Heel Problems

[GJones]

After I triple jumped last week I woke up Sunday morning and found that my heel was hurting and I couldnt really feel it; it felt like it was asleep and when I touched it, it tingled. I figured I bruised my heel bone again because I have done it on a few occassions but the bone did not hurt. The bottom of my foot has red bruises on it in blouches. I went to the doctor and he said I had Plantar Fasciitis. Have any of you had plantar fasciitis and if so what did you do to take care of it in a short period of time?

I am trying to compete in a week and a half so that I can qualify for states, I will only be taking one jump in long and triple each so that I do not hurt myself any more but I will be competing full out at States on March 4 and NIN on March 11.

[aidan]

get a heel pad insert... check out eastbay.com for starters; i've seen them in the magazine before.

[LAXCoach]

1. Get heel pad inserts immediately. I had similar type problems when I competed and this helped clear them up. I found that the ones made by Sorbothane worked best, and know several other jumpers who swear by them.

heres a link to them, I'd advise looking around at some running stores near you, they should probably have them:

http://store.yahoo.com/footamerica/sorboheel.html

2. As far as treatment goes, ice it 2-3 times a day, give it as much rest as possible, if your school trainer has ultrasound talk to your trainer/doctor about doing some on your heel, and lightly stretch your calves, achilles tendon, etc.

3. I know you said that the injury was concentrated in your heel, but take some time to really check out how your achilles tendon on that same foot is. Sometimes this type of injury could lead to/be related to an achilles injury in which case things could get much worse if not properly taken care of.

Best of luck to you and hope that helped.

[ThePreofJumping2]

My dad has it and his doctor told him to freeze a big gatorade bottle and roll it back and forth with your foot...I don't know how that helps, but thats what he was told to do.

[MCXC]

You can buy a heel insert at any sporting goods store. I bought mine at sav-on. Also try doing an ice massage by freezing a small dixie cup full of water and just applying it to the spot a few times eacch day. These things and some stretching helped me recover quickly when i had tthis problem. I even used 2 heel inserts.

[GJones]

Thanks for all the good info. I'm gonna put most of it to test this week before state q's and see how it works.

[skifree]

I think I did the exact same thing you did. On Monday when I was competing, I came down really hard on my right heel after my first phase, and at first I didn't think anything of it, but after I cooled down and was coming home, it was killing me. Its been 6 days now, and it's getting better, but I've been staying off of it. All that advice sounds good though.