Orthotics

I have been living with plantar fasciitis for 10 years. In reality it has probably been longer than that, as I do remember having pain even in high school, but I was "officially" diagnosed 10 years ago. It was after my third marathon, and I was in so much pain in the days afterwards that I could not walk. I was lucky to be an OSU student at the time and I was able to take advantage of the Sports Medicine facility. They fixed me up, taught me how to stretch and exercise my feet correctly, and then told me the horrible news, "This will never heal, but with proper care it can be magaged".

So since then I have stretched, massaged, iced, rested, and done my best to deal with it. It has always been managable, but this year I did have some issues when I began to add on some more miles, and I am always in pain after I really push myself during a race. Because my child bearing days are behind me and I have lofty distance goals on the horizon, I knew it was time to invest in some good orthotics.

I decided on a brand that my chiropractor recommends, mostly because I am not to keen on going to a podiatrist just yet (I am willing to down the road, but I have a feeling they will recommend some things I am not comfortable with yet), and I trust my chiropractor's opinion. I stood on a scanner while my feet were scanned, and of course my arches were a mess. They have fallen up near the ball of my foot as well as near the heel. The scan was sent to a lab where they made custom orthotics for me. I got them yesterday and they sure are heavy duty. I was hoping to wear them for my race on Sunday, but there is no way they will be broken in enough for that yet. I wore them around a little bit yesterday, and my feet didn't hurt, but last night my legs started to ache. I was told that because the orthotics are changing the way I stand, the pressure on my joints and such will take some time to adjust to and I may have some achiness.

I have high hopes for these orthotics. If I can run a race foot-pain free I will rejoice! I'll start breaking them in again next week after my race~