I’ve heard of doing this to fix the pain of plantar fasciitis, but it never really made any sense to me. After watching the process of surgically and permanently releasing the fascia, I know now why it makes no sense. If the fascia is the spring in the foot that helps the foot to have a shock absorbing action, then why would you cut it? Watch this video   http://www.plantar-fasciitis-elrofeet.com/  

Now for some sound advice about healing your heel pain without surgery. 

1. Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of the fascia tissue of the bottom side of the foot. This is usually caused from an overuse of the foot, such as excessive walking, climbing ladders, over exercises, and the use of improperly fitted footwear and lack of support. You must comply to these simple rules if your going to heal your heel.

2. It is imperative you get a proper custom orthotic made specifically for your feet. When I say proper, I am referring to an orthotic made with bio-mechanical function enhancement for the foot. This is an orthotic that will actually make the foot function better without locking up the action of the foot. Some orthotics will lock up the foot and not allow it to move at all. This is only recommended if you have tiny fractures or a severe tear in the soft tissue of the foot. These type of orthotics are not to be used long term as they will create atrophy in the muscles, tendons and ligaments of the foot. When healing the fascia, it is better to support it while controlling the function in a way that brings better balance and stability to the foot. This is only done with a proper bio-mechanical enhancing custom orthotic like the ezWalker Custom Orthotic from www.walkezstore.com. The ezWalker Custom Orthotic is designed to allow the foot to strike at the desirable place in the heel controlling and supporting the arch in a way that allow the forefoot to load and toe of more efficiently. 

3. It is important yo fit your shoes properly to the ball of your foot and not your toe length. The ball of the foot measurement, or your arch measurement, is the measurement from your heel to your big toe joint. This measurement is usually longer on a brannock device (a device used to measure your toe length, arch length, and width) than your toe measurement. It is imperative to sit the big toe joint or the ball of the foot in the proper place in the shoe. Please reference https://walkezstore.com/shoeSizing.php  for easy to understand information about properly fitting your shoes. Unfortunately, shoes today do not have any standards in sizing. Therefore, learning this information is vital to getting the best fit possible for your feet. If you have any further questions regarding properly fitting your feet with shoes, please address your questions to info@walkezstore.com. A Certified Pedorthist will answer your question usually within 3 business days. 

4. Never go barefoot. Going barefoot does not give the foot any support and re-injury can occur. In fact, is makes the injury worse due to the lack of proper support, especially if you are walking on hard floors without carpet. You should wear supportive footwear at all times, unless you’re in the shower or bath. This would be any shoe with the addition of an ezWalker Custom Orthotic to guide the foot into a better bio-mechanical function. It is also recommended, for short term use like in the evening around the house or for ease when getting up in the middle of the night, to use a shoe that has built in support like the Haflinger Grizzly http://www.endless.com/Haflinger-Torben-Grizzly-Leather-Trim . This shoe has a firm cork base with built in arch support for your foot to rest and is easy to get on and off, due to the clog style, for convenience around the house and during leisure. A custom support like the ezWalker Custom Orthotic and properly fitted supportive footwear it best for long term daily use. 

4. Very important is the use of a night splint. This is an apparatus that fits on your foot, that holds the foot in a right angle so the fascia is held in an elongated position for more proper healing. While we sleep, our feet go into a relaxed position. This shortens the fascia tissue and when healing takes place (which happens best when we are at rest or asleep) the fascia is healed in this shortened state. When we get up and actually stretch the fascia to place the foot on the floor, the fascia is pulled and stretched and will become re-injured upon standing. Scaring can occur over time and heel spurs may be an added irritant to this already painful problem. This is usually why the first few steps out of bed in the  morning are very painful for a person suffering with plantar fasciitis. Wearing a night splint will speed the healing process so much that usually within the first week of use a person can tell remarkable improvement. Pain is the bodies way of saying something is wrong. When the pain begins to subside it is also the way the body has of saying your on the right track to healing.

5. Stretching exercises are important for healing your heel properly. Do not start any stretching exercises while your fascia is intensely inflamed. You should use ice therapy and rest until you begin to feel heeling taking place. Then gently begin stretching the bottom side of your foot by flexing your foot up and down and from side to side. This is important to do before you ever get up out of bed in the morning. You may progress by advancing to a wall stretch or a step stretch. These exercises are important for your foot health because if you don’t use it you’ll lose it. The foot is designed to move and flex and needs to be strong for it to do it’s job properly. Let’s face it, our feet work harder than almost any other part of our body and yet we take them for granted until they’re in pain. Avoid that pain by following these simply rules in this blog and by doing foot exercises. Reference here for more details. http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/exercises-to-reduce-plantar-fasciitis

Healing  plantar fasciitis does not happen over night.  Experts agree that the healing time for your plantar fasciitis will be about 1/2 the time you have actually suffered with this condition. For example, if you have had your plantar fasciitis for 6 months, it may take 3 months to heal it. This is only an estimation as every body’s body is different. Some may take less time and some may take longer, however, you can’t go wrong if your are following these simply steps to healing your heel. If your pain is not improving, by all means seek he advice of a doctor, but think very carefully before you allow him or her to cut the fascia and do to you what you saw in the video. Once the fascia is cut it will not grow back and be as functional as it was before surgery. So before you give up on healing your heel and think about going under the knife for fascia release surgery, watch the video again. If you do decide to get cut on to rid yourself of heel pain, good luck.