Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Plantar fasciitis, difficult pack hunt in 3 weeks, advice sought

About halfway through a 5-mile walk a few days ago I started feeling discomfort where my heel joins the arch of my left foot. I was trying out shoes I hadn't ever walked any distance in. By the time I got home it was painful and 3 days later it's still pretty bad. D'oh!

I have a difficult (rugged, no trail) pack hunt in 3 weeks. It's a premium tag and I'll crawl in if I have to but I'd rather walk.

I have been following an ice, ibuprofen, and rest regime these last few days. It's a lot better but I still can't walk normally.

So--- advice? This is a new one for me. What's my best path towards having a functional foot in 3 weeks?

As a side issue... my nice stiff Asolo boots have become unwearable due to pinching down on the bone of my big toe (on the other foot) painfully, right where there's a rivet in the boot. Seems that I bruised the bone last fall packing out my deer, probably, and didn't know it until I put those boots on this spring for a hike. So, I've been walking/hiking this summer in some relatively soft-soled, flexible Merrels. I am not opposed to buying new boots if, for instance, a really rigid footbed (last?) is desirable to help heal this plantar issue.

All advice appreciated. I'm 51.

https://thesock.com/

Two weeks will make a huge improvement if you've caught it reasonably early. Also no bare feet until it heals.

Bummer! The Sock works great. I also found that KT tape helped. YouTube has videos on how to apply it.

Stretch it and the symptoms will go away

If you have a set of stairs you can a lot of good in 30 min of stretching....rolling the soup can is another stretch

Sit on the floor with your legs straight and flat on the floor. Pull you're first third (toes) with a looped towel as hard as you can for several 2 to 3 min. Sessions

Google it

Pugs, thanks for the link. I'm on it!

No bare feet? I have hardwood floors and am usually barefoot when I'm inside this time of year. Hmmm.

Talentrec, I'll look into KT as well. Thanks!

Hardwood floors make it worse. I had a bad case that took months to get rid of and among other things my doc said no bare feet on the floors, especially when rolling out of bed in the morning. He recommended a pair of Super Feet sandals, which I keep by my bed and wear around the house.

Mine got so bad I thought I would have to quit work.
Doc said no bare feet, no flip flops, no cheap shoes. Even when sitting around at night at home he said wear shoes with good insoles.
I used a "boot" at night that held my foot upward. ($25 ebay)
Between that and powerstep pro insoles ($65 at doc, $40 online) and a couple of months it has went away.

I feel for anyone who has it and cant get rid of it.

Powerstep Orthotics insoles in every single pair of shoes I own

Truly the best

Good advice so far. I had a bad case several years ago in my road running days. Laid me up most of a race season. I tried the sock but it caused pain in my toes, the hard boot that you can get off ebay worked better for me. I also did some therapy where they hooked my foot up to an electric current devise of some type, but the best was the deep tissue massage they did after treatment. I know a lot of runners who had the cortisone injections and it helped but are pretty painful to get. I've read where too much will also weaken the plantar tendons and cause more problems in the long run. Good luck, many of us have felt your pain!

It took almost 1 year for mine to heal up. My pain was worst in the morning, I'd have to hobble to the bathroom to pee. I don't know if the last doc was a genius but I did recover quickly afterward. He said first thing in the AM to get a handball and put it on the floor then roll your heel over it to "crush" the scar tissue that had built up in the night. His philosophy was that stretching and walking would re-tear but crushing would allow it to stretch after being crushed. He said to use a towel and stretch through the rest of the day. I also tried every pair of shoes I owned and my zero-drop shoes allowed my heel to make less contact and my foot hurt less.

Some common sense goes a long ways. It might feel a lot better in 3 weeks but to take off on a long trip packing weight could leave you in a real bind a long ways from the road. It needs time to heal properly and that could do a lot of long term damage.

Naproxen Sodium is more effective than Ibuprofen. A doctor can write you a prescription for a more powerful dose. But my orthopedic DR advised me to simply take a double dose of the over the counter version as needed after my knee surgery. I have problems with flare ups with plantar fasciitis and have used the same treatment. Last time I took a double dose of Naproxen Sodium at 8AM and 8PM and a double dose of Ibuprofen around noon. Did this for about a week along with stretching and it cleared up faster than in the past.

