I tried the stretches in this video and in a few months my plantar fasciitis wasn't an issue anymore. No expenses insoles, shoes, etc..

You will probably get relief the first time you do these stretches. It was immediate for me.

Give it a try before you throw money at it.

It depends.

I used to get it at least once or twice a year in each foot, every single year.

I’ve always had flat feet. I’m talking feet so flat, that a damp footprint on concrete leaves an outline of the ENTIRE sole of the foot, without any indent at the arch.

I CURED my plantar fasciitis with barefoot/minimalist running.

Read about it ~15 years ago (maybe longer). Started doing exercises with a tennis ball. NOT simply rolling it under the foot, as a massage, but basically contracting the arch as if I was trying to palm the ball with my foot.

I then began the slow transition to barefoot/minimalist style running. The key is to do it VERY gradually. Folks who’ve never done barefoot/minimalist running, but think they can jump right into it and do the same miles they’re used to running, wind up injuring themselves.

I started with running just 1 mile. Then after a week, started upping it by half a mile (as I continued doing the muscle contractions with the tennis ball). By the time my body had gotten used to minimalist running, I realized I hadn’t had PF in months.

That was 15 or more years ago.

I went from having PF AT LEAST once a year, every single year since my mid-teens, to not having had PF in 15 or more years.

P.S.
I don’t know if it makes a difference, but I’ve always been barefoot around the house ever since I learned to walk. I also have pretty good Achilles/ankle flexibility, and do calf raises twice a week, going negative (heel lowering below the step).

None of these things stopped me getting PF all those years, until I began doing the foot/arch strengthening exercises and barefoot running (I use either 5fingers or Vivo minimalist shoes).

I’m on my second set. The first time took 6 months to make my PF go away, now it’s in the other foot.

Been on the second set for 2 months with no improvements at all. So I started cutting a hole and slowly enlarging/elongating it to reduce the pain while at work. It’s been a few days now and it has made a much bigger difference than anything else I have done. I’m at about 20% of what I was last week halfway into a shift and it stays that way until I go home.

@ToyCop - LOL!  All too familiar with the penguin walk first thing in the morning.  Kidding aside - I am concerned with how I would deal with the foot pain if I ever have to go into "home defender mode" straight out of bed.  I just hope I get enough of an adrenaline dump to override the foot pain when first getting out of bed.  

I suppose like most any medical thing everyone is different but I will tell you what worked for me.


I was forced to take a job at Home Depot after I had been laid off and not working much. The big issue is with Home Depot you are on your feet on concrete all day long except for 20 minutes for lunch.

Planter fasciitis kicked in big time and the work boots I had been using in my previous job as a land surveyor didn't cut it.

After lots of pain some of the other folks at HD advised me to use Merrell low hikers when working and I went with Asics gel sneakers when not at HD. Never go barefoot , even around the house.

Right before leaving for work I would roll my foot over a can of cambells soup to massage the bottom of my foot and stretch things out . I would gobble ibuprofen whenever my feet were hurting which was most every morning .

At the beginning after things flared up I was dragging ass acrost the parking lot going into work but after popping ibuprofen and walking for a bit the pain would die back to a dull throb and be fairly comfortable for the rest of the day . I found that after driving the 25 minutes to HD doing the soup can roll out in the parking lot before clocking in was a big help.

Heavy pain days reduced quite a bit and then just faded away.  

Good luck

Last month mine, in the left heel flared up a couple days prior to our departure to Shanghai, tear inducing pain. By the time I deplaned in Pudong, I could hardly walk at all despite all my best efforts during the flight. The next morning we went to the Disney park, loaded up Tylenol and ibuprofen. I thought I’d be popping them all day, but only needed one dose in the morning. We walked a little over 30,000 steps and by the end of the day my foot felt perfectly normal and the pain didn’t return. Very different from what I expected.

Dealing with this shit too OP. It sucks

The good news is it goes away after about a year and a half.

The bad news is you will probably kill yourself after the first month.

I couldn't find the video that I watched a couple years ago ago that cured me. it's gotta be a conspiracy to take down something that works from public view.

Basically it's a standing calf stretch where you are supporting your body away from a wall.

This stretch requires that you cross your leg when you do the lunging runners type of stretch.

The way I do it is to kind of do a rolling motion while making the stretch and it will take that pain out immediately.

The video I linked above is exactly that stretch. It definitely works.

For me I was able to get the best stretch standing on a step holding the railing on the staircase. Just my toes on the step and let my heel go below the step until it stretched all the way up my leg and hold that.

Then in the same position I did strengthening exercises, up on my tip toes and back down with heel below the step, dozens of reps until I couldn't do it any more.

The key shift in mental model is that it's not rest that cures this but a combination of stretching the damaged tissue and strengthening all the surrounding muscles that can help take the load off.

ETA - lose weight as well, taking off a few pounds dramatically reduces the load on your plantar fascia

This. Absolutely find a GOOD podiatrist. I had that shit bad in both feet- damn near crippled me- I did a lot of wildland fire fight- excruciating pain GP doctor tried- no luck. Podiatrist got me squared away- been about 15 years no trouble- pain free. Be careful- stretching now when it's already inflamed can worsen it.

This helped me also

I recommend Form “Red” insoles. Cheaper than Superfeet and much better arch support, while also lasting much longer.

They’re ~70% of the way to the arch support of handmade PNW boots.

Other recommendation would be a set of Frank’s Raniers. 6” tall wedge sole built on a high arch last, similar to the 55 that most other builders use. Expensive, but damned comfortable, and worth every penny to not be in pain. IME, Franks took ~20 minutes of walking around to break in to the point of being comfortable, no pain/pinching from walking around all day. Minor pinching from kneeling took a couple weeks to wear in.

When I had mine I tried medication, stretches, better shoes, softer insoles, K-tape, tennis balls,therapy  etc none of it worked and I was miserable. then got a pair of these (not this particular vendor and back then I got a single pair for $99) :
https://www.ebay.com/itm/112772536437?itmmeta=01HW5BF8NYEPTHGMK6KBBPK3B0&;hash=item1a41c45875:g:Q4sAAOSwf-VWaKHZ&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4HTsN1ybDTt0MrTsGjjY%2Fn0UWfOy%2FjhRR8ijMJuOpRoXeLu8yC8xCf5tTgd85JZElgzomeP2j9%2BNhtk75MyT%2BiDfT%2BhyQXFJozfD%2Fyzc4wKOnqqwYogozCs3egAu7G%2FiZzKbiw9qLjz2ULED%2FV9UHUeWohoAYZlo7T1jugLi0WBaUILFOCdvQTG91aXNgo6WCwKRkAN73AKWObSMoVOJX3dJ5mv8TnWEFzbJA99B8vTsLpRiV0Kpt7%2BuKkJLukBl9VsLIK5ZG0swrPT0WVdUkwOhcV2wGfmaQXF6RvgMnAQL%7Ctkp%3ABFBMhou9q-Fj

My Dr. wanted $600 for one pair of those plus the visit x-rays etc and a "fitting" when they came in--another office visit probably close to $2000 if I had gone that way....
within 3 days I was amazed at how much better I was --I could walk again! I could RUN.  After years of misery it was all over in three days.  I still have them JIC I ever need them again. Modern shoes CAUSE Plantar Fasiitis especially now that they are all mostly China made and use foam and cushioning to make "softer" seem like comfort.
Once you have done all the other things get you some custom orthotics use them for a couple of days and you will be amazed when the pain disappears.