PRESCRIPTIONS
Several ways available to treat heel pain

By Landis Lum

Q. I have bad pain in my heel when I stand in the mornings. My doctor called it plantar fasciitis. How can I treat it?

The plantar fascia is a band of tissue on the bottom of your foot that starts at your heel and goes to each one of the bones of the ball of your foot. The plantar fascia works like a rubber band to maintain the arch of your foot. If the band is short, you'll have a high arch. The Achilles tendon, which goes from the heel into the calf, can be thought of as a continuation of the plantar fascia.

A pad of fat in your heel covers the plantar fascia to help absorb the shock of walking. As a person gets older, the plantar fascia becomes less flexible. Repeated stress to the plantar fascia may cause it to swell, tear or bruise, and can result in heel pain.

The pain of both plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendinitis can be relieved with special shoe inserts. Some recommended ones are Spenco Polysorb Insoles, Sorbothane's Performance Work/Sport or SorboLite Insoles, or Sof Sole Athletes Plus.

For smaller dress shoes, you may need Sof Sole's Ultra Arch or Gel Arch, or Spenco's three-quarter length arch cushion. You can buy these at places such as The Running Room, Runners Route, FootAction, Sports Authority, Longs, FootLocker and Nordstrom's. Also superb is the Powerstep insole, which you can order online at www.powersteps.com or at (888) 237-3668.

Before even getting out of bed in the mornings, stretch your plantar fascia. Straighten your leg and bend your foot as hard as you can toward your nose for 25 seconds, relax five seconds, and repeat four times (two minutes.) You can even do this standing in line at the supermarket or sitting at your desk several times a day.

Cut back temporarily on your walking or jogging. Get a tennis ball (or golf ball) and gradually apply bodyweight while rolling the ball under the arch several times a day.

Lose weight if you're overweight.

Anti-inflammatories such as Motrin and Aleve also may be helpful (if you've never had ulcers or are not on Warfarin, in which case I'd try acetaminophen).

Specially made orthotic inserts may be needed in persistent cases.

And, says podiatrist Earl Wong, most important for Hawai'i patients: Don't go barefoot around the house! Wear slippers with arches, or sandals with inch-high heels.

Correction: The Powerstep insole can be ordered by calling (888) 237-3668. An incorrect phone number was published in a previous version of this column.