Why Does My Foot Hurt in the Morning?

"Why does my arch hurt?" 

"I get a sharp pain in my heel every morning I get out of bed.

"When I've been on my feet too long, the bottom of my foot hurts so bad."

Do you say these things? You may have plantar fasciitis.

The plantar fascia is a ligament that helps support the arch of your foot and gets stretched when you put weight on it and every step you take.

"Itis" is Latin for inflammation, so plantar fasciitis is a diagnosis of inflammation of the plantar fascia. Inflammation takes place when you have an injury and the body is trying to heal. Research is showing that most cases of plantar fasciitis is not an "itis" but is instead an "-osis" which reflects degeneration. This is why rolling on a frozen bottle might not make your symptoms go away.

At Artisan Physical Therapy, your PT will try to figure out a few distinct things in your evaluation - what tissue is injured or irritated and then the why it is injured/irritated/painful. Often both need to be treated the sore tissue needs to be calmed down and then that factors that led to the injury need to be changed and/or alleviated otherwise it will be perpetually irritated.

Common factors that lead to plantar fasciitis or fasciosis include:

• Insufficient arch support - going barefoot, wearing flip flops, or shoes without arch support or very flexible soles
• Tight ankles and calve muscles
• Weak hip (gluteal muscles)
• Excessive body weight
• Increasing activity too quickly (deciding to train for a marathon or get in shape drastically from prior level of activity)
• Weak foot muscles or inappropriate muscle use/activation

Just because you have arch or heel pain, it doesn't mean you have plantar fasciitis. It could be a tendinitis or tendinopathy of a foot or ankle muscle or an issue in the joints of your foot. A quality physical therapy exam will clarify this for you.  As mentioned above knowing which tissue is irritated allows for specific, targeted treatment to get rid of your pain and get you back to pain free walking, running and whatever else you love and need to do.

Think you might have plantar fasciitis? Take the first step towards health and get a PT evaluation to get quality manual therapy to temporarily decrease the pain in your foot and learn exercises to keep it away by learning how to reduce the stress to the plantar fascia and learn what activities to avoid a do instead to allow it to begin healing today.

Let's Get to the Source - and TOGETHER - Let's Get Moving!

Is What You Are Eating Keeping You Hurting?

What you eat has a big influence in how you feel. Not too many people will disagree with this statement, however many are not aware the extent that this is true.

Your diet could be perpetuating your back pain, our contributing to your achy knees, or be prolonging that car accident our recent injury pain.

What do we know?

AVOID eating refined carbohydrates, french fries and other fried foods, soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages, red meat (burgers, steaks) and processed meat (hot dogs, sausage), and margarine/lard.

EAT MORE tomatoes; olive oil; green leafy vegetables - spinach, kale, and collards; nuts like almonds and walnuts; fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna, and sardines; fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, cherries, and oranges.

Eating this way helps reduce diseases associated with inflammation: e.g. heart disease and cancer. You can read more about this at http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/foods-that-fight-inflammation.

But eating this way will also contribute time reduce your musculoskeletal and orthopedic pain. (Read -  less pain in your muscles, discs, joints, fascia, and ligaments). Sounds great, right?

If you're not seeing the consistent pain reduction you want from changes in posture, strength, stiffness, and flexibility, consider taking that next step to reduce what my be stagnant inflammation in your body and change your diet to tips towards anti-inflammatory in addition to all the good work your doing with exercise, position, rest, icing, etc.

Every little step towards healthier living counts!

What is Manual Therapy & Why is it so Effective for Pain?

Liz Bottrell, PT, DPT, FAAOMPT, manual physical therapist and owner of Artisan Physical Therapy in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA explains what manual therapy is.

Manual therapy, or "hands on," evaluation and treatment improves motion, mobility, decreases stiffness, tightness and pain, as well as improving circulation and speeding healing. The healing hands lead to areas of injury and work them out. It is a place where science and art meet.

Do you want to get better as soon as possible? Do you want to see an expert? Have you not seen the results that you hoped for with prior physical therapy. Maybe your therapist wasn't highly skilled in manual therapy. Liz is a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapist (FAAOMPT) - her specialized manual therapy training and skills set her apart from other physical therapists.

See a manual therapy specialist and experience the difference in your day to day - the ease of movement, the reduced pain and stiffness, and improved muscle activation (read strength, coordination, and balance). All of this helps you sleep, walk, run, stand, reach overhead, and so on more easily and with less pain.

Combine quality and focused physical therapy with your needed exercises and necessary modifications and get ready for amazing results beyond what you though possible!