I've got it in my right (gas pedal) foot. Nothing has changed except I now spend LOTS of time in my car, commuting 120 miles daily between King of Prussia and Mt. Laurel, NJ.

I don't run -- I barely walk! I sit in front of a computer, staring at code all day. I'm not obese. Far from it. At 5 foot 11 inches, 45 years old, and 135 pounds, I'm probably underweight. Then again, I always have been.

If anyone has successfully treated an attack of Plantar fasciitis, please let me know how. I really don't want the red-hot stabbing pains in my heel to return.

Craig

I had it and I don't think it ever fully goes away. I'd say, visit a podiatrist and get rehab. You will learn exercises and stretched you can do yourself after the rehab is long finished.

Also get good shoes and inserts if necessary. My podiatrist recommended (and wears) Mephisto shoes. I do too and highly recommend them. Kind of expensive, but you are worth it. And Mephisto has an incredible lifetime guarantee.

Periodically, my feet hurt. Some good stretching relieves it. Learn the stretches for your feet and calves!

Stop messing around and go to a podiatrist. He will fit you with custom orthotics which will relieve much of the pain. In addition, he will give you some stretchs to do.

I read of a recovery period of 6 to 18 months!

I bought some orthotic inserts today. I'll try those.

Rehab!? I thought rehab was for movie stars. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I bought some orthotics in CVS today. If those don't work out, then I'll go to the foot guy.

After all, I treated my sciatica by myself. When that came on, my leg went numb all the way down to my toes. I thought I had a stroke. What it boiled down to was bad posture. But once you get it, you have it forever.

Craig

This will sound a little far fetched, but both my daughters had it, and both were cured by a combination of a good Licensed Massage Therapist, Icing the heel and arch regularly, and finally magnetic sole inserts. Both recovered in less than 6 months, and neither have had a recurring bout. Go figure.

Pay attention to how you are holding your foot while driving, if it is only the the gas pedal foot. You may be holding your foot too tensely. I realized I was doing that in stressful traffic.

Stretch your feet. You can buy foot stretching gizmos that you can sleep in, but there are some really good yoga foot stretches too. I have a friend who is into yoga in a big way. She showed me a stretch that invovled squatting on the balls of my feet, hands on the ground in front to support the body, with the toes spread as widely as possible. She would often do it on the edge of a step so she could really stretch. At first it hurt and I couldn't stretch far, but little by little it got easier and my pain went away. Mine was caused by standing on my feet all day on concrete, and a change of shoes helped to. The short periods of ice and stretcihng helped the most.

I also had sciatica with extreme pain down to my foot. After a laminectomy done by a neurosurgeon (from India), the problem is completely cured! Sciatica does not have to be permanent. The pain was caused by sitting. On trips to the doc for cat scans etc, I rode laying down it the back of my pickup while the DW drove.

There is a way to tape your heel, which will instantly reduce or remove the pain. I can do it, but it is difficult to describe. Basically you support the heel pad so it does not "spread" as much. Like I said, hard to describe. See a doc. or physical therapist. I had it so bad I could not walk. The taping removed the pain and repaired the damage done. Now I am entirely free of symptoms.

plantar fascitis is usually caused from inflamation of the plantar fascia muscles being stretched over the heel. Normally the pain is from thing such as spurs (mineral deposits) irritating the muscles when you put pressure on the foot. Shoe inserts can help, also use things such as ibuprofen, but as stated in the other posts, stretching can GREATLY help. The professional treatments are the 3 following
1-shoe inserts
2-steroid injection
3-surgical removal of the "spur", which can return over time

I personally have had flair ups here and there.........usually changing shoes for a while and STRETCHING the foot easily fixes the aches with in a day or so