: Well, after battling plantar fasciitis for close to a year (it seems
: like a long time but during that time I got married and moved to
: another country, so I was busy) I had an x-ray taken which showed a
: rather prominent heel spur. I was given stretching exercises to
: stretch my calf and told to come back in 6 weeks. Well, the plantar
: tendon seems to be getting better but I was told that the heel spur
: was here to stay! I had been under the impression that it would "go
: away". I don't know what this will do to my running when I return to
: it. (I have been pool running and using a Nortic track for months
: now.) Are there people out there who run on a heel spur with no
: difficulties? Am I stuck to soft orthotics for life now?
: Any cheery words appreciated,
: Jan.
: P.S. Please no suggestions that I should have this bothersome foot
: amputated and replaced with a wooden one. I already asked and they
: said "no".
: :-)
GOOD NEWS!
Last fall I found out I had heel spurs (Thought it was just really bad
PF), had several months of either no running or painful running. Now I'm
back to 40-50 miles a week. The key? I think two things really solved the
problem:
1-had new orthotics built, the plastic heel of the orthotic was cut
away and replace with a soft gel, so now impact to heel is greatly reduced.
2-Ice, Ice and more ice- for a while was doing the frozen dixie
cup ice routine, then I switched to an ice pad which I used all the time,
not just after running, this brought major improvement in a short period
of time. Now I ice less often but still use pad for about 10 minutes
after run and at times while I'm reading or whatever.
3-I know I said two but thought of another factor. For about 2
months ran almost exclusively on trails. The softer surface was much
kinder to my feet. Typically heel felt fine on dirt, aware of pain when
on roads. I have been running more on roads lately, no problems so far.
Must admit still not sure a road marathon would be in my best interest, but
would not hesitate to do 20-30 mountain miles.
Anyway hope this info is helpful and you are able to run at peace with
your spurs....
Miles of Smiles
DL