Foot Pain After 60: Causes and Relief for Seniors

The Agony of Da Feet — and the — Thrill of Victory!

Dear Doug, 

I wanted to attend your “Walk & Talk” last Sunday but, oh, my aching feet. I’m always standing at work and walk over 20,000 steps a day. I “relax” by running on the beach! It’s probably no surprise that I’ve recently developed plantar fasciitis on one foot, and it’s not going away. What’s a gal to do? 

Akina C. from Lihue.

Aloha Mrs. C., 

“Happy Days are Here Again” should be the tune playing in your head today. I’ve got some good news for you. By taking a single proactive step, you should hopefully soon be pain free, leaping into heaping thanksgivings by Thanksgiving.

 

While there are cornucopia of possible solutions for da feet, and the agony thereof, I am optimistic that my footloose and fancy-free advice will afford you the most probable resolution before the new year. 

As you may be aware, the plantar fascia is a thick band of connective tissue on the bottom of the foot, running heel to toe, providing structure, support, stability, and shock suppression while stepping and striding. Although “-itis” is medical lingo for “inflammation,” plantar fasci-itis is often characterized by overstretched and aggravated fascia with little swelling. Regardless, the pain in the arch of the foot and heel can be constant and chronic.

 

Feet are a fascinatingly complex creation, with over 50 bones, and even more muscles, facilitating hiking and biking and dancing and prancing and skipping and flipping. Hurting “only” one foot is a good thing, at least in my book, and it doesn’t matter if it’s your right foot… or your wrong one. 

Experiencing the agony of da feet, plurally and equally, might suggest a structural and systemic situation. Since yours sounds like an isolated, isolateral incident, I’m confident that your road to recovery will be as swift as it is straightforward.

Are you ready for some chicken soup for the sole? Let’s take stock of the only ingredient on the menu today: stretching! But, it’s probably not what you think. I do NOT want you to stretch your already overstretched fascia; that’s the recipe for disaster.

 

Plantar fasciitis (or aponeurosis) is the fascia being overstretched and under stress. Whether from acute foot issues or ugly foot injuries, these tender tissues are strained and sprained and worn and torn. So, what should you do when your dogs are really barking? Twist and shout and do the Hokey Pokey karaoke? Absolutely not! You need to let sleeping dogs lie. Seriously, Akina, since your injury is quite recent, it’s time to rest those puppies.

Don’t run for your life. Don’t jump for your joy. Don’t skip to my Lou. Take a load off and kick your feet up.

After kickin’ it for a while, your foot might actually feel worse initially. Perhaps you are already mourning the mornings? Think about why. When you sleep, your feet relax… and they point like a “plantar-flexed” ballerina. Heavy blankets in colder climates make this even worse.

 

During the night, the plantar fascia will naturally shorten and tighten. For those of us without injury, inflammation, or irritation, this nighttime “contracture” is no big deal. For you, my friend, it might feel like a nightmare, because each valiant first step of every victorious new day retears and reinjures your recently “contractured” fascia and fibers. How can they heal if they keep getting hurt?

This is precisely the reason why people struggle with plantar fasciitis for years, or forever. Reinjured injuries are almost always greater (in a bad way) than the initial trauma. If bearing the weight of your early morning routine brings you severe discomfort, you are most likely 🦶tearing🦶 up your tissues (while you are 😓tearing😢, with tissues). 

Pain is a priceless indicator of injury. Please avoid it at any cost.

As counter-intuitive as it may seem, stretching and elongating the fascia is the culprit, not the cure. Instead, the immediate solution to plantar fasciitis is preventing the fascia’s “contracture” each night, so that it doesn’t get re-ripped to shreds every morning. The true secret is not the further stretching of the already overstretched fascia; on the contrary, the most rapid remedy is the deliberate dodging of any form of re-stretching after shortening, which would thereby re-injure the fascia. Read that two times fast.

Now read this: If you can prevent the shortening of the fascia during the night, you will eliminate the need to painfully re-lengthen the fascia in the morning. 

Easy Peasy!
Super Simple!!
Super Duper Smart!!!

Wearing a “Plantar Fasciitis Night Splint” while you sleep, every single night, without fail, until you are as good as new, is the fastest fix in the world. Depending upon the severity of your injury, and if you hop to it (not literally) as soon as it happens, you should fully heal in a few days, or perhaps a week or two, at most. However, if you forget to wear the splint(s), for even one night, then the next morning's agonizing re-stretching of your not-so-fully-healed fascia might result in you having to start the entire healing process all over again. You need to be diligent in your deliberate  dodge of strain and pain.

Without diagnosing or prescribing, the "Night Splints" above show what I would wear if I were in your shoes. Please also watch my Three IntroDougtion Videos to see that I’ve also worn many a moccasin. I can relate to strain, and I feel your pain, Akina. I've walked through the minefield and I still have tremendous hope for your health.

