What is Plantar Fasciitis?

Mar 01, 2021

When it comes to feeling great from the ground up, everything begins with the right shoe.

Chances are, you’ve heard of or experienced Plantar Fasciitis, one of the most common foot problems humans have faced since we started walking. It’s an inflammation of the long ligament that extends from the heel, along the bottom of the foot, to the toes. When the area connecting this ligament to the heel bone gets injured or stressed, small tears can result in big pain. A dull ache can travel throughout the foot and become a daily guest that no one invited.

Unfortunately, there are many ways to sustain an injury in this sensitive spot.

Sudden movement can bring it on, or simply the chronic stress of daily walking on tough surfaces. Common conditions like over-pronation, flat feet, or high arches can combine to cause tightness resulting in an injury, when, for example, you suddenly lift a heavyweight. Often, poorly-fitting shoes are the culprit. But with a great pair of shoes, we can soothe, improve, and even prevent flare-ups.

What is Plantar Fasciitis?

Plantar Fasciitis is a debilitating pain experienced in the heel of the foot or your plantar fascia. The plantar fascia is a ligament attached at the heel bone running along the sole of the foot connecting at the base of each toe. Plantar Fasciitis occurs when the plantar fascia ligament becomes inflamed due to excessive stretching which causing bruising and subsequently pain.

What Causes Plantar Fasciitis?

Medical experts are yet to pinpoint a single cause of plantar fasciitis, however, either a traction or compression injury seems to be the most likely culprits.

A Traction injury occurs when the plantar fascia is repeatedly overstretched, this may be due to overpronation when the ankle rolls too far downward and inward with each step or weakness of the arch muscles in the foot. A compression injury is due to trauma, by stepping on a sharp object that causes bruising of the plantar fascia. Pain is usually experienced under the arch of the foot rather than the heel.

Symptoms of Plantar Fasciitis?

The most common plantar fasciitis symptom is pain in the sole of the foot and occurs where the plantar fascia attaches to the heel bone. The pain is usually most severe during the first steps you take in the morning or after training. Commonly seen as a running injury it is true plantar fasciitis is reversible when successfully treated, and we have just the Tips and Tricks for you to assist in the comfort of your own home.

Protect Your Feet

Wear shoes that offer arch support, cushions the entire foot, and provides excellent stability. Orthotic footwear assists with realigning the foot, effectively alleviating heel, knee, and back pain.

Ice

Use a frozen water bottle, roll the arch of your foot on the water bottle for 10-20 minutes. The cold compression will reduce inflammation, swelling, and pain.

Rest

Rest your feet by wearing recovery footwear. The Groove is a recovery sandal providing pain relief and enhanced support for sore feet. The top footbed layer provides cushioning, and molds to the shape of your foot whilst the firm layer underneath corrects foot posture and elevates the heel to relieve strain on muscles and tendons. The uniquely designed Plantar Fascia Groove® provides relief for people suffering from Plantar Fasciitis.

Groove thongs (pictured above)
 

Shoes For Plantar Fasciitis

You’ll find supportive and comfortable shoes designed to conquer plantar fasciitis across Ascent’s entire shoe range.

Let shock-absorbing cushioning take the hit when you walk on pavement, tile, concrete, dirt, or rock - wherever your day takes you – so your feet don’t have to. From cross-trainers to various work shoes and safety boots, and everything in-between, give your ligaments a rest with the ultimate shock-absorber, Insulon foam cushioning.

We also use X-IT Foam and polyurethane midsoles to ease the impact of the foot to the ground.

Shop our casual styles including the men's Bravo Smoke (pictured above).

Maintaining stability through the midsole with stabilisers allows inflamed tissue to heal and prevents new damage from occurring.

The Crib Midfoot Stabiliser will keep your feet steady and secure and Dual Density Midsoles help control excessive side-to-side motion.

Now let’s take this battle to the front line - the heel.

A stabilising wedge molds right around the heel for stability at the base of your body.

You’ll also find thermoplastic heel counters that provide amazing back-of-the-foot support in styles like the Sustain cross trainer and Defender 3.

Shop Women's Sustain (left), Men's Defender 3 (pictured above).

Keeping arches in proper alignment de-stresses the entire foot.

We give arches the respect they deserve with soft polyurethane support cup insoles, in walking/work shoes like the Geelong Urban and Avara.

Geelong Urban (left), Avara (right) (pictured above).

And finally, you need a durable outsole that won’t wear out quickly or unevenly leading to more over-pronation and stress. Check out the aptly named Perpetual rubber, with ten times the durability of regular rubber.

Life can stress your feet out, and painful injuries like Plantar Fasciitis are a normal hazard we all face.

With the right footwear, you can protect yourself by allowing your feet to heal and letting you get back to work, school, and normal life, pain-free.