After a long, busy summer you might be glad to get to spend more time at home. One nice thing about being home is that you can easily treat your heel pain. You don’t even have to worry about going to the doctor to do it, which is a nice errand to check off your list.
Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of heel pain, but it’s one of the easiest to treat so that’s good news. More good news is that you can usually treat it at home without any invasive procedures. Some treatment options that tend to be very beneficial include:
- Applying an ice pack to the foot to reduce pain, inflammation, and swelling. It’s a good idea to do this while your foot is elevated.
- If recommended by your doctor you can take an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication, such as Ibuprofen or Tylenol.
- Rest your feet as much as possible. Plantar fasciitis is made worse when you put excess pressure on your feet so rest is important for the tissue to heal.
- Try an orthotic or a shoe insert. Sometimes adding some padding or support is enough to take away the pain.
- Stretch! We recommend wall stretching where you place your hands against a wall and put one leg behind you and stretch the entire leg. You can also stretch and exercise your arches by picking up marbles with your toes or rolling a golf ball along your arches. A twist on this one is to use a frozen water bottle instead of a golf ball, which can also add some cooling pain relief.
It you’ve tried all of these home remedies and nothing seems to be working then it might be time to call Dr. Mitchell Wachtel at (978) 794-8406 to schedule an appointment with us in one of three conveniently located Massachusetts offices. Together we can come up with a treatment plan that will work to heel your plantar fasciitis pain once and for all.