Why WON’T my plantar fasciitis Resolve? (Hint: it may not be a foot problem!)

It’s one of the most frequent calls we get: “Can you help with plantar fasciitis? I’ve tried everything and nothing has worked!”

Why is this so common?

The short answer is that plantar fasciitis may not be just a foot problem. And if it’s not a foot problem and a practitioner is only trying to address the foot, it may never resolve. Let’s take a deeper dive.

You are walking around and your heel is burning. You go to the doctor and get a diagnosis. That burning heel pain is diagnosed as plantar fasciitis. You get prescribed orthotics. You stretch and roll. You rest and take topical and oral meds. You get a cortisone injection. But over time, the pain persists or recurs. You start to fear that this problem is never going away. You stopped doing some of the activities you love long ago but now you can’t even take a walk!

Here is the great news: plantar fasciitis can be addressed even if traditional medical intervention is not helping. In my many years of practice helping clients overcome complex muscle problems, I have come across many cases of persistent, unresponsive plantar fasciitis. And almost every time, the reason the problem won’t resolve is because the root cause is not in the foot.

Let me explain. First, our bodies are a complex interlinking system of muscles and joints. Therefore, areas of the body that might seem to be unrelated to the foot can have a significant impact on the gait cycle and the function and sensation in the feet. That old shoulder injury from college? Yes, that can affect the foot. That sports injury to the knee in High School? Yes, that can affect the foot too. That back surgery you had 20 years ago? You got it now, right? Yes! That can affect the foot as well.

Our bodies are designed for protection and self-preservation.

As such, we have an amazing ability to keep going despite repetitive stress, traumas, and injuries. When an area of the body is stressed, we develop a compensation strategy. Compensation is just a fancy way of saying that the strong part(s) of the body is picking up the slack for the weak part(s). This is marvelous short term. But what happens if the compensation persists? Well, sometimes the strong parts can be completely overworked leading to what I call a stress point. In other words, we pay for the immediate pay off of staying in motion (compensation) with a long term price (such as a stress point). This is what we call a chronic compensation complication. In the vast majority of cases of plantar fasciitis, the foot is making up for weakness in the muscles that sit somewhere above it in the body or is getting stressed from a complex pattern occurring above it. In other words, the foot becomes the stress point.

Take my latest case for example:

I recently performed an evaluation on a client who had two back surgeries many years ago. He presented with intense heal pain on the left side. An evaluation of his feet showed no limitation on the symptomatic side. Upon a comprehensive evaluation, I discovered that an adaption had occurred in his body due to his surgical history. As a result, he was shifting 30 pounds more of his weight to his left side than to his right. His left heel didn’t stand a chance of feeling good considering he was bearing that much more weight through his left foot than his right foot. I noted that his spine was twisted up like a pretzel, due to a cascade of compensation over the years, ultimately leading to that extreme weight shift. In this case the goal was simply to get the pressure off that left side so that the inflamed tissue has the ability to heal.

So you can see why just addressing the foot may have never resolved this client’s issue. This may be why something like a video on how to stretch your foot may not permanently resolve your plantar fasciitis.

If you have persistent plantar fasciitis, a comprehensive evaluation is critical to recovery.

The root cause of your plantar fasciitis is likely unique to your history and may have nothing to do with your foot, other than your foot being the stress/pain point where your symptoms are manifesting. Be sure to ask your practitioner how they are determining the root cause of your pain before they plan an intervention.

At Austin Muscle Restoration we specialize in root cause analysis so we can help the right muscles regain strength and function. With this unique approach, we can assess and address whatever problem you are experiencing so can get you back to the life and activities you love.

Brandon OConnor, CMSS, RTSm, MATm

Founder, Austin Muscle Restoration

Certified Muscle System Specialist

Certified Resistance Training Mastery Specialist

Certified Muscle Activation Techniques Mastery Specialist

www.AustinMuscleRestoration.com