What is plantar fasciitis?
Plantar fasciitis is a condition in which the plantar fascia muscle in your foot that supports your arch becomes damaged or stressed. Since your body’s natural response to injury is inflammation, plantar fasciitis can cause stiffness and pain.
It’s common to feel the stabbing pain of plantar fasciitis in your heel when you first get out of bed in the morning, or after not putting pressure on your feet for a long period of time. Additionally, your pain may get worse after exercising.
What are the risk factors for developing plantar fasciitis?
Sometimes, plantar fasciitis occurs without an obvious cause, but some factors that may increase your risk of developing the condition include:
- Obesity
- Age (40-60)
- Exercises that stress your arch
- The structure of your foot (e.g., high arches or flat feet)
- Occupations that require extended time standing on hard floors
How is plantar fasciitis treated?
Most of the time, plantar fasciitis symptoms improve when you avoid activities that aggravate the condition. Icing your foot often relieves pain, too. Calf stretches and other stretches that help release the muscles in your foot might also be helpful. Other treatment methods include:
- Foot orthotics and supportive shoes
- Physical therapy
- Anti-inflammatory medications
- Night splints to stretch your calf while you sleep
When all of these methods aren’t able to provide long-lasting relief, Dr. Robins often recommends a combination of ozone therapy and foot orthopedic treatments.
How does ozone therapy help relieve plantar fasciitis pain?
More than 20 years ago, Dr. Robins created a safe form of ozone therapy that is used throughout the world today. He uses Robins Method Direct Intravenous Ozone Therapy (RMDIV) to relieve pain and inflammation in your feet by injecting a combination of oxygen and ozone gas directly into your vein.
The oxygen and ozone work together to activate your body’s immune system and promote a healing response. RMDIV therapy can also effectively reduce inflammation to reduce symptoms and research from Europe indicates it may increase natural stem cell activity to help healing as well.
Learn more about how a combination of ozone therapy and foot orthopedics may be helpful in relieving your plantar fasciitis pain. Call the office in New York City to schedule an appointment.
