Caricar

Hello everybody! So in the last few months I've noticed I am experiencing considerable pain in my feet, especially after lots of rehearsals or shows. I've always had foot cramps as I know my arches and tendons in my feet are poor, but the pain has progressed lately.

It is VERY painful all over my foot in the mornings when I get out of bed and I tend to hobble around for a bit - it is an unpleasant aching/throbbing/burning feeling in my feet most of the day but it is definitely worst in the morning.

It looks like i have plantar fascitis, though my pain is not in my heel - it is everywhere else on my foot.

Can anyone recommend stretches and/or exercises or share their experience with this? It is getting worse and I am quite worried about it impacting my dancing if it continues. I can't afford orthotics right now but do get active release therapy ( a form of massage therapy / soft tissue rehabilitation)

adiemus

Take a look at these websites - they're reputable and onto it

Plantar Fasciitis: From Causes to Treatment
Plantar fasciitis - MayoClinic.com - this one is especially good!

Treatment of Plantar Fasciitis - How to Prevent Heel Pain and Plantar Fasciitis

Hope this helps and you get better quickly!
The more you can do for yourself, the better (and cheaper)
Bronnie
HealthSkills Weblog

__________________
He wahine, he taonga- Every woman is a treasure(Maori proverb)

KuteNurse

I suffer from Plantar fascitis. I have had treatment on for this by an MD and I am a nurse with medical advice that i hope helps you.

First off, plantar fascitis is the inflammation or swelling of the tissues on the bottom of your feet. My doctor told me to take NSAIDS or none steroidal inflammatory agents. I took ibuprofen every 6 hours. Wearing good shoes such as New Balance helps. I also put a water bottle in the freezer. I roll it underneath my feet, always making sure you have a thin towel between the ice and skin. About 10 minutes is about all I can tolerate of the cold, then I let my foot settle, then do this again about 3 more times.

You should see your orthopedic doctor. About the only way to cure plantar fascitis is to splint your foot. I had 2 bad bouts of it..The first time I had a cast put on my leg, the second time a big boot. (Which was nice so I could take it off to shower. The reason they splint severe cases is to let the muscles settle down or rest. Also make sure you are resting your feet and you are not doing things that are upsetting to your foot or feet. After the cast and boot came off...The doctor had me doing strengthening exercises. You stand on a step stool or step...Starting slowly. Lift yourself up onto your tippy toes, then let yourself down slowly. The downward movement is what strengthens those muscles. Do about 5 sets of 20, working your way up so you can lift yourself up on one foot with the other off the ground.

Good luck to you and I hope you feel better soon.

Caricar

Hrm, so I went to my active release specialist and yup, confirmed, I have plantar fascitis in both feet, but rather than the heel mine is all over the foot, especially the balls of my feet (right where us dancers like to focus when we're up on tippy toes!). I dance and run quite a lot, and naturally have very tight muscles in my lower body..those are the big factors for me.

For now I am going to continue getting treatment when they get inflamed, I'm taking about a month off of doing any shows and rehearsals (just doing 1 technique class for an hour each week) since that is when they are horrible...the next day after shows... and focusing on stretching & the exercises recommended (thanks for the links!). I'm trying to break the running but that is SUPER hard...I rely on my workouts to start my day and mood off great! (Plus I'm trying to shed the last 10 lb before my wedding in January!)

But out of crappy things always comes good, it made me really realize how much we cannot take our feet for granted. I'm going to treat myself to a pedi this weekend to give my abused feet a little love *l*

Marya

I had Plantar fascitis too but getting orthotic inserts for my shoes worked wonders.

Stretches, anti-inflammatories and ice all helped too, but continuous wearing of orthotics was what worked the best.

Marya

belly_dancer

ok... ladies... I have some QUESTIONS....
this is what happened to me... (then the ??)
about maybe 12 weeks ago, 95% of time
= 1st thing in morning...
PAIN in the ball of my foot (left only).. if you drew a line down from my 2nd & 3rd toe to about a 1/2 inch into ball= right there...

I teach a 2 hr morning class 2x per week & by then (except maybe 5-10% of the time),about 2-3 hours after waking, the pain was gone..
when I DID feel pain... it was almost ALWAYS when I went on ball....

it really felt like I needed to wrap the ball of my foot to hold my toes (but the part where they originate in the ball of the foot... if that makes sense) together....
is this AT ALL what the rest of you are talking about???
for background...
I am 43.. have been bare foot (beach babe/lifeguard/california girl) my whole life...
the pain is now (mostly) gone...
& I did sprain my left ankle (for the 1st time ever) about 3-4 months before the ball of the foot thing started... so maybe it was cause I was favoring that foot???
SOOOOOO
my ???? for you all are...
what age did this start for you....?
do my symptoms have any similarity to yours...?
plus any other insights??

KuteNurse

It is so hard to say from what you are describing, I see differences from what occured for me. But then again, everyone is different. I started having trouble in my late
30's. I could tell my heel of my foot, the tissues felt swollen. When I would get up and walk first thing in the morning, it was hard and painful.