My Plantar Fasciitis Is Severe
Hi,
I’ve never had or heard of plantar fasciitis before last Tuesday (14th).
I woke up with such a painful foot that I couldn’t walk on it.
It took about an hour and half, and I could hobble on it.
I didn’t know what was wrong with my foot at this stage, and had an interview at uni that day, so I hobbled all round Guildford.
I walked (hobbled!) all day, up flights of stairs, down again, miles across the campus, miles across Guildford etc….
The next day I couldn’t walk at all, not all day.
I spent the day crawling round my house.
I made it to the doctors who told me I had plantar fasciitis and told me to stay off my foot until it was better.
This is very hard as I have a young disabled child to look after, and mostly live by myself!
It is now Saturday and I am now getting around on crutches, as I still cannot put my foot down, it is so painful, and i’m frightened of making it worse again, like I did walking all day Tuesday with it.Everywhere I read about it on the net says it gets better as the morning goes on, but for me this doesn’t seem to be the case?
I’m still in as much pain today as I was when I woke up on Saturday.
Is that normal?
I’m also staying completely off the foot now, don’t know if that is the right thing to do.
I think I may have got the injury when my little boy (who is a very tall strong six year old) was having a full blown autistic tantrum (he has other problems too bless him), and I tried to deal with him mid tantrum.
I usually end up doing parts of my back or shoulders in, always short term, when dealing with one of his tantrums, as he is getting bigger all the time.
I’m anxious to get better quickly, but don’t know if i’m doing the right thing or not staying totally of it? I cannot sit down and rest it most of the time, I am doing all that needs doing round the house using crutches, and sitting down with my foot up when I can, but at the moment I cannot weightbare at all on it.Any help or advice you can give me i’d very much appreciate,Many thanksSarah
2 comments
Vivian Abrams DPM
Without examining your foot, I can not say anything for sure. If you have a sudden onset of this pain, then I would be suspicious of either a tear in the plantar fascia or a stress fracture of the heel bone. When I have a patient who is in pain such as you describe, I sometimes put them in a cast boot to immobilize the area. This might help you get around without crutches. There are medications for inflammation, rolling your foot on a frozen water bottle may help dull the pain as well as massage the area.If your doctor did not offer much in the way of treatment, find another.
Sarah
Dear Dr. Vivian A,thank you for replying to my post. My doctor told me I had plantar fasciitis, gave me ibuprofen and told me to rest my foot! He then watched me struggle with my partner down what seemed like the longest corridoor ever!!!! He didn’t give me any crutches or anything, even though he knows I have a young child with disabilities to look after, and i’d just said i’d been crawling round my house!My partner took me up to A+E where they gave me crutches to get around, because he had to go home the following morning, and there’s no way I would have coped crawling around the house.Unfortunately I havn’t really been told anything else about it, how to properly treat it? I looked it up on the internet when we got home to find out more. I was just concerned when most websites say that the pain gets better as the day goes on, and mine has stayed as bad as it started off. I thought this may be becasue I aggrevated it on the Tuesday by doing all that walking after the pain had started.If there is no improvement soon I will make another appointment with the doctor. Should I be trying to weightbare on it in the meantime, or be staying totally off it?Many thanksSarah