plantar fasciitis splint and other products to wear at night

[bzar]

so my left heel has been hurting for the past month. I've been doing ball rolling, acupressure, stretching, massage, which have helped. but I noticed that that foot loves to point downward and to the side, exacerbating the situation.

i'm looking at some night splints on amazon, the kind that keep your foot in a flexed, 90° angle, such as this one by Flare Up:

https://www.amazon.com/Plantar-Fasci...t_sims?ie=UTF8

I need the splint more than the other parts that come with this kit (I have a spiky ball and elastic support bands for the arches).

I noticed they also sell compression socks like these: (wondering if they're any good)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MQW45J4...detail_0?psc=1

I've worn compression leg warmers before - borrowed from my RN mom, and those helped with leg circulation, but wondering if socks keep your ankle flexed?

[Mickey12]

My husband has a brace that keeps the foot flexed at night similar to the one you found on Amazon. It helped him, along with diligent stretching and time.

Good luck with it.

Kim

[Nuggie's Auntie]

yes, highly recommend the splint. Also, I found taping my foot to be extremely helpful. I just did a quick search for how to tape and I can't find the specific site that I used to learn to tape, but there are many out there. Taping was magical. That plus the night splint and modifying my activity until I was better worked wonders for me. PF is rough! I hope you find some relief soon.

[BunnyHop]

Does your foot hurt all the time or just when you put weight on it?

I had PF flare up a few years ago, and the best thing I did was wear shoes with a bit of an insert at the heel. Kind of raised the heel of my foot, just a bit, as though I were wearing a low heel. I guess that shifted the weight off the heel itself? After doing that for a good while it seemed to get well, and wearing the inserts actually wasn't comfortable anymore. I've kept them just in case I have a recurrence, but so far that injury hasn't come back. (ETA: The Birkenstock insert I used has apparently changed in design or something? Plus the price is huge. Not sure I recommend those any more, but I think the general idea is likely sound, at least as an experiment option.)

[yogapam]

Originally Posted by Nuggie's Auntie

yes, highly recommend the splint. Also, I found taping my foot to be extremely helpful. I just did a quick search for how to tape and I can't find the specific site that I used to learn to tape, but there are many out there. Taping was magical. That plus the night splint and modifying my activity until I was better worked wonders for me. PF is rough! I hope you find some relief soon.

Agree! I wore a night splint very similar to the one in your link. I think the design that straps to the top of the foot is less cumbersome than a boot style. I also taped & found it helpful. I hope you find some relief Jeannine!

[bzar]

Originally Posted by yogapam

Agree! I wore a night splint very similar to the one in your link. I think the design that straps to the top of the foot is less cumbersome than a boot style.

thanks for mentioning the design options. so the hard plastic that goes over the top of the foot is better than the type where the hard form is on the bottom of the foot?

Pam, did it stop you from pointing your foot?

[bzar]

Originally Posted by BunnyHop

Does your foot hurt all the time or just when you put weight on it?

both, especially in the morning. this leads me to believe that at night, I am overstretching that tendon by pointing my feet. last night, I was lying on the floor, and when my foot naturally pointed down and veered to the left, I could feel the pain!

a massage therapist once remarked that I have extreme ballet-type ankles where I can point my foot pretty far when lying down. I've never had pain until now.

I have hard arch supports that help, but the root cause is that at night it's over stretching.

[yogapam]

Originally Posted by bzar

thanks for mentioning the design options. so the hard plastic that goes over the top of the foot is better than the type where the hard form is on the bottom of the foot?

Pam, did it stop you from pointing your foot?

Yes, it definitely stopped me from pointing my foot. I haven’t tried a splint that has a hard form on the bottom of the foot, felt it would be cumbersome and uncomfortable to sleep in. The top of the foot one was fine, didn’t bother me. I also liked these small arch compression sleeves for doing yoga.
https://www.amazon.com/Compression-S...-2-spons&psc=1

[red1013]

I've been wearing this for a couple of months (at night and when I exercise) and it's made a huge difference.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Rivercat]

The two night socks I tried didn't seem to help me much at all, but I probably didn't give them much of a chance since I'd get annoyed and take them off in the middle of the night

What did seem to help a lot were Jill Miller's foot stretches on YouTube and walking or standing barefoot/in socks on small rocks: I got a cheap plastic boot tray, filled it with a layer of 1-2" landscaping rocks and placed it on the floor in the kitchen where I stand to cook everyday. The PF that had bothered me for over a year cleared up within a few weeks. Can't remember where I first heard about "gravel walking" for PF, but I saw the boot tray idea in an issue of Women's Running.

Good luck! PF is no fun at all.