Nowadays, people are facing the challenges of fast-paced life, overload of study or work pressure and fierce competition, so no matter who is inevitably depressed and irritable, people start to love sports in order to relieve mental worries, for a healthy body and to get away from the noise.
In the past few years, sports have become fashionable, and people have become familiar with hiking, camping and trekking from unfamiliar to familiar, and they have also started to wear sports and casual clothes in the city. For the stress brought by life, people take part in sports to let their bodies and minds rest. But it also brings a problem: after the occurrence of unlimited running, hiking, overload walking and shopping, the phenomenon of heel pain appears, which is not only a problem for a few people, but gradually forms a group phenomenon. Concentrate on the pain when you wake up the day after exercise, and the pain is most obvious when you lightly press the plantar area near the heel with your hand, then it is likely to have “plantar fasciitis”.
So what is “plantar fasciitis”?
The medical name for plantar fasciitis is metatarsal tendonitis. The plantar tendon membrane is the deep fascia of the sole of the foot, the main body of which starts at the heel tuberosity and travels distally to the proximal phalanges of each toe, and consists of longitudinal fibers that protect the muscles, tendons, blood vessels, nerves and joints of the sole of the foot, provide attachment points for certain intrinsic muscles of the sole, and help maintain the longitudinal arch of the foot. Plantar fasciitis usually occurs at the medial tuberosity of the heel, with occasional entrapment of the primary lesser toe adductor nerve and sensory branches of the medial heel nerve; some patients with plantar fasciitis have an associated heel osteochondroma.
Plantar fasciitis is common in people who exercise a lot or who are overloaded. The pathogenesis: the plantar fascia is subjected to long-term stress {when an object is deformed due to external factors (force, humidity, temperature field changes, etc.), internal forces interact between the parts of the object to resist this external force} stimulation, and when the load exceeds its capacity, it causes chronic injury to the plantar fascia, which leads to Inflammation of the plantar fascia occurs. The intensity of the exercise load exceeds the plantar fascia’s ability to withstand it is not the only reason, if the shoe is not properly selected for exercise, it can cause uneven distribution of plantar pressure, leading to the occurrence of plantar fasciitis. For example, standing for too long, walking for too long and wearing unsuitable shoes with thin soles or shoes that are too hard are all triggers for the disease.
Under normal circumstances, the process of exercise essentially tears tiny tissues, and the body automatically repairs the torn tissue and strengthens it, thus making our bodies stronger. But for some reason, the tissue tears are greater than the body’s ability to repair them, at which point the tiny tissue tears cannot be recovered, and when this accumulates to a certain point, the tissue slowly begins to stop growing and even shrinks, thus creating pain. Most medical experts abroad now believe that many diseases caused by exercise overload, including tennis elbow and Achilles tendonitis, are this same process, not inflammation.
In clinical practice, the incidence of plantar fasciitis is much higher in women than in men, with the incidence in women being about twice as high as in men, as shown by the usual research: women are more likely to wear high heels; men are more likely to climb mountains and have flat feet.
The most common symptom of plantar fasciitis is pain on the bottom side of the heel. The manifestation of proximal plantar tendonitis: significant pressure pain on the front medial side of the bottom of the heel; the manifestation of distal or central plantar tendonitis: pressure pain on the front or middle of the bottom of the foot; differential diagnosis: the pain is induced by passively pulling the toes to the dorsal side or standing on the toes.
Most people have pain after a long rest and when they start to lift and walk, severe pain occurs in the heel. Generally speaking, the pain is most pronounced in the first step when getting out of bed in the morning, mainly because after a night’s rest, the plantar fascia is no longer weight-bearing and will be in a shorter state. Thus, when you get out of bed and step on the ground in the morning, there will be a larger and faster pull on the plantar fascia, which will cause pain. However, after walking for a period of time, the plantar fascia will become looser and the symptoms will be relieved. However, if you walk excessively, the plantar fascia will be stretched more and more often and the symptoms will reappear. Most of them are on the medial side of the heel.
