Items filtered by date: January 2020

Plantar fasciitis is by far the most common problem that we see. The vast majority of patients respond to a combination of traditional treatments including prescription orthotics, appropriate shoes and Cortisone injections, etc. However when all the traditional treatments just don’t resolve the problem we have to consider surgery and procedures. One procedure is a plantar fascia release. Another procedure is the gastrocnemius recession or gastroc recession. Yet another option is to do a very limited planner fascia release and combine this with surgical decompression of the calcaneus or heel bone where the plantar fascia attaches. This involves a very small incision or in some cases virtually no incision, and then taking a pin or K wire and decompressing or inserting the K wire through the outer wall of the heel bone in several locations both on the inside and outside.

This is referred to decompression. In reality it seems to help along with the other treatments to cause very limited microtrauma and allow for the body's natural healing capacity to engage. This does cause some limited internal bruising and or bleeding and the body responds to this by initiating the inflammatory and healing processes. This procedure works especially well when combined with the gastrocnemius recession if appropriate. This procedure also works very well and followed up with shockwave therapy treatments. If you have chronic heel pain or have questions about these treatments and treatment options please make an appointment or give us a call at 425-880-9552. This is Dr. Timothy Young at the Washington Heel Pain Center.

It is the little things! Plantar fasciitis is often an extremely stubborn problem. It often takes a combination of treatments to get this to resolve. Some of the core treatments involve appropriate shoes, prescription orthotics, night splints, icing and other anti-inflammatory treatments. However, sometimes it is surprising how effective it can be to do a little "fine tuning" to the treatment program.

We may have a patient where we have been doing all the right things as mentioned above. And then we question our patient: have you been stretching 4 times a day and the answer is no. And just something like ramping up the stretching to 4 times a day and/or being very consistent with a night splint can make all the difference.

Another example can be wearing the right shoes. Wearing flats or Converse shoes or other shoes that just don't have much structure or support are not helpful for this problem. It is critical to get the shoes that are recommended. For example very good athletic shoes with both a combination of structure and support. This is yet another example where adding this one item while continuing to do everything else, and finally the problem gets better!