Preventative Care

After being plagued with plantar faciitis (PF) last spring during my ultimate season, which was so painful and caused me a lot of trouble walking, I decided to take action. Korea was lacking in medical things to give me the care I needed, so I turned to the next best source: the internet. haha.

Through my research, I learned that when we sleep we tend to relax the foot muscles and point our toes. What happens is that the muscle then stiffens in this relaxed state and when we wake up and step out of bed, the muscle stretches too much and micro tears are reformed, causing intense pain that will last the whole day. Stretching this muscle before stepping out of bed is a great way to loosen it, but over the course of the day (and standing for hours teaching), it over stretches and becomes painful. While there is no perfect remedy for PF, there are a combination of things one can try.

This summer, I bought many insoles for my shoes that are specifically meant to address PF. On Amazon.com I found a night brace to wear while I sleep and a support sock to wear while I am running/working out. Unfortunately, the items that I found would not ship to Canada or Korea, USA only. So I asked a friend if he would mind bringing a couple things back to Korea for me from the US. Thankfully he is a very light packer and he had room for my brace.

Because we have another ultimate season coming up, this is my attempt at preventative care. My foot has been feeling better since the summer, but I don't want to go through that PF hell from the spring ever again. So I've begun sleeping with this brace and wearing the sleeve when I work out - and it's working well! If anyone is experiencing PF, I highly recommend these products. In combination with stretching and squishy insole, my foot pain has decreased a lot. Hurray!

My remedies!