Like many of us, Veronica is on her feet all day - on a concrete floor, helping customers at the boutique. When she developed an excruciating pain that felt like a sharp jab in the arches of her feet, her doctor diagnosed plantar fasciitis. Veronica had always been super active, a dancer her whole life, a runner, and a collegiate athlete throughout college.
So not being able to do any of the activities she loved, let alone walk without being in excruciating pain, was something she could not handle. Veronica had just gotten her Bachelor's degree a few months earlier from Portland State University and decided to take a year off work before going back for her Master's degree. She loved working at the boutique, and a life of pain meds and sitting all the time was out of the question.
Her doctor referred her to physical therapy twice a week to treat the plantar fasciitis. After six weeks of going to physical therapy and religiously doing all of the exercises given to her, there was no reduction in pain. Watching Veronica suffer and not have improvements through physical therapy, her aunt suggested she make an appointment with me. Her aunt was a long-distance runner and one of my clients for years, getting great results from my bodywork.
When Veronica came to my office for her first appointment, it was painful for me to see such an athletic young woman hobbling into my office. Taking a detailed case history, it was evident that the exercises she was doing every day given by the physical therapist were straining the muscles of her feet and increasing the inflammation. I told Veronica she was overtraining and needed to stop doing all of the physical therapy exercises, so her body could heal. I massaged her feet and calf muscles, soothing the cramping muscles and reliving the inflamed fascia.
I gave her five homework assignments:
1. Buy special shoes to give her feet the proper support to relieve the plantar fasciitis.
2. Ask the boutique manager if she could be on light duty while healing her feet. Veronica's manager was happy to have her sit at the cash register to reduce the stress on her feet.
3. Take a daily Epsom salts bath to increase the blood flow to her feet so they can heal more quickly.
4. Use an ice pack on her swollen, inflamed toes after the hot bath.
5. Do gentle self-care stretches for the bottoms of her feet and calf muscles to reduce the tension and restore the proper muscle tone to the bottoms of her feet.
In five weeks, she recovered completely from plantar fasciitis by doing weekly orthopedic massage treatments at my office combined with the self-care homework. Veronica then returned to regular duty at the boutique, walking with ease and standing with no pain.
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