Plantar fasciitis knows no boundaries in who it strikes against. Olympic athletes, professional football and baseball players and the average citizen of Columbus can all be struck by this condition and the resulting heel pain that interferes with daily activities. Recently, Philadelphia Phillies player Carlos Ruiz has been placed on the team’s disabled list because his plantar fasciitis was not properly addressed and progressed to a tear. A more successful story of dealing with plantar fasciitis came from British field hockey player Crista Cullen. Crista was able to significantly reduce her heel pain and compete in the Olympics after receiving treatment called extracorporeal shockwave therapy.
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy or ESWT is used in cases of chronic plantar fasciitis, occurring for six months or more, where more conservative means of treatments have failed to offer substantial pain relief. In ESWT, an electrode is used to generate pulses of high pressure sound, or “shock waves” that travel through the skin to the plantar fascia. No surgical incisions are made in this noninvasive procedure. These shock waves create microdisruptions in the plantar fascia and its attachment to the heel bone in order to stimulate the healing process. Extracorporeal shock wave therapy has been shown to have long term relief of foot pain, and improvement of function in daily life for those suffering from plantar fasciitis.
Prior to reaching the need for ESWT, many patients can find excellent pain relief using conservative means. Rest, icing and stretching of the plantar fascia all serve to decrease symptoms over time. In people who overpronate (or are flatfooted), the flattened arch places additional tension on the plantar fascia, leading to its irritation. In individuals with this foot type, improving the function of the foot through custom functional orthotics can eliminate this underlying cause of plantar fasciitis. At Columbus Podiatry and Surgery, a state of the art foot scanner is used to quickly and accurately develop the mold for an orthotic that will be a perfect fit for each individual foot.
Please visit www.ColumbusFoot.com for more information or call 614-885 FEET (3338) to schedule an appointment with a podiatrist in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus Podiatry & Surgery is located on the North side of Columbus, Ohio near Worthington.
