So now I can officially add plantar fasciitis to my laundry list of sports related injuries, most notably being my torn ACL and achilles tendon tear. I am doing just like the rest of many of my patients do and playing thru it, albeit with some caution and I am playing soccer but not running on the road. The next post I put up will show an ultrasound of my partially healed fascia. I got the new F6 sock, have been keeping up with yoga and stretching back my toes. I tried a new running shoe on the treadmill the other day but after 3 minutes I could feel a twinge. I am wearing my orthotics for sports and flip between crocs and sneakers with orthotics at work, I have tried a l3 laser treatments which temporarily made it feel better. The question is whether it would have stayed better had I stayed away from the Saturday soccer match ritual. In short I am not that far from the rest of you suffering weekend warriors- just armed with a little bit more knowledge on what to do and not willing to go completely idle for the time being…

My Saga Continues…

Pictured right is an ultrasound of my foot. What you would like to see on the fascia is what looks like strands of spaghetti. Mine has some of that but there is also a dark signal indicating on going plantar fasciitis. If you look at the two lines coming off the white curve that looks like a hill that is where the fascia originates off the heel bone. On top of the fascia about mid way the lines are not as clear indicative of degeneration. Some of my patients have a fusiform or cigar shape which indicates more swelling and degeneration. When I am evaluating athletes that are looking to return to sports I check to see if there is any opening up of the tissue when I punt stress on it suggestive of a tear. It is a great way to monitor there progress of healing. It is the better than an X-Ray study to get to evaluate a sports heel injury that has the classic morning pain and plantar medial heel pain. An X-ray will show the bone structure better but will not show you the fascia composition, tearing, fat degeneration and muscle swelling I ended up hurting my lower back about 2 weeks ago playing soccer. The moment occurred leaning over tie my cleats. What set me up was the soccer games going all out the day before and not unwinding my back with some stabilizing exercises after. The injury has helped my fascia heel because it has forced me to slow down playing and I have only played for an hour or so a couple times. My chiropractor suggested I skip yoga and work on pelvic tilts for my back and stop biking hills for a while. Hopefully, the forced rest will continue to help my fascia heal. Until then I still am wearing my F6 Fascia Sock and continuing using orthotics in my cleats and shoes.