Pt. Presents with plantar fasciitis, you want to address the root cause, the first thing you do is...

A. Check the Posterior Capsule TC Joint

B. Check the Feet for Hyperpronation

C. Check the Quality of the Shoe

 

***CLINCAL REASONING: I published ROOT CAUSE of PLANTAR FASCIITIS showing what was causing it and how to fix it a couple years ago. The paper can be found for FREE on my website wheltonmethods.com.***

 

The answer is “A” check the posterior capsule. Over the years I noticed that pretty much all my patients with plantar fasciitis had a tight TC joint posterior capsule and usually a tight soleus/gastroc complex. This leads to a change in physics of the foot and strain on the plantar fascia. I started normalizing the posterior capsular tightness and stretching the gastroc/soleus to 10-12 degrees of active dorsiflexion (in a pain free manner) and my patients started to get better around the rate I outlined in my paper, approx. 99%.
Although hyperpronation can indeed put strain on the plantar fascia, I have only had 1 patient in probably 10-15 yrs that I had to post w/orthotics to help but the previously mentioned protocol allowed the pt. To be pain free most of the time. So it’s not something I even look at unless my protocol is taking too long.
As far as shoes go, yes of course a better shoe can add padding and help relieve the pain but again when I use the protocol I mentioned I generally don’t have any issues getting the patient better.
Hope this helps! Go read my paper at wheltonmethods.com