Amy is a healthy 37 year old woman that spends a large part of her workday on her feet at a retail store – when she’s not at home chasing after her energetic 5 year old!

Her 2017 resolution was to get back to her fit and happy self, and she started the year off well! Amy joined the gym and has been actively making healthier food choices with her husband for their family. Amy also committed to the 10km fun-run taking place this October – we’re very proud of her!

However, 4 months ago Amy developed a sharp, stabbing pain at the bottom of her right heel. It’s particularly worse:

• First thing in the morning, especially for those first steps
• On standing after rest
• After long periods of time on her feet

Amy has no idea what caused it to begin, she just noticed the sharp pain at the very bottom of her heel one day that turned into a throbbing/aching feeling.

Amy first tried:

• Resting her foot and keeping it up
• Taking anti-inflammatories/pain-killers like Neurofen
• Icing her heel

While this did help temporarily, the pain would come back when she put her foot on the ground normally and took a few steps, and even more so once the Neurofen wore off. Amy put up with it for the next 3 months in the hopes that it would resolve on its own, but it didn’t. Because Amy was trying to put more pressure on the left foot instead, the left foot started to ache a little.

Worried she might do even more damage, Amy came in to see us here at Sole Motion Podiatry after seeing that we specialise in heel pain. It was lovely to meet you Amy!

First Appointment

At the first appointment we had the pleasure of finding out all about Amy! Everything from what had been going on with her foot, her medical history, her goals, her daily commitments and her concerns.

We conducted a thorough clinical examination, palpating her heels to identify the painful structures, checked the range of motion available at her joints and muscles, did a video gait analysis and pressure plate exam, among other tests!

We were able to confirm a diagnosis without referring for any imaging studies: Amy had Plantar Fasciopathy at the insertion of her right heel.

Treatment

The first key part of our treatment is ensuring that Amy knew exactly what was wrong with her foot, what had caused it and why. This meant that Amy could make the best decisions for her feet to not aggravate her injury further while it heals.

The next part of treatment included:

• Footwear review – to make sure the very things that Amy relied on to support her feet day to day weren’t adding to the problem

• Orthotic evaluation – based on the results of our biomechanical assessment, we evaluated whether having a pair of orthotics could help relieve pressure away from the plantar fascia to give it a chance to heal and support Amy’s arch and foot structures

• Strapping – at the end of this first appointment we strapped Amy’s foot in a way that places much less tension on her fascia (to which she commented that it felt much better!). This is something we would often repeat when we saw her

• Soft tissue work – a key point of difference here at Sole Motion Podiatry (and a big factor in why we get such great results with injuries!) is our hands-on approach to rehabilitation. We don’t want to just leave you to get better on your own but to actually work with your damaged muscles and tissues to facilitate healing and repair. While the time at the first appointment wasn’t enough to begin soft tissue therapy to actively work on the plantar fascia, we scheduled this in for the next time Amy was able to come in which ended up being in 2 days time. Soft tissue work can involve anything from manipulating the tissues to acupuncture/trigger point therapy and more.

• Dynamic stretching – we discussed with Amy what stretches will be best for her and what they achieve. By ensuring the right functional stretches we actively work to engage these muscles, increasing range of motion and muscular performance. It’s important to remember that stretching should not be painful and that should be appropriate for your injury and your stage of healing. We discussed and taught Amy the things that were appropriate for her at this stage – which we altered as she continued to get better.

The End Result

We are stoked to say that after 11 weeks, Amy was pain-free and back to running around with her son and hitting the gym! We also taught her the best way to build up and tackle her 10 km run and she’s doing great progress – it’ll be awesome to see her smash this goal in October!

This process didn’t come without setbacks – at week 4 Amy’s pain had worsened after she spent a night out in high heels and aggravated her plantar fascia. And we understand that these things happen! But Amy persisted and didn’t do this again until after her fascia had completely healed and was strong and healthy again.

Unlike a broken arm, we can’t simply avoid using our feet, so we have to take the best care we can and that’s where the Sole Motion team comes in! We specialise in heel pain and LOVE seeing people that originally present with terrible pain get back to their happy and active selves! We work with YOU to help you achieve (and go beyond!) your goals.

If you’re struggling with pain in your feet or legs then we’d LOVE to help you too! Get in touch on 1300-FX-FEET

And Amy – we won’t be surprised if we see you smashing next years marathon 😉