# Plantar Fasciitis



## Signman62 (Apr 29, 2018)

Plantar Fasciitis: What Shoe to Buy 
Been wearing Five Ten Freeride for 7 month's and in that time have developed PF in both heel's. Wondering if it could be my MTB shoes that are causing it ?

Riding Flat's


----------



## chazpat (Sep 23, 2006)

Are you sure it is PF? PF is more in the arch than the heels. You could try some inserts for your 5-10s.


----------



## cyclelicious (Oct 7, 2008)

Plantar fasciitis occurs when the plantar fascia, the ligament that connects the heel bone to the toes, becomes strained.

Flat peddle shoes like Five Tens, are mainly designed for grip but most have little arch support. 

You can continue to wear Five Tens. Replace the sole insert with either custom fit orthotics or over the counter orthotics. 

Home treatments like resting, icing the heels, stretching, and rolling helps.


----------



## NYrr496 (Sep 10, 2008)

Rolling cured it for me. Tennis balls.


----------



## CUP-TON (Dec 7, 2016)

While a tennis ball does work and is super cheap, I use different sizes of this kind of massage ball to keep mine in check. I usually roll my feet 2-3 times a week for about fifteen minutes each. YMMV. I also use Superfeet or other high quality insoles.


----------



## Rngspnr (Feb 15, 2016)

Been dealing with it for years now. The standard Freeriders are not stiff enough to give your arch proper support. I know because I had a pair and it aggravated my PF. I went to the Freerider XVI which has a stiffer sole and also added Ergon sole inserts unfortunately 5-10 doesn't make the XVI any more . PF can be extremely tough to deal with especially if you spend a lot of time on your feet. Be sure to stretch your calves before and after rides. When your calves get tight it pulls on the PF tendons causing pain. If it gets really bad you should consider a night brace.


----------



## Signman62 (Apr 29, 2018)

Many thanks.

Will give insert's ago.
Never had issue before and ridden on/off many year's as used to road race.

First time on flat's too, got used to them pretty quick but do notice how flat the Five Ten's are compared to my old road race shoes.

I'm more heels down too on the MTB for grip etc.


----------



## TwiceHorn (Jun 18, 2014)

Tight calves can contribute to it too. I had it for a while and rolling my foot on a frozen water bottle (not a bike bottle, like a bottled water bottle) helped with the pain and also stretched the ligaments. The thing that eliminated it though, was training myself to sleep with my feet at right angles to my shins (pointing your toes, even a little bit, contributes to shortening of the muscles/ligaments). You can get splints to sleep in if you can't train yourself. Also stretching by getting your heels lower than your toes (as on a step).


----------



## Battery (May 7, 2016)

I have really bad PF and I was given a custom set of inserts that give me better arch support. They used a computer to map my foot and it generated a blueprint to help create the correct Mold that I needed. I have way less foot pains because of the inserts. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

I spend all day on my feet for work and started to develop PF bad in my dominant foot then my non-dominant foot started to get it as well. What cured it quickly and unequivocally for me was simply moving to flat soled shoes. I used to wear work boots while working outside and running sneakers inside both of which have significant heel lift. Moving to skate/tennis style shoe got rid of it and now I mainly wear approach shoes for work.

I have an extremely high arch. I've messed with inserts now and again including high end one's and every time they make me pronate in weird ways. I also focus on toe box so my foot can splay correctly. In addition I never wear shoes at home for the same reason. In a nut shell let your feet function as they were designed to.


----------



## Signman62 (Apr 29, 2018)

I've read never walk around with bare feet or flat shoes like flip flop's and also the exact opposite. very confusing.

Guess have to experiment and see what suit's me best.

Many thanks everyone


----------



## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

There is a lot of conflicting info out there. After sorting through it myself and what ultimately fixed my problem I came away thinking a lot of it is marketing. Then again your solution or what is causing your problem may differ from mine 180°. I will say with companies like Earth shoes and many that followed allowing your stride to be the ball of your foot first (as opposed to heel) there was quite a movement in that direction.


----------



## mactweek (Oct 3, 2011)

Get a night brace, I had P.F. for years , used custom orthotics, stretches balls etc, the only thing that got rid of it was wearing the brace at night. In winter heavy blankets can push down your toes if you are sleeping on your back, that shortens the ligament which allows the inflammation to get much worse.


----------



## Ptor (Jan 29, 2004)

Signman62 said:


> Guess have to experiment and see what suit's me best.


