be B3 because if they say B2 are ok then some people might turn up there with B1s. I’ve not had trouble with crampons on my B2s (Scarpa Ribelle HD) but whether they will be warm enough, we shall see. I saw some people who successfully summited that week wearing the ultra lite version with the neoprene sock part, the Ribelle Tech!
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Oh yes I know those Scarpa Ribelle's - very popular.

For the little bit of glacier and snow slope stuff I did when I went (just to access rock routes really) I had some of those La Sportiva Trango Evo boots (the blue ones) which I think were B1/2 and would take a G12 crampon but wouldn't stand up to much more than walking in them.

You must do a live TR when you go. I'm sure we'll all keep our snowHead fingers crossed for good weather and a successful ascent.
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@red 27, yes they are great I’ve got one pair for the UK which are the ones with the leather uppers and another pair in a bigger size without the leather uppers so I can wear thicker socks with them, otherwise what I found was the smaller ones feel too tight with thicker socks on and the others are too loose with thin socks on. I’m very fussy now after those EPIC blisters/craters they took weeks to heal up they were so deep! Got the second pair in the sales!
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