Foot pain and Plantar Fasciitis
Feet are actually the most used and abused part of the body. Marvelous piece of engineering, along with bearing the wait of the body they are the focal of the balance and support as well. An average person takes 10,000 steps in a day. While walking when heel lifts off the ground the weight borne by the front part of the foot is 3 times the weight of the body and just imagine while running it goes to 4 times!
Foot of a human-being is amazing construction of 26 bones along with ligaments muscles and tendons. The whole structure is supposed to have two arches for even distribution of weight and force like shock absorbers. The muscles and a thick connective tissue (the plantar fascia) are at the bottom of the feet. Plantar fascia extends from heel to the toes and supports the muscles and the arches of the feet. The feet bear the brunt; the whole day while we walk, stand or run hence they are most vulnerable to injury. Feet normally don’t hurt and there are many causes of hurting feet.
Plantar fasciitis is quite common problem in fact it accounts for 11-15% of all foot pain. It is also known as ‘flip-flop disease’. It strikes middle (40-60yr) aged people more but that is not a rule of thumb. It is quite frequent in athletes, nurses and soldiers; females and overweight people show more prevalence. Every year almost one million people in America get affected by it.
PF is basically is a condition in which plantar fascia or soft tissue around it get inflamed. People with flat feet have problem of fallen arches hence plantar fascia is over stretched or over worked due to abnormal step. This may cause the inflammation, tear or over stretching of this connective tissue. Basically; even if normal arches are repeatedly abused by over work; plantar fasciitis is bound to happen. Small tears in fascia occur and due to constant irritation; inflammation happens causing local tenderness and it hurts when we stand or walk. It generally progresses in one foot but the pain can appear suddenly which is severe. In some cases both the feet may show the symptoms.
The typical complaint is stabbing pain with the first steps in the morning but it diminishes with passage of time. It returns with after long period of standing or rest. The pain usually described by the patients; achy as in soreness or it could be excruciating like stabbing under the heel. They also complain it to be in the arches or in the ball-of-the-foot.
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So the risk factors would be; people with foot arch problems, sudden weight gain like in pregnancy, and cramped shoes or with poor arch support like flip-flops, irregularity in legs length, and arthritic and diabetic seem to be more susceptible. Due to compensated gate if not treated the serious condition like ligament can rupture, or other joints; ankle, knee, hip, pelvis and of spine can get misaligned and cause more problems.
The conventional treatment given is an anti-inflammatory drug, which is a bad idea as a recent research has proven that such drugs slow the healing of ligaments, muscles, tendons and bone. Read the research here. It is a known fact that chiropractic; treats as well as manages the condition.
Houston Chiropractors after the examination recommend adjustment, cold laser therapy to reduce your pain. Heel stretch exercises and rest for a week or so. We will advise you to use of costume orthotics.
At “Walk in Chiropractic & Wellness Center ”, Dr Reza Naghavi DC has treated a lot of plantar fasciitis patients; he uses manual therapy , orthotic and laser therapy which has shown tremendous success. He says ‘human body has immense power of self-healing; I only pave the way for healing power to ultimate recovery’. There is almost always great relief of pain and most patients get a break from PF after the first visit. At “Walk in Chiropractic Associates” chiropractors aim to treat the root cause and help you amend lifestyles to live symptom free.
If you are suffering from the symptoms call 713-529-4808 and get it checked in our clinic.
