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Plantar faciitis? No heel striking? Problem. (self.running)

submitted ago by [deleted]

21, male, 142 lbs recent PRs - mile: 5:05, 5k: 19:20, 10k: 40:08, half: 1:32:30

~40 miles a week typical week: M: 8mi@7:45pace\T: 6mi@7:40pace; core and abs\W: 4mi@6:50pace\R: 6mi@8:20pace; core and abs\F: 6x800m@2:45, 6x400m@1:30\Sat: nothing\Sun: 12mi@7:40

Been running for a year and one month so don't have a lot of personal experience with foot pains/problems. I've done a lot of reading about plantar faciistis and it seems to always come up with heel pains and heel-strikers. I land mid-foot/slightly forefoot and have never had heel-pains. The pain seems to be in the middle of my left arch and sparks up quite quickly and if I keep running on it, the sharp pains with every push-off forces me to stop completely.

History: Sharp pains in what felts like the middle of my left arch have "sparked up" after maybe 3 miles into a run maybe 4 months ago but they would go away relatively quickly. I took no action. Recently, the same pains have been coming up again. About 5 weeks ago, I had to stop a run completely after 9 miles and walk back home because the pain was sharp enough to scare me to stop. I took 4 days off and was running strong again. The pain didn't come back for another 13 days. I took another day off. I had four good runs before it came back 5 miles into a run. During this time I started stretching and massaging the plantar fascia and arch of my foot. I stopped running for two days and had 3 more days until it came back 3 miles into a run. Now I am taking a full week off and sticking to the arc-trainer and continuing with foot/plantar fascia stretches and massages (internet advice).

Runnit, what now? Any experience or advice?

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[–]Arve 3 points4 points ago

See a doctor:

  • Plantar Fasciitis is very much associated with heel/arch pain in the morning when first standing. Since you're not mentioning this, I'll assume that this is not happening. Therefore I think PF is unlikely.
  • You're also saying that the arch pain appears a while into your run, sometimes to then disappear, which also seems inconsistent with PF.
  • It getting better when you rest, and then reappear within a few days of running also seems inconsistent.

Why see a doctor?

  • You have worked up to consistent 40-mile weeks in 13 months. 40 mpw is a danger zone for too-much-too-soon (TMTS) injuries. Doubly so, since you are doing speedwork consistently
  • Your injury is on one foot. PF, I think, more often occur in both (without being 100% certain, I could find very few references on this).
  • Acute pain while running and the TMTS makes you a prime candidate for stress fractures - something I also think is not inconsistent with your symptoms. Caveat: I'm not a medical professional in any capacity, but I know how to Google, and this page seems to agree it's on the list of possible causes. A stress fracture is absolutely not a DIY-er.

Should you choose to ignore my advice, here are some things which helped me, as a forefoot striker, with arch/heel pain symptoms:

  • Golf ball massage of the foot
  • Trigger point massage and stretching of my calf. Like thecoyote5, I'm no big fan of stretching, but I think it makes sense for forefoot runners.
  • The same for anything around my ankle, including my Achilles.
  • Compression socks - after running. In my case, my symptoms completely vanished within a few days, and haven't reappeared.
  • Shoes. For a good while, I ran in Mizuno Wave Ronins and Saucony Kinvara. I'm suspecting that the Kinvaras are to blame for some of the problems I had. I've since mostly switched to running Inov-8 f-lite shoes. Either way - get properly fitted for shoes - at a place which will film you with a high-speed camera on a treadmill to analyse your gait (and your foot).

TL;DR: See a doctor. While I'm giving a bit of self-help hints at the bottom, I'm posting those merely as things to try while you wait for your doctor's appointment.

[–]runconmigo 0 points1 point ago

Thanks alot for your input! I never considered a stress fracture. I'm definately gonna have to check with a sports med physician.

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