Should I consider corticosteroid shots for plantar fasciitis?

Question

I have been having arch pain in both feet for a couple of years. Recently, the pain seems to worsen due to my increased participation in running activities. I have tried the arch support prescribed by my doctor for approximately 1 month but the pain still does not go away. Currently, I am waiting for my appointment with a bone specialist as my previous doctor does not seem to know how to treat my condition and that she suspected that my condition is plantar fasciitis. I have also tried taking painkillers, and applying anti-inflammatory drugs on my painful site but all these does not seem to work. On further research, I found that corticosteroid shots seems to work for a lot of people but complications may develop. Moreover, corticosteroid shots are painful as I have heard from a lot of people and through talks on forums on the web. Now I am at a loss as to what I should do. Can anyone provide me with some advice? Your advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

There is no cure for plantar f. and anything that is prescribed just alleviates the pain or numbs it. What could help you is foor gels. Like Dr. Scholls.

Answer 2

I have had plantar fasciitis and cortisone shots to help reduce the swelling. Fortunately, it only took one shot to help start the healing process. The shot did hurt for a moment and I was glad that I only needed one. Cortisone shots can elevate the blood sugar and have other long-term side effects.

The best long-term treatment for me was physical therapy and wearing custom orthotics.

My physical therapist suggested wearing a leg splint at night to help keep my foot stretched out properly. I almost got one but the physical therapy and orthotics seemed to be working.

You should know that this condition can take 3-6-12 months to completely heal and daily exercise is key.

Here are some articles describing some of the stretches I did, etc.:
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_report.cfm?Thread_ID=144&topcategory=Foot
http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/987116429.html
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/Plantar-Fasciitis-Topic-Overview
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/plantar-fasciitis/DS00508
http://orthopedics.about.com/od/footankle/a/fasciitis.htm

BTW, I have flat feet so my doctor recommended Brooks or New Balance athletic shoes with motion control to minimize over- pronation. If you want to take a look at these brands, www.zappos.com has a good selection w/ consumer reviews.

Answer 3

See a chiropractor to make sure things are aligned properly and massage therapist to work on your calves. There is a limit of what they can do, keep the arch supports, if it does not work - podietrist.

Much pain is from muscles below is an example of what may help (based on headaches).
Begin with a couple swigs of molasses or a couple of bananas daily - magnesium (which regulates many things in the body) and potassium (a needed building block for muscles).
Drink at least 1/2 gallons of water per day. Running a body low on water is like running a car low on oil is the analogy the head of neurology at UCDavis told my husband about 10 years ago.

Now to the cause - muscles - your back, neck shoulders and head have tender spots. They are knots in the fibers of the muscles called trigger points. It makes the muscles tight which makes them press on nerves and other things causing the pain.

The cure - start with a professional massage, you will also want to go back over any place you can get to 6-12 times per session up to 6 times per day rubbing (or lightly scratching on your head) every where that is tender until the knots go away. The place where the skull connects to the spine press up under the edge of the skull (to get to those muscles).

For more information read The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Davies. It teaches what to do and where the pain comes from.

Answer 4

We give these at all the time in hte office and it seems to help most patients try it it cannot hurt. actually my aunt had back pain and foot pain and the dr I work for gave her some steroid inejctions for her back and it took care of hte foot pain too. Dr said that the steroid were absorbed by the blood stream and reduced the inflamation in the foot that was causing the pain

Answer 5

hi

avoid physical activities and give rest to your feet for a week and take
non steroidal antiinflammatory tablets like diclofenac sodium twice a day after meals with ice cream is sufficient
to releive you

Dr.Sunil Vaswani