Years ago, I had a client who was a Division 1 football referee... the white hat guy, the crew chief and boss.  He officiated huge games and, at the time, was trying to get into the NFL. (I was once invited to watch from the sidelines at a Navy-Army game. So much fun!! My father is an Annapolis graduate, so Go Navy!) Anyway, during one of his games, Ed back-stepped, then quickly changed directions, and ripped his plantar fascia so badly that he could hear the audible tear. I can't imagine. OUCH!! He dragged himself, and his foot, off the field, a severely injured, 49-year-old athlete.

Thankfully, he trusted my advice, and did EVERYthing suggested, immediately. True, he had to take the next weekend off, as directed by his decreased range of motion and his increased pain emotion. He listened to me AND his body and his brain. As a result, he was back on the game field by the following weekend, still careful and cautious, yet fully capable and competent.

Because of my experiences, and those of many clients, I know that you, too, will be enthusiastically "Walking & Talking" next month. Your days of "Limping & Gimping" should be long gone by then.

Though beyond the scope of this column, which is already longer than most, I want to give you at least 7 more quick tips to give your feet something to smile about:

1🥾 You need to be extremely careful each morning, after removing the night splint(s) (that you didn't "accidentally" forget to wear, right?). Please be disciplined and diligent in warming up your feet and fascia before they touch the floor in the morning. Stay in bed a little longer, curled up with a good book, or The Good Book, moving your feet around a lot... but being sure to NOT overstretch the plantar fascia, which is desperately trying to heal. Just as you should always perform Stamina BEFORE Strength or Stretching, you should also always Warm-up BEFORE Walking. Do NOT pull your feet (or toes) back more than absolutely necessary; do NOT test the waters. People tend to do this so often. They "test and check" their bodies. "It hurts when I do this! It hurts when I do that!" This is a major no-no!! If it hurts, you probably just re-injured yourself. No pain is true gain.

2🥾 After you spend at least 5-10 minutes slowly and gradually warming up your feet and fascia, it's time to slowly reintroduce them to the floor. This will make all the difference between having a "Good Morning" and a bad day. Do NOT leap out of bed with enthusiasm. Take your time. The spice of life needs to be approached gingerly for the next few weeks, ok? Don't forget... no pain is true gain.

3🥾 Stretching out the muscles and tendons in the front of the foot and shin might prove to be beneficial as well, as this is in the opposite direction of the stretch of your plantar fasciitis injury. Again, agonist and antagonist reciprocal inhibition is far beyond the scope of this column; however, I did explain it in some detail in previous columns on my Super 7 System of Eccentrics in Stretching. You'll also learn all about it since you've Joined the Club. The follow picture might not be worth a thousand words, but you'll get the idea:

4🥾 Tangential Tangent: As I looked online for a photo of a seated stretch of the Tibialis Anterior muscle (above), I cringed, as I often do. PLEASE BE CAREFUL with regard to whom you seek for "wise" counsel, as dumb councils abound. It's often not best to listen to how somebody looks. The degree of dangerous disinformation and downright deleterious dissuasion is daunting... discloses "Dr. Doug." ;-)

5🥾 Without going into ANY detail here, eat a lean and clean ANTI-inflammatory diet, chock full of nutritive-dense foods, which promote health and healing. Again, you can review my previous articles and join my website for all of my secret solutions to Super Sustenance.

6🥾 ICE is NICE... and can be very beneficial; however, please do NOT walk for a very long time after icing. Ice can promote rapid healing, but cooling the feet and the fascia shortens and tightens the fibers. They need to be slowly and sufficiently warmed before they are gradually reintroduced to your body, and it's weight, in any capacity. To learn more about the "Super Solid Solution for Strains & Sprains," Please Click Here.

7🥾 Lastly (finally and PHEW!), please note that prevention IS the ultimate cure. Once you are back to your old YOUNG Twinkle Toes self, it is important to begin incorporating FULL range-of-motion strength training of each muscle group at least once every 7 days. This is less than you might think. It doesn't matter if you run marathons by day and move mountains by night. Conventional movements are not full motions, throughout the complete ranges of the joints. And, since the body adapts with Strength to, and through, the specific range of motion in which it is worked, you need to assure that you perform movements and motions throughout the ENTIRE range of motion, safely and slowly. Working out the way your body works is the name of the game... by design, as intended, and on purpose. A single set of properly performed plantar-flexion and dorsi-flexion exercises, once or twice weekly, will probably prevent any and all future agonies of da feet and your foots, left and right, up and down. This is down the road a bit. First and foremost, get well soon!!

Ready to put your foot comfort to work? Try SUPER 7 FREE for a Smart-Simple-Speedy-Safe daily starting point: no gym, no equipment, no downloads - just open and go.

In Health & With Hope,

Doug :-)