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Tag: foot pain

When and where you feel foot pain during walking is key for diagnosis

When and where you experience foot pain during walking is diagnostic. This means we can figure out the pain generator. That is a large list. It can be the fat pad, your fascia (the most common, incorrect diagnosis), plantar intrinsics (muscles on the bottom of the foot which is primarily the flexor digitorum brevis, abductor hallucis, and abductor digiti minimi), the flexor hallucis longus, the tibial nerve, the medial or lateral plantar nerve, the calcaneus, the talus, the bones of the midfoot and forefoot, the foot and ankle joints, ligaments, the hallux (big toe), or the little toes. It does not include referral into the foot from your low back or hip. With the foot, we know when the different structures that can cause pain are loaded during walking and we know that the location of pain is likely where the pain generator resides because of the higher receptor field

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The Modified Low Dye

A physical therapy band-aid for foot pain during running Running-related injuries are commonly seen for physical therapy at Smith Performance Center. Unlike some of the advice, you may hear, stopping can prolong the problem.  Rest does not automatically equal recovery or resolution of an injury.  A nice tool to consider learning is the modified low dye.  It can help to reduce foot and lower leg pain while allowing you to continue training. Where is it from? I learned about the modified low dye from Dr. Tom McPoil.  He is faculty at Regis University and was previously faculty at Northern Arizona.  He is an expert on the foot and wrote an article on tissue stress theory that still impacts my practice today.  The purpose of the modified low dye in a physical therapy program is to limit stresses to the tissue of the lower leg and foot to allow desensitization. In

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4 Ways Individuals With Heel Pain Can Make Their Pain Go Away

Why is your heel pain not getting better? Heel pain is a common, painful foot condition leading internet searches for “cures to heel pain” or “treatments for plantar fasciitis.” The pain resolves with time if the cause of symptoms is removed, but up to 10% of individuals with heel pain do not get better. These chronic sufferers try everything to get rid of the pain including plantar fascia releases, injections, and pain medications. The causes of heel pain are numerous, ranging from plantar tendinopathies like the flexor digitorum brevis, nerve involvement with tarsal tunnel syndromes or lateral plantar nerve, low back referrals, and double crush syndrome to fat pad injuries. The answer is not more stretching and new orthotics. If you are stuck with heel pain and the typical treatment for plantar fasciitis is not making you feel better, then you likely have a different problem and require a different

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7 Signs Your Heel Pain Is Not Coming From Your Plantar Fascia

Seven Signs the Flexor Digitorum Brevis is causing your heel pain NOT the Plantar Fascia You wake up, swing your legs to the edge of the bed, and…hesitate. You know this is going to hurt. The good foot moves to the ground first – you learned from that mistake over a month ago.  You brace and put down the other foot, the ungrateful one that will not get better despite the trip to the podiatrist, the injection, physical therapy, the shoe inserts, the ice bottle massage, and the stretching exercises. The foot touches down.   It’s not so bad, you think ‘those stretches and night socks are helping!’ Then you step and the sharp pain feels as if the tissue from the back of the heel is ripping apart. You think to yourself, this plantar fasciitis won’t go away, as you force your leg forward and take the next step and the next

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