Warning Pain Of Plantar Fasciitis: Turn Off The Alarm At Your Peril!

Early Plantar Fasciitis Is Warning Pain!

Plantar Fasciitis Has A Nociceptive Origin

warning pain, bike spin muscle groups to choose from.

Muscle Engagement During Bike Spin – you do have choices; how to engage them? (1) ask the muscle to relax or work, or, better still, (2) modify the activity – that is why I dropped my heels (see below).

Plantar Fasciitis Warning Pain Is Your Friend

Don’t Turn Off The Alarm

Track Down The Fire!

Warning pain! Yep! There is good pain and bad pain, but warning pain should never be ignored, or suppressed, without working to find, and then fix, the source. Period!

warning pain: plantar fasciitis exploratory research

FitOldDog’s plantar fasciitis distribution map. Click image for description!

I was reminded of this, while riding my bike on a steady 60-mile spin, on rollers, this morning. At about mile 50, when I started to pick up the pace, a little, there was that old burning in plantar fasciitis region P3. Right at the back of my heel.

What did I do? Rush to a doctor, for a cortisone shot? Lock my leg in a boot for weeks? Ice it? Take pain meds? NOPE! I thought about it, tracking back my history in that region of my body. Reaching down, I could feel tightness in my calf. Deep in my calf, in the region of the soleus muscle. Not a new problem, I thought. Two days before, I completed a 3-hour training run (1 hour water running, 2 hours treadmill, back-to-back). Um!

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warning pain: bike shoe spin lines.

Using pressure in the bike shoe, from your foot, to select muscle engagement patterns. Image linked to source post.

Conclusion: I’d probably irritated an old soleus problem, which comes from tight gluts and hip rotators, on the right side of my hip. Yep! That old bike wreck, rearing it’s ugly head!

What’s to do? Simple!

Short-term: Take the load off of the soleus muscle, by (1) dropping my heels on the power stroke, to spare my calf muscles, (2) mashing down on the pedal a bit, to engage my quads, (3) back off on my gluts and hamstrings, which are mechanically linked to the calf muscles, by not applying force to the top and back of the bike shoe, and (4) make sure my left leg is pulling it’s weight – you just never know, if one leg decides to be lazy. I sure have a lazy left leg!

The warning pain of early plantar fasciitis vanished, unless I became distracted from applying rules 1-4, above, when it would come right back. Otherwise, a solid ride.

The fire starts up again, and on goes the alarm.

Thank goodness for early plantar fasciitis!

Long-term: Fix that tight soleus, hamstring, glut/hip rotator tension, using stretching, tennis ball, rollers, and active recovery. Cancel my planned run today, and substitute a steady swim, focusing on reducing drag, by staying high in the water.

Now! What is causing your warning pain, and what are you doing about it?

Wishing you happy feet and happy trails.

FitOldDog

 

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Disclaimer: As a veterinarian, I do not provide medical advice for human animals. If you undertake or modify an exercise program, consult your medical advisors before doing so. Undertaking activities pursued by the author does not mean that he endorses your undertaking such activities, which is clearly your decision and responsibility. Be careful and sensible, please.