Plantar fasciitis

Do your heels hurt when you walk?  One of the causes of heel pain (and heel spurs) is plantar fasciitis.  I’ve dealt with this painful foot condition twice and hopefully never again.  Plantars fasciitis happens when the fascia (a strong band of tissue on the bottom of the foot) is strained over time. As the fascia stretches, it may tear.   An xray of a foot with plantar fasciitis shows a bony spur where the fascia attaches to the heel bone. 

 When I experienced plantar fasciitis, nothing I did on my own fixed the problem so I visited my orthopaedic surgeon.  He diagnosed my problem, taught me stretching exercises and about proper shoes to support my arch, and injected my heel with a steroid shot. 
The second time I experienced plantar fasciitis, I had failed to replace worn out shoes quickly enough. 

I have learned that “good shoes” with a proper arch support do not come cheap and cannot be bought  just everywhere.  But I have learned my lesson:  good supporting shoes provide pain free, happy feet.   More about heel pain can be found at http://www.apma.org/Learn/FootHealth.cfm?ItemNumber=985