I'd love some advice on this, if anyone has any.
I've been running in minimal shoes for nearly a year, after switching to them for walking and regular use about two years ago. I hadn't really run before, and I probably overloaded my feet to begin with. But in no time, I was increasing my distances. I felt like I had so much more strength and control in my legs than when I had run in Nike's with a big, fat, bouncy heel.
I'm not super fit, but I was doing 12k a few times a week and felt good. I felt like I could go further quite easily and I put that down to the minimal shoes. In the Nike's, it had been such an effort to keep going, and I was never comfortable.
But then, about 5 months ago, my left heel landed on a stone as I was nearing the end of a run and tiring. I now have plantar fasciitis in that foot and a bruised fat pad originating from the stone injury. Rather than experiencing the gradual recovery that I would have expected as I've tried to rest the foot as much as possible, I think it's steadily worsening.
I've been assessed by an experienced physio, who diagnosed the pf and bruising (nothing torn or fractured, thankfully). But his recommended treatment hasn't helped.
He's given me some simple exercises to gradually load the plantar fascia and build-up tolerance, with a view to me running again. That makes sense. But whilst he's not anti-barefoot running, he thinks I need a raised heel shoe whilst this recovers, to take the strain away from my plantar fascia - and he thinks I need padding under the bruise. I find shoes with a heel lift painful, because they seem to focus all my weight on my heel - and even additional padding beneath the heel doesn't seem to help (it just seems to put more pressure on the heel).
Prior to this input from the physio, I had advice from another physio, a friend who's an incredibly fit runner. He recommended similar exercises (heel raises on a step, in particular), with small runs as far as I felt I could tolerate it. Looking back, I think he may have recommended too much each day - 100 heel raises - because the plantar fasciitis only seemed to become more pronounced.
I'm a wedding photographer, and my work does require me to be on my feet for a whole day, which can leave me with a lot of pain the next day, but this work is calming down now that the summer is passing. So I need to get some appropriate treatment figured out whilst I'm less busy. I'm so desperate to run again.
Can anyone help?
I've been running in minimal shoes for nearly a year, after switching to them for walking and regular use about two years ago. I hadn't really run before, and I probably overloaded my feet to begin with. But in no time, I was increasing my distances. I felt like I had so much more strength and control in my legs than when I had run in Nike's with a big, fat, bouncy heel.
I'm not super fit, but I was doing 12k a few times a week and felt good. I felt like I could go further quite easily and I put that down to the minimal shoes. In the Nike's, it had been such an effort to keep going, and I was never comfortable.
But then, about 5 months ago, my left heel landed on a stone as I was nearing the end of a run and tiring. I now have plantar fasciitis in that foot and a bruised fat pad originating from the stone injury. Rather than experiencing the gradual recovery that I would have expected as I've tried to rest the foot as much as possible, I think it's steadily worsening.
I've been assessed by an experienced physio, who diagnosed the pf and bruising (nothing torn or fractured, thankfully). But his recommended treatment hasn't helped.
He's given me some simple exercises to gradually load the plantar fascia and build-up tolerance, with a view to me running again. That makes sense. But whilst he's not anti-barefoot running, he thinks I need a raised heel shoe whilst this recovers, to take the strain away from my plantar fascia - and he thinks I need padding under the bruise. I find shoes with a heel lift painful, because they seem to focus all my weight on my heel - and even additional padding beneath the heel doesn't seem to help (it just seems to put more pressure on the heel).
Prior to this input from the physio, I had advice from another physio, a friend who's an incredibly fit runner. He recommended similar exercises (heel raises on a step, in particular), with small runs as far as I felt I could tolerate it. Looking back, I think he may have recommended too much each day - 100 heel raises - because the plantar fasciitis only seemed to become more pronounced.
I'm a wedding photographer, and my work does require me to be on my feet for a whole day, which can leave me with a lot of pain the next day, but this work is calming down now that the summer is passing. So I need to get some appropriate treatment figured out whilst I'm less busy. I'm so desperate to run again.
Can anyone help?
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