Plantar Fasciitis

Black & white closeup of a female foot with heel pain, plantar fasciitis.

What is Plantar Fasciitis?

This is a common cause of pain by the heel and sometimes along the entire bottom of your foot. It occurs when you have a tightness/irritation of the muscles and tissues that form the "suspension bridge" on the bottom of your foot.

Recommended Supplements for Plantar Fasciitis

Begin by taking 1,000-1,500 mg of calcium and 200 mg of magnesium at bedtime. Give it 6 weeks to start working.

Other Therapies & Advice for Plantar Fasciitis

  • Wearing a boot or brace at night that keeps your foot at a right angle while you sleep (easy to find online) helps.
  • A podiatrist or chiropractor familiar with the technique can tape the bottom of your foot. This was a wonderful trick that an excellent Dallas chiropractor, Dr. Ron Huse, taught me. This tape then takes over the role of the suspension support and may ease the pain immediately.

Be Sure to Check for Heel Spurs

  • If the pain is from a small tender area over your heel, it may come from a tender thin bony “spur.” Start with an adhesive “doughnut shaped” pad (the “doughnut hole” goes over the tender area).
  • Gently massaging the heel area while bathing can break up the heel spur over time.
  • Often pain diagnosed as heel spurs is actually coming from a tender muscle knot at the bottom of your calf muscle (which can be massaged to release).

 

Contributor

Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, MD

Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D. is a board certified internist and author of the popular free iPhone application “Cures A-Z,” which was ranked in the top 10 of all health/wellness downloads on iTunes.

Dr. Teitelbaum is the author of the perennial bestseller From Fatigued to Fantastic! (Avery Penguin), which has sold over half a million copies; Pain Free 1-2-3 (McGraw-Hill); Three Steps to Happiness: Healing Through Joy (Deva Press); the Beat Sugar Addiction Now! series (Fair Winds Press);  Real Cause, Real Cure (Rodale Press); The Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Solution (Penguin/Avery); and his latest, The Complete Guide to Beating Sugar Addiction (Fair Winds Press, 2015).