Total Pageviews

Translate

Followers

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Plantar Fasciitis: When Surgery is Recommended, Have You Done All You Can Conservatively

http://www.lowerextremityreview.com/news/in-the-moment-foot-care/preferred-plantar-fasciitis-treatment-changes-with-duration-of-symptoms/comment-page-1#comment-1890

Plantar Fasciitis can be a frustrating injury for both the patients and treating practitioners alike. My blog has many posts on this subject for your review. The article above with my comment shows how many surgeries are done for this condition. Due to the vital nature of the plantar fascia, and its effect on foot function, surgery must be the last resort. The more I learn about plantar fasciitis, the more I realize it is rare that surgery is needed. So I get mad when I see quotes like that above discussing 73% of patients need surgery if they have had the symptoms over 10 monthes. It is quite distressing. Please spread the word that I believe surgery is needed for rare cases, and symptoms are helped the best when the practitioner throws away their treatment protocols and begins to think outside the box.

Typical area for the presentation of plantar fasciitis, which can spread under the heel, and into the arch.

2 comments:

  1. I agree! A friend of mine had PF for a few years, and resorted to a PF release, which is now causing her more pain then before. She wishes she never had the surgery. I too had PF, and did a lot of stretches, reduced high impact activities and wore inserts for about 8 months and now I am pain free!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Anonymous, please have your friend on a very gradual strenghtening program for her feet and ankles. We can all make our feet 3 times stronger, with the simple exercises in this blog and others out there. This is crucial to her since she needs muscle strength to replace loss of plantar fascia. Rich

    ReplyDelete

Thank you very much for leaving a comment. Due to my time restraints, some comments may not be answered.I will answer questions that I feel will help the community as a whole.. I can only answer medical questions in a general form. No specific answers can be given. Please consult a podiatrist, therapist, orthopedist, or sports medicine physician in your area for specific questions.