Plantar fasciitis involves inflammation to the thick band of tissue on the underside of your foot that connects your heel to your toes, and it’s a common problem for athletes or anyone who spends a lot of time on their feet. Plantar fasciitis can also be a somewhat difficult condition to treat, because if you’re not careful, many of the actions you do throughout the course of your day can serve to make the condition worse. In today’s blog, we look at five of those ways that you may accidentally be making your plantar faciitis condition worse.
Ways You’re Making Your Plantar Fasciitis Worse
If you’re not proactive and smart about how you approach treatment, you can end up making your plantar faciitis worse, which can lead to bigger tears or even a full rupture of the fascia. Here are five ways that you may unknowingly be making your plantar fasciitis worse.
1. Wear The Wrong Shoes – Footwear that doesn’t comfort and support the arch of your foot will put additional stress on your plantar fascia. Shoes like sandals or a fashionable pair of flats may look cute, but they won’t offer much support to your arch. Protect your plantar fascia from additional tearing and inflammation by wearing footwear that has ample arch support.
2. Excessive Sugar Intake – Sugar can be hard on your body and your plantar fascia for a couple of reasons. Excess sugar can lead to weight gain, and that will put more stress on your feet as they work to support this extra pressure. Consuming sugar also leads to the production of certain molecules inside your body that are pro-inflammatory, which can lead to lingering inflammation in your plantar fascia. Rework your diet, and it may become easier to manage your plantar fasciitis.
3. Jumping Out Of Bed – Oftentimes plantar fasciitis is most painful with the first few steps in the morning. That’s because the plantar fascia stretches as it is stressed when you get out of bed, and after an extended period of sleep, this jolt of stress can lead to mictotearing of the fascia. When you wake up, sit on the edge of your bed and do a couple minutes of foot stretches to gently prepare your fascia for strain so that the tissue can stretch before it handles the weight of your body.
4. Pushing Through Discomfort – A number of athletes try to push through the discomfort so that they can continue to play. They think that as long as they can handle the discomfort, then they should be able to play. If you ignore the warning signs and continue to put a lot of stress on the area with activity, you can completely rupture the fascia, which can lead to the need for surgery and months of rehabilitation. Taking a little time off to heal is much preferred to playing through the pain, because in the best case symptoms will linger, and worst case the problem will get much worse.
5. Ignoring Other Problems – Finally, it’s important to remember that the whole body is connected, and ignoring a problem in one area can cause problems in another. Knee pain that is affecting your gait could worsen plantar fasciitis, and vice versa, so don’t ignore a pain in any part of your body. Not only could it lead to worse discomfort in that area, but it could also lead to new issues in different parts of your body.