This! There is lots of good advice here and I tried them all (except for the night brace). My solution turned out to be a combination of three things. First, using a down comforter to get rid of the heavy blanket problem -- I can all but see my breath in the morning in my bedroom during the winter and need the warmth. Second, "low drop" shoes (heel zero or only a few mm higher than the forefoot) that also have good forefoot flex. I run every day and I feel these type of shoes keep things stretched out, helping to prevent inflammation. Stiff "control" models of shoes don't allow a smooth gate and the shock seems to percipitate a bout of inflammation. And third, a willingness to jettison new expensive shoes when they don't work. At this point in my life I can usually recognize a shoe that won't work simply by walking around in the store for 10 minutes. But I've replaced a pair of favorite runners with the exact same model and started developing Plantar Fasciitis after a few runs in them and just got rid of them. I bought my most recent hiking boots from REI, in large part because of their great return policy.


----------



## Rngspnr (Feb 15, 2016)

My foot doctor had me using inserts when my PF was really bad. I used the inserts for a little over a year. The inserts helped quite a bit in the beginning but over time they started to become uncomfortable. Ditched the inserts and went back to the inserts my shoes originally came with and PF is mostly gone. All the theories about shoes no shoes inserts no inserts is very conflicting. I believe the biggest help was a night splint preventing my PF from contracting while I slept. You need to be in tune with what your body is telling you and make choices based on what feels best for you personally.


----------



## SADDLE TRAMP (Aug 26, 2010)

WHALENARD said:


> There is a lot of conflicting info out there. After sorting through it myself and what ultimately fixed my problem I came away thinking a lot of it is marketing. Then again your solution or what is causing your problem may differ from mine 180°. I will say with companies like Earth shoes and many that followed allowing your stride to be the *ball of your foot* first (as opposed to heel) there was quite a movement in that direction.


Wearing a well supporting shoe and walking on the ball of my foot seems to have taken care of my PF.


----------



## cjcrawford (Jun 2, 2008)

I put a hot compress around my foot and heel to loosen things up and then cover the foot/heel with some kind of massage oil/vaseline substance and then take the back end of a spoon and painfully and deeply massage all along the foot and heel looking for tight/tender spots and try to break apart scar/knots/fascia. Quite painful but it works for me. Chris.


----------



## Rngspnr (Feb 15, 2016)

This helped me quite a bit also.


----------



## Signman62 (Apr 29, 2018)

Rngspnr said:


> This helped me quite a bit also.


This looks really helpful..Thank you !


----------



## Rngspnr (Feb 15, 2016)

Signman62 said:


> This looks really helpful..Thank you !


You're gonna be real surprised by the amount of tender sensitive tissue that is running up your leg. It's gonna hurt a whole lot to massage it all out. It did for me anyway. Good luck PF really sucks especially when you get to the point you can't stand for very long or to get up at night and you feel crippled.


----------



## Signman62 (Apr 29, 2018)

Having suffered with tight IT, dodgy knee and bad back for year's this is just another thing I can do without.

Time for the breaker's yard I think !


----------



## chuckha62 (Jul 11, 2006)

For inserts, I like the Birkenstock brand. They're designed in Germany and do not break down over time. Also, your feet may not need equal support. The folks at the B-stock store were willing to mismatch the set at no charge (about $60).


----------



## oldcolonial (Aug 28, 2018)

As a distance runner I have drifted in and out of of Plantar Fasciitis a number of times through the years. For me the following have helped:
- reduce. PF is fundamentally an over use injury. So you may have to do less of what it is that is irritating it. For me it was running. For you it may be the cycling.
- Shift the time of day you stress it. The morning when you are stiff from laying around all night is not the best time to go at it hard.
- Stretch and strengthen. Stretch the back of the lower leg, Soleus and Gastroc and strengthen the front of the lower leg. Walking around with your feet dorsifexed is a good exerciser for the front of the leg. The pro-stretch which flexes up you toes is also nice.
- Ice and anti inflammatory medications.
- Massage with a golf ball. Its about the right size to get in there and break thinks up.


----------



## rmac (Oct 26, 2004)

I have been using the stretching techniques in this Athlean-x video: 



 I am only less than a week in and it feels a little better...


----------



## NYrr496 (Sep 10, 2008)

I just bought a slant board and have been stretching on that as well. Works awesome.


----------



## telemike (Jun 20, 2011)

I began riding much more seriously about 20 years ago when PF ended hiking and backpacking for about 6 months. I finally got past PF by not walking a lot, especially up steep hills, using custom orthodics, and by achilles stretches.

When I pee now in the bathroom, I grab the towel bar behind the toilet and lean way forwards to stretch my achilles tendons. Multitasking at its best!


----------



## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

telemike said:


> When I pee now in the bathroom, I grab the towel bar behind the toilet and lean way forwards


I have to do that too but only first thing in the morning and on special occasions.


----------

