Just this year, following a knee injury and some serious weight gain, my plantar fasciitis came back with a vengeance. I hadn't really suffered from plantar fasciitis in over ten years. This episode lasted for about six months and I just couldn't get rid of it, even trying all the therapies that usually worked.
Given that I have a kid at home that has allergies and I have to do a lot of cooking from scratch, you can imagine how depressed I was that I could hardly stand or walk.
Not until I tried a night brace did my plantar fasciitis improve. The improvement, when it happened, was like night and day, starting a few days after using the brace.
After using it for a few weeks, I didn't need to use it anymore. Now I spend hours on my feet every day without a twinge of pain.
Finding the right night splint was hard because I have a short leg and a large calf. I was surprised to discover there was a rather intimidating selection at Amazon.com (well, for a product like this, ten or so seemed like a vast selection).
Ultimately, the brace that I chose was the Strassburg Sock, as it accommodated both big calves and short legs (if your lower leg is petite, you have to fold over the top, as described in the instructions that come with the sock). I was also impressed that the sock had outstanding reviews and surprised I'd never heard of it, given how popular it was among people who had heel pain.
The Strassburg sock, I learned, was a pretty simple device, so simple you have to wonder why you didn't invent it yourself. Stretchy, thick, and long, this white sock has straps that pull up the forefoot and keep the foot-to-leg angle in a 90 degree neutral position. It served the same function as a plantar fasciitis night splint, and I knew from research I'd found (like Treatment of Plantar Fasciitis With a Night Splint and Shoe Modification) that such devices could be quite effective in helping with the condition.
I put the sock on every night to hold my foot in a neutral position while I slept. It didn't seem to hold my foot that far up - not at a 90 degree angle, anyway - but it was enough to do the job.
Also, because after a few nights I didn't like the way the Strassburg Sock pulled on my toes, I modified the design by inserting one of my Sole custom insoles inside. This took some of the stress off the toes and made the sock more ergonomic to wear.
I know this all sounds like the cheesiest infomercial, and in the interests of full disclosure, I do get commissions when you buy stuff from Amazon.com through the links on this website.
But it's true. My heel pain was getting worse and worse, and this is one product that did save me. I'm not saying another night splint might not have worked. This just happened to be the first one I tried and it worked and the results have been lasting - I've been pain-free for about six weeks. Update July 2015: Still pain-free four years later. The Strassburg Sock really was the final thing I did consciously that helped. However, I do think now that part of my continued good foot health has come from keeping up with my trigger points and going on a low-carb diet, which controlled my blood sugars (which can be good if you're prone to connective-tissue injuries, as I am.)
And no, in case you're wondering, I didn't try any other new therapy or change anything else at the same time. (I made sure I didn't so that unlike the first time when I had plantar fasciitis many years ago I'd be able to figure out what helped me.)
And during this last, most recent go-round with plantar fasciitis, I did try other products that didn't help very much. I tried a foot rocker for calf stretches that I couldn't even stand on, because the heel hurt so much. I tried various New Balance and Brooks shoes that seemed fine, but didn't perform any miracles for me. The Strassburg Sock did. (You can read about what I think of those other products elsewhere on this blog.)
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