Do You Actually Have Plantar Fasciitis?

You may not have Plantar Fasciitis...even if you believe you do.

A survey not too long ago discovered that approximately two million people in the US alone experience plantar fasciitis on an annual basis. Not only that, but sooner or later one person out of ten is destined to have to deal with this ailment. But while you often hear the term "plantar fasciitis" (at least if you're a runner going to a doctor's office), it may not be the best term to describe that pain you have in your foot.

Let's take a look at the evidence, and then you can decide for yourself if you have it or not.

In the medical field, "itis" means that there's a problem with inflammation. So bronchitis, tendonitis, gastritis...all of these are the result of inflammation. Inflammation has four classic symptoms: pain, swelling, redness and heat. Also, it usually (though not always) goes away after a week or two. Since inflammation is a repair response for when there is a physical injury or irritation, it only lasts until the problem has been taken care of. This can give you a valuable clue to the nature of your ailment; if you have inflammation (which is secondary) for more than a week or two, odds are good that your first problem isn't being taken care of. If this is the situation, the root problem needs to be addressed or it might take years to recover.

On the other hand, any kind of "osis" in medicine means that there is a degeneration of tissue. So if you have "plantar fasciosis", this will mean that your plantar fascia is experiencing some type of degeneration, regardless of any inflammation that might be present. When aspirin and icing don't work, and you've been in pain for longer than two weeks or so, the chances are excellent that your condition isn't plantar fasciitis, but plantar fasciosis. If this sounds like your ailment, the plain fact is that a different method of treatment is going to be required for you to fully recover. And this different approach is going to need to target the true issue: tissue deterioration, not inflammation.

So is there some simple way to determine which condition you have? Yes, there is. Remember the four classic symptoms of inflammation? Now do a quick check of the bottom of your foot; what do you see? Swelling? Redness? Do you feel any unusual heat? (If you're reading this, you probably do have pain.) No? So what do you think? Still sound like "inflammation"? Here's another test: have you been taking NSAIDs and/or using ice for more than two weeks? And are you still in pain? If so, inflammation probably isn't the issue. You should ask a medical professional and see what the answer is.

It's genuinely not an "either-or" situation, though. Fasciitis and fasciosis can affect the same tissue simultaneously. But keep in mind that these conditions are not the same. They will need to be addressed with separate remedies for you to get better. Should you decide that you have fasciosis, not fasciitis, you're actually in luck. First, you can stop wasting time on the wrong treatment. Second, specific exercises for fasciosis do exist that will help you get better.