Thread: Plantar fasciitis suitable footwear

I had this bad a couple of years ago. Went to a podiatrist for hard inserts and they did not help.

Had a stall at the WA Garden Show and a fellow stallholder watched me flinching, a lot.

I visited her stall and she did some quick "measurements" for her flexible gel insoles from the USA. Cost me $410.00, so ouch, but anything had to be better than the pain, even one in the wallet.

As of that afternoon, pain gone. I have them in my workboots only, and average 9000 steps per day. Never had even another sniff of the problem and wear any shoes I like without them, BUT keep the insoles in my workboots.
10 year guarantee, for whatever that's worth.

If interested I will dig around to find the brand, I'm sure there will be someone where you are. Because the nature of the problem no standard shoes will be "comfy". You need intervention.

Thanks for the reply. Would definitely be interested to find out more about them.
Thanks

I suffered from this for quite a few years. Ended up going to a Physiotherapist and he strapped my foot up in bandages for a few days and this fixed it.

Years ago I had this too and what worked for me were shoes with a rolled heel.

I have a long history of this complaint and the only thing I have found that works for me is physio and specific exercises. One doctor want to inject cortisone into my heel but I told him it was not going to happen and he could not understand why.

Get a Strassburg sock, wear it to bed. They are a bit uncomfortable but make lot of difference. One thing a physio told me was to not stretch my foot forward damhik.
Regards,
Ross

Thanks so much for the replies this is some really great information.

First thing I do with any pair of new shoes is replace the insoles with new orthotic insoles.
My Physio recommended these and I've been using them for about a decade
https://footlogics-shop.com.au/

I use them in my Workboots, walking shoes, trainers, dress shoes, and even Uggboots.

I too suffer from this condition, as does my GP of the last 40 years, together we tried various things, including special socks designed specifically for plantar fasciitis.

The socks were reasonably good, but were a bit hard to wear as they compress parts of the foot and although they did work, I found them quite expensive and even though I hand washed them, they started to lose their ability to apply their targeted compression points after a few weeks.

Special shoes firstly weren't going to fit my very wide feet, not to mention that their pricing was in the stratosphere.

Eventually I turned to orthotic inserts inside my own very well fitting shoes. Some of these orthotics were very pricey and I had some doubts about their claimed efficacy. I then tried a pair of Synxsole one piece orthotic in my shoes. Success at last.

For the last few years I have taken out the OEM removable sole in my shoes, replacing it with a Synxsole orthotic in my size range that I have trimmed with scissors for a perfect non-slip fit inside my shoes.

Now they are not going to give instant total relief, but I and other people I personally know, can immediately feel the better and more comfortable feeling with these orthotics fitted. Over time my plantar fasciitis has waned, to the point I can walk almost normally without pain, I don't think I'll be going back to a pair of shoes without these orthotics.

You can shop around for these and if they work for you then a multiple buy can save delivery fees, or you can also walk into many chemist shops and they may be in stock. But be aware that you are purchasing the Synxsole orthotic, there are now some copycat versions which may be better, the same or worse.

These are exactly what I have, simple, cheap(ish) and so far, very long lived inside my shoes.

Best Insoles for Heel Pain and Plantar Fasciitis -Synxsole Orthotics by SynxBody

Mick.

Originally Posted by david.elliott

I visited her stall and she did some quick "measurements" for her flexible gel insoles from the USA. Cost me $410.00, so ouch, but anything had to be better than the pain, even one in the wallet.

I am surprised at that cost as I had my feet scanned and a custom set of orthotics made for roughly that amount and they definitely work for my ankle problems. In the end all my ankle and feet problems are caused by me being bare foot all my life and not wearing shoes unless necessary and now I feel uncomfortable with shoes on.

Taking Magnesium stops cramping in the legs so I wonder if it will help with PF. It can't do any harm and would be worth a try so I will give it a go the next time it raises its ugly head.

I had fairly bad plantar fasciitis in my 50s but worked out I needed to stretch the ligaments in the foot and maybe the lower leg by standing on a step with little more than my toes touching and doing drop and hold for 20 seconds then raise to limit and hold for 10 seconds, then repeat several times. Did this on waking, when pain was at its worst, and two or three times a day. Fixed in a couple of weeks.

Problem returned recently and much worse in my early 70s. Same exercises provided some relief but only temporary each day. Old ligaments probably a lot tighter, for the rest of my life. Looked at absurdly expensive workboots and general footwear and couldn't justify the cost as I couldn't see that they were much more than ordinary absurdly priced footwear with special inserts. Bought some inserts from shops and online, with modest improvements from a couple of them. Not doing any work on site and not doing building work for the past six months so I ditched my zip sided steel caps and reverted to a new pair of non-steel cap Rossi elastic sided boots and replaced standard Rossi inserts with the Vionic ones I'd had in the steel caps where they'd provided modest relief. After a few weeks it dawned on me that my feet weren't hurting much any more. Conclusion: It's probably not just the insert that matters but the footwear it goes into. In my case it might be just that my old steel caps were well past their use by date and weren't providing the base support that the new boots do.

FWIW, I find that I get the most relief from inserts with a strong high arch support. Soft gel type cushions don't do anything for me. Someone mentioned rolled heels, which I found were great in some Rivers sandals I had with high arches, but seems they're not available anymore.

I initially got my first bout of plantar fasciitis from a pair of hard shoes that were supposedly very good supportive shoes.
My GP asked if i'd started wearing a new pair of shoes. yes i said and he said stop wearing them and it resolved.
Since then, in the intervening 20 years i have had two episodes.
Both times i had my foot injected with a mix of local anaesthetic and steroid (cortisone).
I stress that this injection was done with ultrasound guidance to place the tip of the needle at the right spot.
it works and if done this way not as much of a worry as some people say.
Easily better than the discomfort of the ongoing condition

Frank