Be aware that long term use of these drugs will damage the liver. My doc says that for occasional short term use this is OK. You don't want to be taking either of these even at normal doses long term. If the problem doesn't get better within a week or 10 days I'd go off the meds and see a DR.

I had to do that once. They gave me a shot of steroids directly into the heel. Very painful, but it cleared up very fast. Something to consider if you're getting close to time to go and need relief NOW.

Stretching and ice treatments are important too. Sit on the floor with your leg extended and try get the back of the knee joint flat on the floor. Wrap a belt or strap around the ball of your foot and pull on the belt to stretch. You'll feel it in the calves too.

Instead of a handball fill a 16-20 oz Coke or Gatorade bottle with water and freeze it. Roll it under your foot. A bottle with some texture on it will provide a massage and ice treatment at the same time. I used the same bottle later for the ice treatment.

Once you know you are susceptible to plantar faciitis the best treatment is prevention. It sounds like you're at the early stages and should be able to knock it out on your own before it gets bad. I've limped around for 2-3 months in the past.

I have been dealing with it for months. Good advice above.

Its no fun.

Jeff,

My biggest relief came after being taped by the phys therapist. It took a while (1 month +/-) for me to get into one after seeing my doctor and I wondered why in hell he couldn't have done it, the relief was that immediate. Not perfect, but it allowed me to get back to doing nearly normal things.

Slippers with padded heels in the house, esp on hard floors. I hate it as I'm a barefoot guy, indoors and out. OH well.

The sock has helped too. I'm guessing the hard "shoe" type sold on amazon and such might work also.

Heel pads in my work shoes and boots. Even the $5-7 pairs from Wally World work.

My PF is almost all gone now, at just about year into it. As I said, the taping worked wonders. I haven't had to taps since June or so. The brand my PT used and I got from him was Leukotape P available on Amazon. I could get three days or so from a tape job, even showering and working.

Good luck getting ready for your hunt. I did one quail hunt on some steep stuff with mine last year and was a wreck after about 3 hours. I'd bet I could have easily doubled that after taping and with the heel pads in my boots, maybe gone a whole day.

Geno

The Sock listed by pugs and these inserts have worked for me.

https://heelthatpain.com/

My sister suffered for about a year.

Never ever go barefoot.

Stretch in the morning and several times each day.

She swears that what helped her the most was to freeze bottles of water and roll them back and forth under the arch of her foot as much as possible in the evening.

Those look good. I've also used these with good results. I wear them in everything including boat shoes, slipper, boots and running shoes.

https://secure.yoursole.com/us/mens/footbeds/signature-karnazes/

I had PF about a year ago. I used much of the advice given on this thread and it still took a couple months to go away. A couple of things that helped me. First I was doing a fair bit of running. My shoes were worn out - new shoes helped. Don't know how old the Merrells you have but a new pair might be in order. The biggest thing that helped me were the frozen water bottle rolled under my foot and a golf ball using the same rolling deal. I found the golf ball was smaller and allowed me to hit more specific spots than the water bottle. I also did stretches 3-4 times a day.

To keep in shape, I would lay low on any running or other forms of foot abuse and concentrate on something that doesn't pound your feet. An elliptical, bike, or something similar would be my choice.

Good luck.

Anyone ever fought a bout with calcaneus bursitis? Any luck ever curing it? This is the bursa sac on the bottom of the heel being inflamed. Worse thing ever and I don't seem to be able to find a cure. Have thrown lots of money at it without any luck. Thanks for any real experience.

Sorry to hear about your injuries, Jeff.
My advice is to consult with a foot doctor and follow his advice.
I'd be surprised if you will be in shape to go hunting in 3 weeks. As a retired construction worker, I've been injuried a good bit and have seen many also injuried. Stuff like that often takes months, not weeks to heal.
You might consider turning in your tag/permit if you aren't 100% in 3 weeks and getting a full refund.
If it were my decision, I'd think long and hard on an off trail, back pack hunt. Being badly injuried in a place with no good trail system, or even one that did have such trails, is a real disaster. It can be life threatning. Off trail, it would easy to injure yourself more. Such activities places all sorts of strains on us that we are often not conditioned for.
Do be careful. E