Running with plantar fasciitis can be an emotional thing because of the pain you feel coupled with your desire to exercise and enjoy the outdoors. I know because I’m a runner and have suffered from bouts of plantar fasciitis.
I love to run outside, smell the fresh air, have time to myself to think and enjoy the feeling of accomplishing a tough run. But when I have pain in one or both of my feet and heels every step of the way, it gets kind of hard to enjoy anything.
If you’re a runner with this life-altering condition, there are a few things that you can do to alleviate the pain and get back to normal. Keep reading to find out.
Do Your Stretches
I know that if you’re an avid runner you stretch before starting. It’s in the handbook! But with plantar fasciitis you have to go a step beyond to make sure that your ligaments aren’t going to cramp up on you. You know that this can be really bad, especially because it can cause even more tears where your ligament meets your heel than may already exist.
The first one, and one of the most common, that you should do is the wall stretch. Face the wall arm's at length with both hands against the wall. Put the ball of one foot up against the wall so you can already feel a slight stretch.
Now lean towards the wall while bending your forward knee. You should feel a nice stretch in the sole of your foot. Hold this for 10 seconds and repeat 3 times for each foot. Check out some more stretches here.
Get Proper Running Shoes
Running with plantar fasciitis is very doable if you have proper support for each step. Think about how much pressure is put on each joint, muscle, and ligament when you run. Even if you have awesome form and you maximize your energy during movement, your feet and heels still receive a lot of impacts.
If you want to alleviate the pain while running, we suggest you get running shoes that are not only supportive of the mid-sole region so your arch isn’t abnormally tugged on, but one that has a deep heel cup and stabilizing features that align your body.
We suggest either New Balance running shoes or any of these 4 other running shoes for plantar fasciitis.
Tape up
Make sure that you are also taping for plantar fasciitis as well. This will give extra support to the arch while you run so there isn’t any unnecessary movement. Check out some of the best taping techniques here.
Injury Preventing Exercises (Video)
Ice and Massage Does Wonders
After you run make sure that you are massaging the tender area around your heel with slow circular motions (it’s actually way better when you get your significant other to do this for you and also ice your feet for at least 10 to 15 minutes.
This will allow your feet to gradually ease back into a neutral position instead of stiffening up.
Follow these steps carefully and you will find yourself running with plantar fasciitis, but not have that annoying pain run along with you.
