Hello, I'm Doctor Chris Cato with the Airrosti Rehab Centers and today we're going to talk
about plantar fasciitis.
Now, a lot of people will associate plantar fasciitis as a running injury, and it's true
we do see a lot of runners who suffer from this condition, but it actually affects a
wide range of individuals.
For example, people who are either overweight or recently gained weight, those individuals
who started a new exercise regimen, and also people who have a high arch or flat arch.
And in fact, it's one of the most common conditions that we treat at Airrosti.
Oftentimes these individuals seek out traditional care in the forms of traditional physical
therapy, stretching, cortisone shot, and orthotics.
Now in the case of orthotics, and we actually will prescribe orthotics from time to time,
orthotics need to be used when there's a structure or a biomechanical issue that's going on with
the foot.
But today what we're going to focus on is why Airrosti is so effective at treating the
source and the cause of the pain and inflammation that's associated with plantar fasciitis.
So, now lets talk about the symptoms of plantar fasciitis.
Most people describe this condition as a burning, painful, pulling, even an ache in the bottom
of the foot and a lot of times near the heel of the foot.
And most people will notice this; it's more extreme when their first steps in the morning.
So, when they first get out of bed and they take that first step they feel a lot of tension,
a lot of pain, and a lot of pulling on the bottom of the foot.
Also individuals who are standing for a long time that suffer from this condition will
also notice pain in the bottom of the foot as well.
What we have here is an anatomy of the foot and the ankle and we are going to kind of
get into some of the biomechanical issues that are going on with this condition.
So here's a closer look at the plantar fascia.
It's a thick band of fibrous connected tissue that attaches from the base of the calcaneus,
or commonly known as the heel bone, and it comes blends all the way into the toes.
The major role of the plantar fascia is to support the arch of the foot and what can
happen is if you increase loads whether it be weight gain or increase in activity, like
say running and things like that, you start putting pressure down through the arch of
the foot which causes a stretching of the plantar fascia.
Over time this creates micro traumas, or tears, which will lead to the inflammation and pain
that is associated with plantar fasciitis.
Now a lot of times people complain specifically of heel pain, which would be right here at
the attachment site of the plantar fascia and the calcaneus so instead of it occurring
along the length of the arch in this case the inflammation and pain is occurring here.
Now let's talk about how the arch affects plantar fascia.
Over here on the right we have a normal foot with a normal arch over here on the left we
have what is considered a flat foot or an individual who may pronate.
Now as you can see here is the main difference between the two is the dropping of the tarsal
bones.
That drop is going to put increased pressure or tension along the plantar fascia and you
may experience pain or symptoms along the arch of the foot or at the attachment of the
calcaneus.
So that's flatfoot.
When we talk about someone who over pronates, what I'm meaning is when they walk they're
doing this instead of doing this.
And so you can typically have somebody who has a normal arch from the standing position
but when they walk they start to over pronate and that over pronation is just like this
forcing these structures and putting pressure down on the plantar fascia.
Now let's talk about somebody who has a high arch.
So imagine this arch being even more increased in this direction.
So instead of something like this, an arch being like this, you have an arch that's like
this.
There's an increased distance between the calcaneus to the base of the toes, and that
pressure is going to put more pressure of the plantar fascia versus someone who has
a normal arch.
Alright, so now let's talk about the treatment portion of plantar fasciitis and why Airrosti
is so successful at treating this condition.
One of the first things were going to look at, not only as we talked about earlier, looking
at the bottom of the foot our providers are going to also evaluate the lower leg.
And specifically we're talking about the gastroc, or the calf muscle.
The soleus, that's up underneath the gastroc as well as the posterior tibialis, which is
kind of on the inside of the shin.
What's important to note is that all these muscles, the connective tissue the fascia
that's around those muscles are going to come down blend into the Achilles tendon, which
attaches to the calcaneus.
You also have a continuation of that connected tissue that also blends in with the plantar
fascia.
Now one of the things that you know you want to keep in mind is say that her calf is tighter
or more restricted, what that's going to do, that's going to cause an increase of the tension
on the calcaneus which is also going to put increase pressure or tension on the plantar
fascia.
So, what our providers are going to do once she has kind of gone through the full assessment
of evaluating and assessing through palpation, orthopedic test, muscle test find out where
the restriction are in the calf in the lower leg, as well as in the plantar fascia, and
manually they're going to go through there and correct those fascia distortions or fascia
restrictions.
Its kind of like ironing something out.
We are going to straighten out that connected tissue whether they have adhesions or some
scaring tissue along in the calf or around the Achilles tendon.
And we are also going to do some manual work, or myofascial work, along the plantar fascia
also specifically may even pay close attention to the heel where again where the plantar
fascia attaches to the calcaneus.
Another important part of the treatment of plantar fasciitis is the role that the patient
pays with the active care.
As you can see here we have the patient foam rolling her lower legs, specifically the gastroc
physalis down to the Achilles, this is to help relieve the tension causing her plantar
fasciitis type pain.
The patient will also be given other exercises to do at home.
Including working with a lacrosse ball or golf ball on the bottom of the foot as well
as some wall stretches to help alleviate some of the tightness that's occurring in the calf.
Now, once the patient has finished their foam rolling and have been taught their at home
exercises, we're going to apply kinesio tape to the area, one for support and two to help
reduce any inflammation.
We're going to support the plantar fascia as well as the lower leg and the gastroc area.
Thank you for watching our video hopefully you found it informative and educational.
If you ever have problems with plantar fasciitis please don't hesitate to call thank you and
have a great day!