Just over 2 years ago, my feet ached with every step.
They hurt when I stepped out of bed after I had been walking and even after I had been sitting!
I remember walking fast, trying to keep up with my 2 kids who were out-pacing me on their scooters when we were at the local park.
Every step felt like I was walking on broken glass and in the end, I had to call them back so I could rest.
I just thought I was getting old, but little did I know, I had a disorder that was not going to get better on its own.
Being a typical British man, I just tried to “Get on with it” (stiff upper lip, and all that). I adjusted the way I walked and tried tying my shoelaces tighter.
It didn’t work though and my painful feet just got worse and worse until I made a snap decision to find a podiatrist.
I was diagnosed with Plantar Fasciitis and after having my feet checked with a 3d scanner, a pair of expensive orthotics made from leather and carbon fiber were ordered.
But they didn’t make much difference.
I was still in agony on a daily basis.
Yes, I still run.
As you can see from that dashing picture of me above completing another Saturday morning park run, I am a runner with a local club called Redway Runners.
I had run before I started having foot pain and got up to completing a 5k, but had not done much since my plantar fasciitis hit.
I didn’t do anything to cause it – it just started to hurt when I was walking, and then, it started to really hurt all the time!
I work in IT and have a desk job where I sit for up to 7 hours a day, staring at a screen.
I found that sitting for long periods was just as problematic as walking or standing.
So what could I do to remedy the sitting? Yes! Running :/
My wife joined a beginners running class with the Redway Runners and signed me up too. I was hesitant that I would not be able to run again and there were definitely times when I was in agony for days after starting again.
I remember being late for dropping my kids at school and getting to the office. We were rushing out of the house to get to the car and I struggled to even walk, let alone run.
Early morning foot pain is hell for people with plantar fasciitis.
However, despite seeing a podiatrist, I was able to find some good information online that I should stretch regularly (which I was doing at the end of each beginners group run anyway) and ice and rest my feet as much as possible.
It also seemed that the more I ran, the better feet felt, providing I followed my regime and was sensible.
Information on the web is not great..
When I was trying to find information to help with my bad feet, I felt that lots of the information out there on the web about Plantar Fasciitis are quite “medical” and “technical”.
I am hoping that my site will hope to explain things in more simple terms for sufferers of painful feet all over the world.
I am not limiting myself to Plantar Fasciitis though, I want to help as much as possible with any sort of foot pain problems.
Feel free to browse my content which you can find over on the right of the page, get in contact with me, or subscribe to our RSS feed.
You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest too, where I am trying to build a good online community of people who want to learn about the symptoms they have and what treatments that can do themselves.
I want to hear from you if…
- You are a podiatrist who is looking to spread the word about you, your brand or the work you have done.
- You have suffered from plantar fasciitis and have managed to recover – I would love to hear your story and feature you on this site.
Please use the contact form below to get in touch with me and let’s work together to help people with foot pain.