March 5, 2023 • 13 mins
Plantar Fasciitis is a nagging, extremely uncomfortable and inconvenient condition that affects one in ten people. While relatively common, PF is not hard to understand it's onset and for some is not difficult to address. In spite of this, many struggle with this for an extended period of time or may not be aware of lifestyle that factors that contribute to it. Today, we go over what exactly the condition IS, HOW people wind up afflicting themselves with this, and things everyone can DO to help avoid and address this condition.
Show Notes:
12:18 - https://admin5.podbean.com/primedy/episodes/form/LYvxl1fJrcwN
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
hello and welcome back to Primedy where we find simple techniques to help address modern problems
for our primitive bodies my name is Andrew Pafford and I'm a health and wellness professional with
over a decade of experience helping Olympic level athletes desk jockeys and seniors achieving their
goals and improving their quality of life in today's episode we'll be touching base
on plantar fasciitis we'll go over three points what is plantar fasciitis mechanisms of injury
(00:27):
or how one develops plantar fasciitis and what are some simple at-home approaches to dealing
with plantar fasciitis as a reminder our Purpose with primary is to instill results of scientific
findings and to easily approach strategies and techniques to help improve our health and wellness
so to start today off plantar fasciitis is not an uncommon condition that can affect young and old
(00:49):
men and women athletic and sedentary populations let's begin by breaking down what the name means
as I can shed someone about what's going on so the planter surface spelled p-l-a-n-t-a-r
plantar refers to the underside of your foot or the plantar surface there are actually four layers
(01:11):
of muscles underneath of our foot it's the first line of shock absorption and it has to carry us on
a daily basis so it makes sense that the foot has such layered architecture in order to support us
Faja refers to the connective tissue that exists all over our bodies helping to connect
muscle to Bone muscle to muscle and other surrounding tissue finally the suffix itis
(01:36):
literally just translate as inflammation so there you have inflammation in the connective tissue in
the underside of the foot is quite literally what plantar fasciitis translates to now many
musculoskeletal conditions are named after these symptoms or injuries yet they don't exactly shed
light necessarily on the mechanisms of injury or how one managed to go about doing themselves harm
(02:01):
in this case plantar fasciitis can happen from overuse under use or even simply poor posture
we'll shed light on this by understanding a tad bit more about the actual anatomy of the foot
those four layers in the foot that we mentioned four layers of muscle attached from the heel to
the toes however they're also connected to the calf through that fascial layer that surrounds the
(02:25):
plantar surface for a better visual think of the fascia as almost like Saran wrap but tougher and
more meshy or spider Webby look this fascia also links the calf muscles and achilles tendon to the
plantar surface and that's and that's important to remember and we'll address it in just a moment so
the muscles in our foot run from our toes to our heel and even from our heel to our calf via the
(02:48):
Achilles tendon and all of that is connected by the fascia so when you step all of the structures
work in concert to help support each other absorb shock and generate power with this let's begin to
dissect now all the fun various ways that system can fall apart first up is posture while not quite
(03:09):
as deaf as our hands our feet are actually quite flexible and versatile and can move in quite a
number of ways that we don't always appreciate much like we can get back pain or wrist pain from
poor posture to desk or lifestyle choices our feet can suffer from poor posture as well one way is to
keep the foot in a plantar flexed position for an extended period of time now that's fancy physio
(03:31):
talk for toes pointed or stepping on the gas pedal if you will is the plantar flexed position
in this position the muscles of the calf and plantar surface are contracted and shortened
and as we discussed in episode one about being dustbound we named how improper chair height
can promote the foot being left in that plantar flexed position and now we have a consequence that
(03:54):
can arise from our pore setup further choose with lifts leave the foot in a plantar flexed position
I don't think I need to tell anyone that has worn a shoe with any kind of heel for an extended
period of time that it is extremely uncomfortable on your foot and this is one big reason why in
episode 2 we talked about hrmt the human resting muscle tension and how our bodies will work to
(04:20):
adopt positions that are held for an extended period of time so by leaving that foot pointed
or stepping on that gas pedal whether by bad chair or poor shoe Choice the muscles in the foot and
calf begin to shorten and adopt that new position over time this is one reason why stretches are
(04:41):
typically recommended or prescribed to patients with plantar fasciitis however that might not be
as effective or could potentially even contribute to the condition as we will soon elaborate on in
a moment with our at home approaches to dealing with plantar fasciitis so with our new shortened
