Tormented by foot and heel pain? Expert Illawarra Podiatrist reveals three at-home treatments…

Do you cringe at the thought of placing your foot to the ground each morning? Busy mums are frequent sufferers of Plantar Fasciitis. Expert Podiatrists from Tread Right Podiatry & Biomechanics are here to help.

Tread Right Podiatry & Biomechanics is a local Illawarra, family owned and operated podiatry practice located in Woonona. Parents Guide Illawarra recently had the chance to sit down and pick the brains of Principal Podiatrist, Peter Macfarlane and his team for their expert guidance on treating pesky heel pain once and for all. 

Husband & Wife, Peter & Hayley Macfarlane proudly work together with their team at Tread Right Podiatry & Biomechanics, providing expert treatment of foot pain.

Treating foot pain

Busy mums who are running around after children or returning to exercise again after a long period of rest are common sufferers of heel pain. The cause of the pain is all too often really small tears in a ligament that sits at the bottom of your foot called the Plantar Fascia.

Whilst the pain is most commonly originating from the fascia, not all blame should be placed solely on this ligament. You see this ligament is the weakest in a chain of muscles, tendons and joints that are all contributing to your pain.

Whilst your pain is partly from the damage to the fascia, proper treatment needs to focus on ALL the offending structures. Everything works best, when it’s in the right place! As your muscles and ligaments warm up throughout the day the pain may reduce or disappear, but by evening when you finally get a chance to sit, the throbbing pain returns.

Sorry to say busy mumma, without the correct treatment Plantar Fasciitis can cause debilitating pain lasting years.

Tread Right Podiatry & Biomechanics – your local Wollongong podiatrists

Expert Podiatrists from Tread Right Podiatry & Biomechanics can help treat foot pain

Tread Right Podiatry podiatrists provided us THREE at-home treatment steps to help reduce your pain and improve your life!

STEP 1: AT HOME TREATMENT FOR FOOT PAIN – HEAT – We cannot stress this enough. HEAT, HEAT and more (you guessed it) HEAT. Loads of it. Every chance you get across the day. Whilst drinking that first, second and possibly third cup of coffee (no judgment here) before 11am, waiting at the school pick up line, sitting on the bleachers at your child’s basketball game. 20 minutes at a time, as many times per day. The more heat, the more blood gets to the injuries, the faster the healing.

STEP 2: AT HOME TREATMENT FOR FOOT PAIN – MASSAGE – Now we’re talking. Head to the garage and pick up one of the kids’ tennis balls or your hubbies golf ball and start rolling your foot over it. This will help reduce tension in those structures (remember the ligaments, muscles and joints) under your foot, the less tension, the better a structure can move.

STEP 3: AT HOME TREATMENT FOR FOOT PAIN – MODIFY YOUR ACTIVITY – You don’t necessarily need to stop all activity, rather listen to your body. If something is hurting, ask yourself, “can I modify or change this activity so that it doesn’t hurt”? e.g. sand walking often causes increased heel pain due to the instability of the sand. This makes the muscles/ligaments in the foot have to work harder. If walking on a footpath reduces the pain, than swap the sand for the footpath instead.

If pain does not resolve, then an appointment at Tread Right Podiatry & Biomechanics is recommended.

Many thanks to Peter & Hayley Macfarlane and the team from Tread Right Podiatry & Biomechanics for sharing their expertise to help women navigate troublesome and tricky foot pain (and for sponsoring this article). You can get in touch with them online HERE or give them a call on (02) 4231 8035.