
What causes Plantar Fasciitis and what can be done about it?
What causes Plantar Fasciitis?
In most people, it's a perfect storm of a variety of factors that starts the ball rolling. In the example above where the person gets out of bed and has their initial pain relieved by gentle stretching, effective injury-halting treatment is often delayed. Some of the more common causes are listed below:
Incorrect Footwear - This includes summertime favorites such as dollar-store flip-flops or going barefoot. Not they will always cause the injury but they certainly will accelerate it. Shoes that flex in the arch as opposed to closer to the toes will put extra stress on this Plantar Fascia. You local Running Specialty Retailer can help you select the right shoes for you.Over-pronation - Pronation is a good thing but too much of a good thing is rarely good. Pronation is the twisting or rolling your foot undergoes from the time your foot touches the ground until the time it leaves the ground. Generally, in ideal cases, it's about 15 degrees. Its function is the absorb shock and position the foot to allow you to push off of your toes. Think of it like twisting a hand towel to wring it out. As you twist it more, it becomes tighter. Sometimes it can become too tight and can cause the fascia to tear away from the heel. This over-pronation can be modified through use of an appropriate running shoe selection or an insert, such as a Superfeet.
Sudden Increases in Activity - Like the new runner mentioned above too much too soon is also never good. Find a training group at a local running store to guide through the process of increasing your activity at a rate your body can handle.Sudden Weight Gain - A little too much turkey after the turkey trot followed by Christmas cookies and a winter wonderland of slippery streets not always conducive to running can help add a few pounds. Pregnancy also often comes with some rapid weight gain as well a hormone called Relaxin which can make joints more unstable.

What dad didn't know is that the reason the sock worked so well was because of something called the Windlass Mechanism. First described in the medical literature by Dr. Hicks way back in 1954, it basically can be described as a tightening of the plantar fascia by bending your toes backwards towards you knee. You can see it in action by doing this: Place one hand in the middle of your arch. Use the other hand to pull your toes back. That band of tissue that tightens and pops up out of the bottom of your arch is your plantar fascia. Most night splints are rigid on the bottom, where you put your arch. When dad created the sock in a effort to make it more comfortable he didn't put anything rigid on the bottom. The effect is that the stretch applied is focused on the toes rather the foot and ankle, the windlass mechanism is engaged, and the plantar fascia is directly stretched while sleeping. Just like we used before in the knuckle example, allowing the fascia to heal in a stretched position at night speeds recovery and maintains the benefits of any daytime treatments.The Research Study
There have been several studies on the effectiveness of night splints. The study that was done on the Strassburg Sock was the largest, independent peer-reviewed night splint study done to date. It was published in the Oct 2002 issue of the Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery. In the study done on 160 patients, half the patients wore the sock at night for at least 6 hours and half were given a stretching regimen as initial therapy. The initial intention was to create a standardized 4 gradually more aggressive treatment regimen where the final step if necessary would be surgery. Only problem was that the patients who wore the sock were getting better….fast! In fact the results of the study were as follows:
- Average recovery time with the Strassburg Sock 18.5 days vs. 58.6 days with the other group
- 97.8% of patients using the sock recovered within 8 weeks.
- 100% of the patients were able to wear the Strassburg Sock for a minimum of 6 hours per night as prescribed by their podiatrist.
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