Sore Heel Relief?

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Id rather give birth to 15 pound babies 3 times a day than go thru plantar faciitis again. The intire bottom of your foot hurts, aches, throbs, cramps and burns. The heel feels like one huge bruise and is painful just to touch. It can be brought on by flat shoes and poor arches and being over weight. Losing weight will help,if you need to, but mostly exercising the right way does it. Stretch your toes up toward your knee before ever putting your feet on the ground in the morning. Stretch before standing up from the couch and it will help. Freeze some water in a plastic water bottle and roll it under your foot while watching tv or at the computer. The cold feels great and the pressure on the bottom of your foot helps stretch the arch. Sit on the floor, legs out in front of you, and hook a towel or strap around the toes and pull back towards your body. Just keep stretching the foot up toward your knee to help the pain go away. Walking is not good for it, as it aggrivates it. Not that you need to stop walking and use a wheelchair, but if you like to go walk a couple miles a day like I used to, you just cant for now. Taking an anti-inflamatory helps, but you have to take it long term so find one that doesnt make your stomach hurt. I spent enough time at the podiatrist to know better than to wear flip flops, flat sandals or go barefoot. I wear nothing but New Balance shoes and have special orthotics made for my feet in my shoes. Its a real painful ordeal but Im happy to say I have no problems with it right now. It took nearly a year to get it under control so I could walk without pain. Im hoping to try walking the 2 miles daily again soon but it scares me.

Stretching your calves, step on a step and let heels drop towards the ground.. do several times a day. And wear better shoes! flip flops provide NO support!
If you think about it. the statement "I cannot wear flat shoes becasue they hurt" is telling you something huge! You are shortening you muscles by always wearing shoes with heels. You need to start making yourself walk around bare foot to the stretch those muscles in the heel and the bottom of the foot. Another really good thing to do for your foot, is to roll a tennis ball underfoot to stretch those muscles. You do this by standing on one foot, hold onto a wall for balance, and then press down onto the tennis ball hard with the other foot- it may hurt but also feels really good, do this starting at the front of the foot and slowly move the tennis ball to the back of the foot. It will REALLY help your feet!

I wore my Crocs for a few weeks (many a couple of months) all the time. I even put them on the in the middle of the night if I had to get up. Worked great! It really helped me actually get out of bed and be able to move. They gave me great support and really cussioned me heel.

My husband is going through this now, and Crocs have really helped him as well.

Hang in there! If it doesn't get a little bit better soon, you might want to call your doctor.

FYI - I wear flip flops all the time now and haven't had any problems for over a year.

Plantar faciitis hurts along the bottom of your whole foot. Orthotic inserts help, as do "real" shoes with good arch support. Flip flops are the kiss of death with PF. There are also arch supports that look like loops of ace bandage that you could try. They helped me some. Stretching your foot before you get out of bed to lengthen the tendon before putting weight on the foot is key. Also, you can keep a tennis bally by your bed & roll your foot on it before getting up as well. It stinks! Good luck with yours.

Birkenstocks have a few high arch sandals out now.
Get a pair and wear them everywhere (except in the shower).
When my feet had a flair up, my Birki's were the first thing I slipped into when I stepped out of bed and the last things to come off as I got into bed.
A few weeks of that and my feet were healed.

stretch your foot before you step out of bed...it truly does help!

pump up some calcium & potassium..... & drink lots of water.

some ibuprofen will help reduce inflammation. BenGay would also help.

& as you said, wear good shoes!