Duct Tape Cured My Plantar Fasciitis

Duct tape cured my Plantar Fasciitis. As weird as that may sound, it's true.
At age 50, I'd never even heard of Plantar Fasciitis (pronounced PLAN-TAR FA-CEE-EYE-TIS), but it was about to make my life a living hell.
My entire working life has been spent walking on concrete. When I was young, I never gave that any serious consideration, even though the "old people" told me I should take care of my feet, stand on mats, wear good shoes.
About 5 years ago, my feet started giving me trouble. They hurt, and I mean really hurt. When my feet hit the floor in the morning, they felt like they were on fire. I could hardly stand up. I'd hobble down the stairs and by the time I got to the kitchen, the pain would have lessened somewhat.
I'd go to work and be in pain all day. Most days, by the time I got home, I'd be in tears. The relief of getting my shoes off was almost climaxing. I'd go all evening with pain, but not the excruciating pain of my work day. Then it would start all over again the next day.
The pain moved around, too. Some days there would be a sharp, constant pain in the center of my heel. Other days the pain in my heel would be on the side. Some days, it would be my arch that hurt. Some days it would be the whole bottom of my foot and up into my calf.
Now, let me say that I am not one to run to a doctor. I always assume that whatever it is will go away on its own and if it doesn't, then I will go to a doctor. This didn't go away, so I went to my family physician. When he found out that I had been walking on concrete for all those years, he told me that that will cause you to have bad feet in later years and it was just something I would have to live with. He told me to get cushioned inserts.
Well! He wasn't any help at all. I could have saved my money, because, like him, I really believed that this was just a condition of getting older and something I would just have to live with the best that I could.
During the next two years, I tried every single insert, insole, arch support, and heal protector I could find. I even sent away for $200 inserts molded to fit my feet. I found that every insert hurt my feet even more. It seemed to me that the inserts were pushing up on my arch and it felt like I needed the arch held up without pressure being put on it by being pushed up.
So, I did what any red blooded American does in any emergency situation.
I got out the duct tape!
One morning, after I put on my socks, I wrapped a piece of duct tape around my foot , not so tight as to cut off circulation, just tight enough to hold my arch up so it couldn't sag.
Off to work I went. Oh, the glory! I was in heaven. The pain wasn't entirely gone, but it was lessened so much that I felt I had finally found what I needed. Everyone at work, used to seeing me hobbling around, asked how my feet were because it was obvious that I was walking normally again.
I told everyone about my duct tape solution. They thought I was weird, but then they think I'm pretty weird to begin with, so no big deal.
A few months after that, I went to a new doctor for an initial exam, due to a change in insurance. When she saw the duct tape around my feet, she asked about it , so I explained that it was my solution to fallen arches or whatever it was that was wrong with my feet. She had me remove the tape and my socks and proceeded to push and prod as she asked questions.
She then told me that my problem is called Plantar Fasciitis. She explained that Plantar Fasciitis can have many causes, sometimes it is a trauma to the foot, sometimes stress from the wrong shoes all your life, sometimes from walking on concrete for years. Since I could remember no trauma to my feet that could have started it and because it was in both feet, she thought that my Plantar Fasciitis was due to concrete walking for 30 odd years.
She told me that the ligament that runs along the bottom of the foot ( the plantar) gets inflamed because it is worn from years of abuse and can't take the pressure anymore which causes the pain.
I had told her that I had also discovered that in addition to the duct tape, at night, if I laid on my stomach and tucked my feet down between the mattress and the foot of the bed so that my feet were at a 90degree angle and my calf muscles were stretched, it helped me to not have so much pain when I got out of bed. She said I was very ingenious to have figured this all out on my own. I am nothing if not resourceful.
She told me to come back in one month and in the mean time,
1. I was to take an Alieve in the morning and one at night to get rid of the inflammation.
2. A couple times a day, I was to do 5 or 10 calf stretches which consisted of standing on any raised platform, preferably a stair step where I had a rail to hold on to, and, with the ball of my foot on the platform, gently lower my heels till I could feel the calf muscle stretch.
3. In the evening, I was to sit, bring my foot up onto my knee, hold my toes and gently pull them back till I could feel the stretch and hold the position for 15 seconds, repeat 5 times. Then lower my foot onto a frozen can of orange juice placed on the floor and roll it back and forth under my arch for at least 5 minutes.
4. She said to continue tucking my feet between the mattress and foot of the bed and wear the duct tape, or buy an elastic band in the foot section at any drug store. I did buy the elastic band, but it was too tight, so I continued with the duct tape which I could adjust .
5. And lastly, I was to change my shoes at lunch time every day.
After a month, when I made my return visit, I hugged her! Then I showed her my duct tape -less socks! My feet were back to normal! My Plantar Fasciitis had been brought to heel!!
After more than 2 years of agonizing pain, hundreds of dollars spent on inserts, and more tears shed that I even want to remember, suddenly I could get up in the morning with no pain, walk all day with no pain, spend the evening with no pain, sleep through the night with no pain! It was wonderful!
In the three years since then, occasionally, I will have a flare up, usually if I have to pull a double shift. But now that I know its plantar fasciitis, I stop it at the first twinge by doing the routine of duct tape, Alieve, stretches, frozen orange juice, tucking and changing shoes. In two days, my feet are fine again. Not being a doctor, I don't, of course, guarantee this will work for everyone who has, or suspects they have, plantar fascittis. All I know is…. It worked for me!
I still have to only wear good shoes that have good arch support in them, I never wear the same pair of shoes two days in a row and I will never again wear high heels, but it is a small price to pay for pain free feet.