What is plantar fasciitis?
The plantar fascia is the thick tissue that connects the heel to the toes and creates the arch of the foot. Plantar fasciitis is the inflammation of this structure at its insertion into the heel or calcaneus.
Diagnosis
The most appropriate diagnostic method is a good anamnesis to assess the possible triggers of inflammation along with an imaging test such as ultrasound or MRI. This will allow to delimit the zone of injury and to quantify the degree of affectation of the same one.
Symptoms of plantar fasciitis
Morning pain is very common. People describe the pain as if they were stepping on glass, sharp stabbing pain that even burns. It can be accompanied by functional impotence, pain when walking barefoot, when using hard or rigid shoes, etc.
Causes
There are different predisponing factors to this condition such as:
- Overtraining on hard ground.
- Changes in the type of training or training surface.
- Wearing inadequate, new or too old running shoes.
- Long distance running or high impact activities.
- Old sprains that have healed poorly, as they can change the footprint.
- Overweight.
- Muscular overload of the posterior leg muscles.
Treatment of a meniscus injury
After eliminating the risk factors and knowing the possible reason for the injury, the objectives will be aimed at reducing inflammation, correcting postural imbalances, recovering the correct mobility of the foot and restoring the balance of the musculature of the foot, ankle and leg.
The techniques to be applied will be:
- Massage therapy
- Radiofrequency
- Dry needling
- Intratisular Percutaneous Electrolysis (IPE)
- Shock waves
- Neuromodulation
- Therapeutic exercise
- Osteopathy
- Kinesiology
Recovery
It will depend on the degree of injury, the causes that provoked it and the time that the patient has had it, as well as the regenerative capacity that the patient has against the injury processes. All this can cause the recovery to take place in 2-3 weeks or 2-3 months. Although the most frequent statistically speaking is 6 weeks.
PLANTAR FASCIITIS. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What does the body’s regenerative capacity depend on?
The healing of an injury or physical pathology is the responsibility of our body, in which there are automatic mechanisms that are activated when we lose the normal physical or organic balance. These mechanisms are complex and depend largely on metabolism (biochemical, hormonal and neuronal processes). If these mechanisms work at 100%, we will be protected from a large number of impacts that our body may suffer at different levels (physical, emotional, biochemical and energetic) but if these mechanisms are diminished in their function, the ability of recovery and regeneration of our cells will be compromised, and may block the healing processes to an illness or injury temporarily or permanently. This will be very important to take into account when treating any injury or pathology, otherwise the patient can perform multiple physical treatments on an injury without obtaining results.
What is the treatment planning like?
The planning of this type of therapy is always personalized, giving priority in the early stages of treatment to reduce pain, inflammation and improve the mechanical and metabolic factors that have caused the injury. If we have to focus especially on the latter (because there is evidence of a deficit of function in the patient’s tissue regeneration mechanisms) then we will first set a guideline for the patient to perform at home for 3-6 weeks on a consistent basis:
• Food hygiene improvements.
• Natural Supplementation: Detoxifying-anti-inflammatory-regenerating.
• Exercises-stretching.
Subsequently, we will start with the Advanced Physiotherapy and Functional Training plan.
Should I suspend the professional or sporting activity?
It will depend on each case, if the professional or sporting gesture has not intervened in the appearance of the injury, there will be no reason to suspend it, but if it is not so it will be necessary to graduate the efforts. The majority of injuries of this type allow to continue doing a moderate activity controlling the efforts, all this will be coordinated by the physiotherapist.
How much time should pass between sessions?
It will depend on each case, the most common is to perform one to two sessions per week.
How many sessions do I need to start noticing improvement?
In those cases in which the regenerative capacity of the body (metabolism) is working properly, the patient will notice the improvement from the first session because the Advanced Physiotherapy techniques we use have shown us so. Only in those cases in which the aforementioned regenerative capacities are limited, the evolution will be slower, since we will first have to improve this point using Kinesiology- Osteopathy-Nutrition, and then Advanced Physiotherapy.
Can emotional stress cause this injury?
Yes, sometimes there are no physical or metabolic factors important enough to justify the appearance of this injury, but there are psychic factors. To help the body to stop generating this irritation / inflammation of nerve fibers causing pain, it is very important that the patient becomes aware of the relationship between stress-injury and try to establish strategies to reduce the impact of stress on the body. For this purpose, tools such as Coaching and Clinical Psychology are of great help.
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