How to Prevent Plantar Fasciitis: PT Tips for Active People

If you have an active hobby like playing team sports or running, or work on your feet all day, you may have experienced Plantar Fasciitis pain in your arch or heel. If you haven’t, chances are, you know someone who has. It affects one in ten people in the United States, with much higher prevalence among runners and those who spend a lot of time on their feet for work.

Plantar Fasciitis causes stabbing or throbbing pain in or around your arch and heel. Plantar Fasciitis pain can be quite debilitating, limiting your ability to enjoy your favorite activities and making your work day a slog.

Once you develop the condition, it takes some time and effort to resolve the root cause. So, if you are hard on your feet, it makes sense to be proactive about preventing Plantar Fasciitis. In this post, we share the top 5 prevention tips from our physical therapist.

Fundamentally, Plantar Fasciitis is due to the imbalance between how much load your body can tolerate, and the load it actually has to tolerate. So, the key to prevention is to make sure that you maintain enough capacity that withstands the stress and load your daily activities place on your body - specifically, the plantar fascia.

Plantar Fasciitis can affect most people, but there are some risk factors. Being aware of them can help you prevent the condition.

• Age: people between 40 and 60 are most at risk.

• Biomechanics: people with flat feet (fallen arches), high arches, tight calves, and other issues with the lower kinetic chain are more likely to develop Plantar Fasciitis.

• Exercises: high-impact exercises and hobbies that put a lot of repetitive stress on your feet, including running and dancing, expose you to more Plantar Fasciitis risks.

We saw that Plantar Fasciitis, like other overuse injuries, develops when the load exceeds your body’s capacity to tolerate it.

So, one side of the prevention equation is to maintain and increase your capacity. Here's what that means, practically speaking.

• Inactivity reduces capacity over time. Staying active (with moderation!) is one of the best prevention methods for Plantar Fasciitis and other repetitive stress injuries.

• Incorporate strength training. Especially when you’re into aerobic exercises like running, or spend most of your day walking or standing for work, maintaining and building strength in your muscles and tendons may be your blind spot. You don't need special equipment, either. Body weight exercises like the ones we use in our Plantar Fasciitis exercise program work well for strengthening your lower body.

This is the other side of the prevention equation.

• Whether you're training for a race or picking up a new activity, make sure to gradually increase the length, intensity, and frequency of your training. Listen to your body as you increase your load, and make small adjustments to your training routine as needed.

• Don’t overdo it. Vary your workouts so that you aren’t taxing one part of your body all the time. Including a rest day each week is also a good idea.

• Maintain your healthy weight. When you walk or run, many times your body weight hits your plantar fascia (the connective tissue at the bottom of your foot that works like a shock-absorbing spring). Weight gain means more stress on the plantar fascia, and if it's not accompanied by an increase in strength, it can increase your risk for Plantar Fasciitis.

The previous point about gradually increasing the load is actually a part of this broader concept: be aware of variables in your life, and when introducing a new variable, do it gradually.

Our bodies get used to our routines, building capacity to tolerate what we do often and consistently. When we change some of our routines, the change can tip the balance of load and capacity, leading to overload and an injury.

In addition to activity levels, types of activities, and weight, common pain-triggering variables for Plantar Fasciitis include:

Some people love lots of cushion in their shoes, while others prefer firmer support. What makes for the best Plantar Fasciitis shoes is pretty subjective, so don’t go with an online recommendation and instead, try them on to find the pair that works best for you.

It’s questionable whether Plantar Fasciitis insoles (orthotics) have preventative benefits, though they can provide some symptom relief after you develop the condition. Keep using them if you’re happy with the support, but as a Plantar Fasciitis prevention tool, we wouldn’t put insoles at the top of our recommendation list.

If you start experiencing arch pain or heel pain, and suspect something is amiss, take action early. You have the best chance of quick, full recovery when you treat it right away, before it turns chronic. Here’s what to do:

• First, take the foot pain quiz to see if it’s Plantar Fasciitis.

• If it’s Plantar Fasciitis, and it’s been within a week from when you noticed your symptoms, you may be able to recover with just rest and activity modification.

• If it’s been longer than a week, treat it like a physical therapist, using the three-pronged approach. It includes soft tissue mobilization (massage), load management (PT taping, or wear our foot brace for Plantar Fasciitis for a simple solution), and progressive strengthening (PT exercises for Plantar Fasciitis).