Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Won't Go Away

Ever since around the second or third day after we got the keys to the new house and started cleaning and painting it I've had this extremely odd pain in my left heel/foot.  The thing that makes it odd is that it hurts the most after I've been sitting down for awhile or when I first wake up in the morning.  It is so bad that when I first stand up after resting for awhile that I can't help but limp, but after the first 20 - 30 steps it goes away completely.  Now if I stay on my feet for too long then it does come back so then I sit down for awhile and after just a few minutes of taking weight off my feet the pain goes away, but then when I stand up again it comes back and I have to "walk it off" all over again.

Originally I had assumed that it was just the result of several potentially contributing factors.  Swelling in my feet, being up and down off of the step ladder, the fact that I was wearing my crappy tennis shoes with no arch support because I didn't want to get paint on my shape-ups, and maybe even the fact that all of the major traffic areas in the new house are tile - which can be hard on the feet to stand and walk on for long periods of time, especially when you're not used to it.

I figured it would go away and once we started to move furniture and the painting was done I started wearing my shape-ups again thinking they would help.  I also thought that the few days of rest I took last week would help to allow the swelling in my feet to go down and that might take some of the pressure off my heel but it still hurts and I am starting to worry it might be bone spurs.  But from what I understand of them, bone spurs hurt when you walk on them and you can't just walk off the pain from them.  My mom gets them in her heels really bad and she is in constant pain every time she stands or walks at all when she has them.  I find it really odd that my pain is at its worst when I first stand after sitting down or after getting out of bed in the morning ... I can't think of a logical explanation for that.




Food:
7 glasses of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 Fiber One bar
1 home made tuna melt
1 fish burrito
1 fruit/ice smoothies
-------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1,211




Activity:
Snackers talked me into going to football practice with him tonight and I ended up sitting on a blanket doing absolutely nothing active.

7 comments:

  1. look up planter fasciatis.. you are describing that to a T.. I have this and experience the same thing.
    a cortisone injection might help. and there are stretches you can do to help it as well. but um pretty sure by how u describe it that is what you have.

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  2. I've suffered from that pain before! I used to think it was from being heavy but found out from my doctor it was something else:

    "Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot. Plantar fasciitis occurs when the thick band of tissue on the bottom of the foot is overstretched or overused. This can be painful and make walking more difficult. The most common complaint is pain and stiffness in the bottom of the heel. The heel pain may be dull or sharp. The bottom of the foot may also ache or burn. The pain is usually worse in the morning when you take your first steps, after standing or sitting for a while, when climbing stairs or after intense activity."

    My issue had to do with a tight tendon. Once I started doing exercises to stretch the tendon, the pain went away. It pops up every now and then and I just do my foot stretches and the pain goes away. Try that and see if it helps with the pain. :)

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  3. Heel spur pain goes away as you walk and work the tendons in your foot if you are "early" on in stages of the problem. Spurs actually develop because of lack of support and you tear the tendon holding up your arch. Ice your foot when you rest it and do foot streching exercises. See a podiatrist. You need custom fitted arch supports. If you can't afford it, because the supports won't be covered by insurance (about $300), check out the Dr. Scholls support center at your local Walmart or Target. They won't be custom but they will be close.

    If you let it go and don't take care of it, the pain will get increasingly worse and it will take forever to heal. You then may require painful injections or worse yet, surgery.

    Voice of experience talking here. Take care of it early.

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  4. Behold the miracle of the internet! I do a little complaining on my blog about something I thought I might have to see a doctor for and three people instantly agree on the exact same diagnoses and treatment options.

    Anonymous 1 and Laryssa: I've heard of planter fasciatis somewhere, probably from my mom who has had heel pain most of her life. I will google the stretches that you recommended today for it.

    Anonymous 2, being as you've mentioned working the tendons in the foot, and that planter fasciatis mentions tendons as a cause, and that I had also recognized that the pain started because I spent two weeks wearing my unsupportive crappy shoes, and because I didn't have any pain this morning after wearing my shape-ups last night, I think you're on the same track as the other two. I think, however, that I may be able to avoid orthodics because my shape-ups are actually very supportive and I need to just start wearing them when I am going to be on my feet. I usually roam the house barefoot but I think I'll wear them today because of the arch support that they provide.

    THANKS YOU THREE!!!

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  5. I had that, I did stretches, it's been gone for about a year now.

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  6. Suggestion--if it is the PF, I learned a first rate trick for helping. 2 to 3 times a day stand on(ish) and roll a golf ball and then a soft ball under the bottom of your foot for about 15-25 seconds per ball, per side.

    It hurts like hell, but it helps like nothin' else.

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  7. I have a golf ball and a tiny little golf-ball sized tennis ball so I will have to give that a try. I haven't been able to find the stretches everyone mentions on google.

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