muscles we then attempt to hop up or pop off our heels and try to return to a neutral foot position
(05:04):
but with all those muscles being shorter a neutral position is now difficult to achieve and now the
neutral position is effectively stretching or pulling on that soft tissue constantly
to the point of beginning to cause micro tears in the muscle the tendons and or the fascia which in
turn leads to the pain and discomfort and because this postural mechanism for injury happens very
(05:28):
slowly over time the onset can be Insidious and hard to pinpoint as a definitive or root cause
of the injury another mechanism we'll say is an active overuse injury if postural is a more of a
partial will be more passive though the foot is quote using that position albeit it is not
actively engaged an active overuse injury would be performing something like running or jumping
(05:52):
to the point of sustaining injury as is the case with training our tissue sustains damage that
our bodies need to prepare and hopefully to the point that they grow back stronger if however an
individual were to beat themselves up more slash faster than the body could recover from it doesn't
take a physiology specialist to know that at some point the damage would begin to accrue faster than
(06:15):
it could heal until finally an injury presents catastrophic or no in this case micro tears
from Impact and use of the plantar muscles and connective tissue are not healing adequately and
the damage is compounding to the point that normal walking could be quite painful as the inflammation
begins to scale with the Damage Done to the foot in both scenarios you can imagine that once torn
(06:40):
that soft tissue is now compromised because of this it makes it much easier to make the terror
worse this is why plantar fasciitis becomes such a nagging condition because once it's torn it's
hard to stop the tearing from happening so what are some science-based tools that we can use to
help us take a step in the right direction pun intended for starters posture fixes if
(07:04):
your chair currently is not letting your feet plant flat on the floor adjust your chair if your
chair does not adjust you can obtain a footstool which will effectively bring the ground to you
for heel wearers it may not be that simple swearing off heels immediately is almost akin to
going cold turkey on smoking or boozing you might be in for some nasty withdrawal symptoms remember
(07:26):
how we discussed that the foot is adopting a shortened position so returning to neutral is
what is uncomfortable slash could be causing more damage for those with plantar fasciitis
wearing a heel can actually bring relief because it's preventing the stretch on the tissues albeit
helping to further their condition by keeping them in that shortened position in this case
(07:48):
a quote-unquote step down no pun intended at that time program might be needed to wean yourself off
of an elevated heel so taking stock of your shoes by heel height and gradually working your way down
say from a two and a half inch to a two inch and so on and so forth so as to give the muscles time
to stretch out ever so gently over time without over stretching them and causing tissue damage now
(08:15):
for my athletes who don't know when to say no you likely need a little versatility in your program
plantar fasciitis is typically an overuse injury when presenting in athlete's but
could be compounded with postural faux pas with the aforementioned lifestyle factors
Vegas culprit however that I've seen from my clients is lack of training diversity
(08:36):
I get it you have a 5k or a marathon coming up and the best way to train running is to run
however being a one-trick pony means opening yourself up to issues such as plantar fasciitis
and the body was meant to do so much more than to only run so you should be doing more things than
just running when training for a specific goal is your cardio not up to Snuff and that's what's
(08:59):
holding you back in your running performance rowing and biking are just as effective at
challenging your cardio but involves zero impact and stress on the foot because your feet are fixed
are you a beginning Runner but your feet are deconditioned and are not tolerating the impact
well weight lifting is a great non-impact way of strengthening the muscles in the foot
(09:21):
using deadlifts squatting and kettlebell work while Barefoot are fantastic ways to add intensity
to the intrinsic muscles and provide gradual progression which can lead to Stronger feet
now this last bit applies to both parties as it can help not only stymie the mechanism of
injury but also Aid in the healing process and that is soft tissue work
(09:45):
whether it's myofascial release trigger point whatever you want to call it self massage is a
fantastic way to get the ball rolling so to speak on your recovery I'm a personal fan of a lacrosse
ball as it's extremely versatile for self massage on many points of the body they're very durable
and last forever and they're extremely cheap and easy to acquire in this case you can gently
(10:07):
step on a ball and apply pressure as needed to help massage that plantar surface of the foot
additionally calves are often overlooked area that can strongly contribute to plantar fasciitis
as well using a foam roller dumbbell handle kettlebell handle barbell rolling pin from the
kitchen all of these tools can be used to provide self massage to the calf additionally all this
(10:30):
