Is plantar fasciitis prone to recurrence?

Written by Cheng Bin
Orthopedics
Updated on November 08, 2024
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First of all, it is necessary to explain that patients with plantar fasciitis, even after recovery, can easily relapse if they overuse their feet for a long time, or are exposed to prolonged cold and damp conditions. Therefore, plantar fasciitis is prone to recurrence. It is important to avoid long periods of weight-bearing walking, minimize local irritation, and never let the feet become cold. It is essential to persistently perform hot washes daily. During the hot wash, peppercorns and salt can be added to the hot water for washing, or external use of traditional Chinese herbs that activate blood circulation and remove blood stasis can be boiled and used for fumigation washes. Additionally, taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving drugs orally along with drugs that activate blood circulation and remove blood stasis can effectively treat plantar fasciitis. (Please follow the doctor's prescription for medication use.)

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Written by Wang Cheng Lin
Orthopedics
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How long does it take to recover from plantar fasciitis?

For the disease of plantar fasciitis, if treated under normal conventional methods, the recovery time is generally around four to six weeks. However, during the treatment period, it is crucial to strictly follow the treatment principles, such as prohibiting excessive weight-bearing walking, strenuous exercise, and overworking. At the same time, some physical therapy methods should be coordinated, such as massage, acupuncture, electrotherapy, and magnetotherapy. In more severe cases, occlusion methods can be used to alleviate local pain. Generally, the time frame is four to six weeks. If the results from regular conservative treatment are not satisfactory, surgical treatment may be required later on.

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Written by Wang Cheng Lin
Orthopedics
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Can you still exercise with plantar fasciitis?

Patients with plantar fasciitis can exercise, but there are definite restrictions on the type of exercise. For instance, it is best to avoid weight-bearing exercises such as running, weightlifting, or mountain climbing. For patients with plantar fasciitis, we recommend swimming because it involves limb, muscle, and fascia activities in a non-weight-bearing situation, which is greatly beneficial and not harmful to the fascia. Swimming is our recommended approach, as it can also appropriately stretch the plantar fascia during the process, thereby helping to alleviate foot pain.

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Written by Wang Cheng Lin
Orthopedics
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Plantar Fasciitis Physical Therapy Methods

The most common clinical treatments for plantar fasciitis are, firstly, injection therapy, secondly, acupuncture, and thirdly, small needle knife therapy. Among these, injection therapy has the most noticeable effects, but it also has a significant problem. Since the injections contain steroids, excessive use of injection therapy can not only fail to alleviate symptoms but may actually damage the plantar fascia, leading to a worsening of plantar fasciitis symptoms. Therefore, it is crucial to limit the frequency of injection treatments to no more than once or twice a month. If the symptoms of plantar fasciitis do not improve significantly with physical therapy and the pain progressively worsens, then surgical treatment may be necessary. The goals of surgery are firstly to release the plantar fascia and secondly to remove bone spurs, thereby completely alleviating the symptoms of plantar fasciitis pain.

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Written by Wang Cheng Lin
Orthopedics
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How to completely cure plantar fasciitis?

Plantar fasciitis clinically has no method that can achieve a radical cure. Only through surgical treatment can the recurrence rate be reduced, but it cannot be completely cured. Of course, the effects of surgical treatment are definitely more significant than conservative treatment. The first step in surgical treatment is to release the plantar fascia, and the second step is to remove bone spurs, as a significant portion of patients with plantar fasciitis have concurrent bone spurs. Of course, during the surgical process, it is necessary to remove bone spurs. The third step involves drilling into the heel bone to decompress it, as some patients also suffer from high pressure in the heel bone. Therefore, the surgery aims to decompress the heel bone by drilling, thus further alleviating pain in the heel and foot. However, if rest is maintained post-surgery, and strenuous activities are avoided, it can significantly reduce the chances of recurrence of fasciitis, but surgical treatment is not a cure-all method.

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Written by Wang Cheng Lin
Orthopedics
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Plantar fasciitis symptoms

The main symptom of plantar fasciitis is pain on the inner side of the foot when bearing weight and walking, which severely affects weight-bearing walking. Over time, this pain during weight-bearing walking can turn into what is known as rest pain, which is pain in the foot even when it is not bearing weight. The treatment of plantar fasciitis is currently divided into two parts in clinical practice. The first part is conservative treatment, which mainly involves massage, acupuncture, electrotherapy, magnet therapy, and occlusive methods to relieve the symptoms of foot pain when bearing weight. If this conservative treatment is ineffective and the pain worsens, severely affecting weight-bearing walking, surgical treatment may be necessary. The goals of surgical treatment are, firstly, to release the plantar fascia, and secondly, to remove heel spurs, as a significant number of patients with plantar fasciitis also have heel spurs. Thus, the aim of surgery is to release the plantar fascia and remove the heel spur to alleviate the pain during weight-bearing walking.