Highlands Ranch Chiropractor of Mountain View Pain Center Talk About Treatment for Plantar Fasciitis

Dec. 22, 2009 - PRLog -- First and foremost, after the initial injury you must get ice on the area immediately. If you wait and try to “walk it off”, the foot will swell and become increasingly tender over the next few days, making even the simple task of walking a real problem. After you have followed the steps of PRICE (protection, rest, ice, compression, elevation), get yourself to someone who deals with sports injuries for treatment. Making a trip to the emergency room for this will be an unnecessary and expensive trip. The treatment you receive there will be some sort of pain killer or shot to reduce the pain and swelling, then a referral to either a chiropractor, therapist, or sports medicine doctor.

At Mountain View Pain Center, when a patient first arrives with an acute injury of plantar fasciitis, we apply a therapy called Hi-volt to reduce pain and swelling to the area, and also wrap the foot with an ice pack during the therapy. The next step we take is to apply a taping method called Kinesio-tape across the bottom of the foot. This method we have found to be a integral part of our treatment program. As local doctors we have the opportunity to work with several sports teams and high school programs. When a player goes down from this injury we immediately apply the tape to the area not only for support to shorten the stretched and torn muscle, but to also pump out the edema and in turn decrease pain and increase plantar fasciitis recovery time.

We instruct the patient to leave the tape on for 2-3 days to continue the support and reduction of edema while the patient is at home. This tape can get wet, so the patient can still shower or even apply topical ointment over the tape to help with some of the pain.

At Mountain View Pain Center we have found that within a few weeks the patient will be out of pain and can begin the rehabilitation portion of the plantar fasciitis treatment. As we have stated before, the main cause of plantar fasciitis is from a muscle imbalance in the lower leg. Stretching is still important. However, remember not to stretch what is already stretched.

Part of the imbalance is usually a tight gastrocnemius, so we stretch the calf and Achilles tendon. If you stretch the calf only then the real problem still may not be addressed and a re-occurrence of the plantar fasciitis will occur. You must also address the muscle weakness to correct the problem. You can do this by performing simple toe raises while sitting at your desk at work or while watching TV. Toe raises are not the same as calf raises. This does not mean standing on your toes. You keep your heels on the ground and raise the balls of your feet and your toes off the ground.

If there is a heel spur seen on X-ray, then we can apply some ultrasound to the area to break up some of the calcification. For our athletes who continue to train during treatment for plantar fasciitis, or who have some chronic bouts of plantar fasciitis, we apply the tape to support the area during their events.

Many athletes opt for a quick pain relief and go for a corticosteroid shot in the bottom of the foot. You must be careful here as getting the shot will decrease pain temporarily, but it does not repair the torn tissue or fix the problem. The pain you are feeling is your body’s defense mechanism to protect you from further injuring yourself. If you cannot feel the pain and go out running then you risk damaging the area further. Research has shown that repeated corticosteroid shots actually weaken tendons, damage nerves, and decrease the bone density to the area, which is recipe for disaster.

At Mountain View Pain Center our chiropractors will diagnosis your pain can help you with the treatment plain that will maximize your healing time so you can return to your activities.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at 303-221-1569 or visit our website at www.mountainviewpaincenter.com

# # #

Here at Mountain View Pain Center we are committed to relieving your pain and restoring you to good health and wellness.