can be done prior to exercise to ensure that the tissues are not stiff and therefore less likely
deter pre prior to exercise and done after exercise they can help keep the muscles from
stiffening up after all the stress these can also be done seated while at work to try to combat the
hrmt so the time originally spent getting yourself into this pickle is now spent actively getting you
(10:54):
out it's not hard to sit at your desk and have a ball at your feet that you can roll around
on helping to massage your muscles while you're doing work we will work to update the show notes
with links to videos on the specifics of how to do these soft tissue techniques as well we discussed
previously why stretching without doing soft tissue work prior can make bad situations worse
(11:16):
if the soft tissue is tearing tugging on a torn tissue might not make it better as we discussed
how stretching is only effective when the muscle isn't Contracting and fighting the stretch so if
hrmt is still a roadblock those calf stretches might not do much to improve your situation
(11:36):
and they could help exacerbate it in the process we've covered these points in episode
2 about how soft tissue can undo the hrmt and the mechanisms with which it does that but we've not
yet discussed soft tissues role in tissue healing specifically by using compression one is able to
mechanically push fluid from inflamed tissues and once that fluid is pushed out it actually
(12:02):
creates negative pressure which act which then helps draw blood from the surrounding area into
those tissues so with frequent self massage one can not only reduce the severity of inflammation
but even speed up the time it takes tissues to heal you're going to attached a nice study in
the show notes regarding all the gore details of the very specific mechanisms explaining why
(12:25):
that's not just a bunch of Hui how massage can absolutely help speed up tissue recovery
so quick recap for today plantar fasciitis happens when soft tissue in the foot begins to tear
tears can happen for muscles becoming shortened from less than ideal postural use or even chronic
overuse changing seated positions and Footwear can stop piling on the problem and doing soft
(12:48):
tissue work can help begin to undo some of the Damage Done and promote healing
athletes who are developing plantar fasciitis need to engage in exercise that is non-impactful
so they can keep up their training while simultaneously preventing further damage to the
feet and doing soft tissue work to reduce resting tension and promote healing as well we'll work to
(13:09):
make instructional videos on how to do some of these soft tissue techniques and we'll update
the show notes once we've got them posted so please send us all your health related questions
to info at primedy.org it's p-r-i-m-e-d-y.org we may not be able to respond to everyone but your
input greatly affects our topics we discuss and we appreciate your time very much and remember
strength comes in many forms from without and within so be strong to be useful take care
hello and welcome back to Primedy where we find simple techniques to help address modern problems
for our primitive bodies my name is Andrew Pafford and I'm a health and wellness professional with
over a decade of experience helping Olympic level athletes desk jockeys and seniors achieving their
goals and improving their quality of life in today's episode we'll be touching base
on plantar fasciitis we'll go over three points what is plantar fasciitis mechanisms of injury
(00:27):
or how one develops plantar fasciitis and what are some simple at-home approaches to dealing
with plantar fasciitis as a reminder our Purpose with primary is to instill results of scientific
findings and to easily approach strategies and techniques to help improve our health and wellness
so to start today off plantar fasciitis is not an uncommon condition that can affect young and old
(00:49):
men and women athletic and sedentary populations let's begin by breaking down what the name means
as I can shed someone about what's going on so the planter surface spelled p-l-a-n-t-a-r
plantar refers to the underside of your foot or the plantar surface there are actually four layers
(01:11):
of muscles underneath of our foot it's the first line of shock absorption and it has to carry us on
a daily basis so it makes sense that the foot has such layered architecture in order to support us
Faja refers to the connective tissue that exists all over our bodies helping to connect
muscle to Bone muscle to muscle and other surrounding tissue finally the suffix itis
(01:36):
literally just translate as inflammation so there you have inflammation in the connective tissue in
the underside of the foot is quite literally what plantar fasciitis translates to now many
musculoskeletal conditions are named after these symptoms or injuries yet they don't exactly shed
light necessarily on the mechanisms of injury or how one managed to go about doing themselves harm
(02:01):
in this case plantar fasciitis can happen from overuse under use or even simply poor posture
we'll shed light on this by understanding a tad bit more about the actual anatomy of the foot
those four layers in the foot that we mentioned four layers of muscle attached from the heel to
the toes however they're also connected to the calf through that fascial layer that surrounds the
(02:25):
plantar surface for a better visual think of the fascia as almost like Saran wrap but tougher and