In daily life, many teenagers like to wear hard-soled canvas shoes for days on end because of fashion, which leads to plantar fasciitis. Physicians point out that wearing shoes with too high a heel or too thin or hard soles can easily cause plantar fasciitis, and delayed treatment can lead to increased degeneration of the ankle joint.
Why does wearing hard-soled shoes lead to plantar fasciitis?
The answer is found in the biomechanics of the foot. Wearing shoes with hard soles and walking long distances may cause chronic strain on the soft tissues around the foot. The metatarsal fascia of the foot plays an important role in supporting the foot during walking, and thus may cause some inflammation in the foot when walking causes changes in the mechanics of the foot. As an example: walking in snow boots for a long time instead of hurting your feet is the same reason.
Snow boots are mostly flat soles and no curvature, highlighting the characteristics of the shoe space, reducing the stability of the ankle joint, wearing for a long time, will cause fatigue of the ankle and arch, not conducive to maintaining a healthy state of the foot. This means that hard materials made of very flat soles are not suitable for the structure of the human physiological foot, which can easily cause strain on the foot walking and cause foot inflammation.
Shoe front cocking
Nowadays, the front toe of the general sports shoes is slightly cocked, which makes the toe in the shoe has been in the upward state, thus unconsciously make the fascia is strained. The fascia, which has been in a tense state, is subject to additional stretching when running and landing, with predictable results that can easily cause injury.
Shoe support
The support and protection of sports shoes cause the arch to not get the proper exercise, so unless in sports, it is best not to wear the so-called protective sports shoes.
Selection instructions
1, it is recommended that when you buy or wear shoes, avoid wearing shoes with too high a heel or too thin or hard soles for too long to prevent the occurrence of plantar fasciitis.
2, the purchase should be considered for the foot physiological curvature of the shoe type, for example, some well-known foreign brands (stores) of sports shoes, in the middle of the foot will be prepared to have a raised area, this place in the walking process is easy to top to the arch position, walking process is more suitable for the human foot structural changes. The sole of the shoe is very flat or very high are not suitable. The heel of women’s high heels should preferably not exceed 2.5 centimeters.
Three ways to prevent plantar fasciitis
Although plantar fasciitis can be a problem, it can be improved with proper changes in movement patterns, timely treatment, and self-stretching exercises. Three ways to stay away from plantar fasciitis are.
1, stretching plantar fascia: sitting on the ground, legs bent, the sole of the foot plate flat against the ground, using the hands to pull the toes upward, 10 seconds and then rest. Then turn the foot plate upward and wrench the toes upward with your hands, stay for 10 seconds. These two actions alternate, repeat 10 times, 3 times a day.
2, stretch the heel tendons: bend the front leg, straighten the back leg, hands against the wall, so that the calf muscles are fully extended. Maintain 20 seconds, repeat 3 times on each side.
3, small leg muscle strengthening: sitting on the floor, legs slightly bent, put a towel under the feet, the foot plate flat against the ground, practice grabbing the towel with your toes.
Pay special attention to the fact that if severe pain occurs on the bottom of the foot and is prolonged, seek immediate medical help. Most treatments recommend sedation, cold packs, splints, stretching, taping, shoe changes, injections, shock waves, etc. But unfortunately all the methods except shockwave are slow or even ineffective. And shock wave therapy is equipped with fewer hospitals and is not effective for everyone.
It has the ability to improve local blood circulation in the body, loosen soft tissue adhesions tension stress induced soft tissue inter-loosening, cracking hardened bone, promote tissue vascular growth and bone healing to relieve pain, greatly improve the metabolism of the treatment area, loosen the calcium deposits in the affected area, facilitate the absorption of the body, reduce the inflammatory response in the affected area, reduce edema and accelerate recovery.
Tip: Friends of plantar fasciitis should often hot water soak feet, water temperature at 40 ℃ -43 ℃, for 15-20 minutes of immersion. Hot water foot soaks can accelerate blood circulation in the bottom of the foot, which is conducive to the absorption of local inflammation and has a restorative effect on the overworked plantar fascia.