more meshy or spider Webby look this fascia also links the calf muscles and achilles tendon to the
plantar surface and that's and that's important to remember and we'll address it in just a moment so
the muscles in our foot run from our toes to our heel and even from our heel to our calf via the
(02:48):
Achilles tendon and all of that is connected by the fascia so when you step all of the structures
work in concert to help support each other absorb shock and generate power with this let's begin to
dissect now all the fun various ways that system can fall apart first up is posture while not quite
(03:09):
as deaf as our hands our feet are actually quite flexible and versatile and can move in quite a
number of ways that we don't always appreciate much like we can get back pain or wrist pain from
poor posture to desk or lifestyle choices our feet can suffer from poor posture as well one way is to
keep the foot in a plantar flexed position for an extended period of time now that's fancy physio
(03:31):
talk for toes pointed or stepping on the gas pedal if you will is the plantar flexed position
in this position the muscles of the calf and plantar surface are contracted and shortened
and as we discussed in episode one about being dustbound we named how improper chair height
can promote the foot being left in that plantar flexed position and now we have a consequence that
(03:54):
can arise from our pore setup further choose with lifts leave the foot in a plantar flexed position
I don't think I need to tell anyone that has worn a shoe with any kind of heel for an extended
period of time that it is extremely uncomfortable on your foot and this is one big reason why in
episode 2 we talked about hrmt the human resting muscle tension and how our bodies will work to
(04:20):
adopt positions that are held for an extended period of time so by leaving that foot pointed
or stepping on that gas pedal whether by bad chair or poor shoe Choice the muscles in the foot and
calf begin to shorten and adopt that new position over time this is one reason why stretches are
(04:41):
typically recommended or prescribed to patients with plantar fasciitis however that might not be
as effective or could potentially even contribute to the condition as we will soon elaborate on in
a moment with our at home approaches to dealing with plantar fasciitis so with our new shortened
muscles we then attempt to hop up or pop off our heels and try to return to a neutral foot position
(05:04):
but with all those muscles being shorter a neutral position is now difficult to achieve and now the
neutral position is effectively stretching or pulling on that soft tissue constantly
to the point of beginning to cause micro tears in the muscle the tendons and or the fascia which in
turn leads to the pain and discomfort and because this postural mechanism for injury happens very
(05:28):
slowly over time the onset can be Insidious and hard to pinpoint as a definitive or root cause
of the injury another mechanism we'll say is an active overuse injury if postural is a more of a
partial will be more passive though the foot is quote using that position albeit it is not
actively engaged an active overuse injury would be performing something like running or jumping
(05:52):
to the point of sustaining injury as is the case with training our tissue sustains damage that
our bodies need to prepare and hopefully to the point that they grow back stronger if however an
individual were to beat themselves up more slash faster than the body could recover from it doesn't
take a physiology specialist to know that at some point the damage would begin to accrue faster than
(06:15):
it could heal until finally an injury presents catastrophic or no in this case micro tears
from Impact and use of the plantar muscles and connective tissue are not healing adequately and
the damage is compounding to the point that normal walking could be quite painful as the inflammation
begins to scale with the Damage Done to the foot in both scenarios you can imagine that once torn
(06:40):
that soft tissue is now compromised because of this it makes it much easier to make the terror
worse this is why plantar fasciitis becomes such a nagging condition because once it's torn it's
hard to stop the tearing from happening so what are some science-based tools that we can use to
help us take a step in the right direction pun intended for starters posture fixes if
(07:04):
your chair currently is not letting your feet plant flat on the floor adjust your chair if your
chair does not adjust you can obtain a footstool which will effectively bring the ground to you
for heel wearers it may not be that simple swearing off heels immediately is almost akin to
going cold turkey on smoking or boozing you might be in for some nasty withdrawal symptoms remember
(07:26):
how we discussed that the foot is adopting a shortened position so returning to neutral is
what is uncomfortable slash could be causing more damage for those with plantar fasciitis
wearing a heel can actually bring relief because it's preventing the stretch on the tissues albeit
helping to further their condition by keeping them in that shortened position in this case
(07:48):
a quote-unquote step down no pun intended at that time program might be needed to wean yourself off
of an elevated heel so taking stock of your shoes by heel height and gradually working your way down
say from a two and a half inch to a two inch and so on and so forth so as to give the muscles time
to stretch out ever so gently over time without over stretching them and causing tissue damage now
(08:15):
for my athletes who don't know when to say no you likely need a little versatility in your program
plantar fasciitis is typically an overuse injury when presenting in athlete's but
could be compounded with postural faux pas with the aforementioned lifestyle factors
Vegas culprit however that I've seen from my clients is lack of training diversity
(08:36):
I get it you have a 5k or a marathon coming up and the best way to train running is to run
however being a one-trick pony means opening yourself up to issues such as plantar fasciitis
and the body was meant to do so much more than to only run so you should be doing more things than
just running when training for a specific goal is your cardio not up to Snuff and that's what's
(08:59):
holding you back in your running performance rowing and biking are just as effective at
challenging your cardio but involves zero impact and stress on the foot because your feet are fixed
are you a beginning Runner but your feet are deconditioned and are not tolerating the impact
well weight lifting is a great non-impact way of strengthening the muscles in the foot
(09:21):
using deadlifts squatting and kettlebell work while Barefoot are fantastic ways to add intensity
to the intrinsic muscles and provide gradual progression which can lead to Stronger feet
now this last bit applies to both parties as it can help not only stymie the mechanism of
injury but also Aid in the healing process and that is soft tissue work
(09:45):
whether it's myofascial release trigger point whatever you want to call it self massage is a
fantastic way to get the ball rolling so to speak on your recovery I'm a personal fan of a lacrosse
ball as it's extremely versatile for self massage on many points of the body they're very durable
and last forever and they're extremely cheap and easy to acquire in this case you can gently
(10:07):
step on a ball and apply pressure as needed to help massage that plantar surface of the foot
additionally calves are often overlooked area that can strongly contribute to plantar fasciitis
as well using a foam roller dumbbell handle kettlebell handle barbell rolling pin from the
kitchen all of these tools can be used to provide self massage to the calf additionally all this
(10:30):
can be done prior to exercise to ensure that the tissues are not stiff and therefore less likely
deter pre prior to exercise and done after exercise they can help keep the muscles from
stiffening up after all the stress these can also be done seated while at work to try to combat the
hrmt so the time originally spent getting yourself into this pickle is now spent actively getting you
(10:54):
out it's not hard to sit at your desk and have a ball at your feet that you can roll around
on helping to massage your muscles while you're doing work we will work to update the show notes
with links to videos on the specifics of how to do these soft tissue techniques as well we discussed
previously why stretching without doing soft tissue work prior can make bad situations worse
(11:16):
if the soft tissue is tearing tugging on a torn tissue might not make it better as we discussed
how stretching is only effective when the muscle isn't Contracting and fighting the stretch so if
hrmt is still a roadblock those calf stretches might not do much to improve your situation
(11:36):
and they could help exacerbate it in the process we've covered these points in episode
2 about how soft tissue can undo the hrmt and the mechanisms with which it does that but we've not
yet discussed soft tissues role in tissue healing specifically by using compression one is able to
mechanically push fluid from inflamed tissues and once that fluid is pushed out it actually
(12:02):
creates negative pressure which act which then helps draw blood from the surrounding area into
those tissues so with frequent self massage one can not only reduce the severity of inflammation
but even speed up the time it takes tissues to heal you're going to attached a nice study in
the show notes regarding all the gore details of the very specific mechanisms explaining why
(12:25):
that's not just a bunch of Hui how massage can absolutely help speed up tissue recovery
so quick recap for today plantar fasciitis happens when soft tissue in the foot begins to tear
tears can happen for muscles becoming shortened from less than ideal postural use or even chronic
overuse changing seated positions and Footwear can stop piling on the problem and doing soft
(12:48):
tissue work can help begin to undo some of the Damage Done and promote healing
athletes who are developing plantar fasciitis need to engage in exercise that is non-impactful
so they can keep up their training while simultaneously preventing further damage to the
feet and doing soft tissue work to reduce resting tension and promote healing as well we'll work to
(13:09):
make instructional videos on how to do some of these soft tissue techniques and we'll update
the show notes once we've got them posted so please send us all your health related questions
to info at primedy.org it's p-r-i-m-e-d-y.org we may not be able to respond to everyone but your
input greatly affects our topics we discuss and we appreciate your time very much and remember
strength comes in many forms from without and within so be strong to be useful take care
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