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August 2009 | Modern Hygienist You need a foot rub Addressing the inflammatory response in your feet.  Photo: Stockbyte/Getty Images Dental hygienists get a lot of advice about how to deal with wrist/hand pain and carpal tunnel symptoms, but not a whole lot about foot ache/pain and plantar fasciitis. You spend so much of your day discussing the inflammatory response in patients’ gums—how much time do you take to consider the inflammatory response in your feet? What is it? Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the plantar fascia of the foot. But what does that mean really? It means the dense web of connective tissue that holds the underside of the foot together is being affected by an inflammation process. This may or may not be because of actual damage to the structure. Inflammation and/or damage can be general across an area of the fascia, and/or focused at the primary tendon attachment at the heel. Symptoms usually start with a mild, occasional ache, and can progress to severe, debilitating pain. I like using simple imagery to describe plantar fasciitis. So imagine your foot is (becoming) a dry, fragile, crunchy sponge instead of the soft, squishy, mobile sponge it used to be. How do you get it? There are two ways to get plantar fasciitis: The first is just by living your normal life, walking and standing on your feet for long periods of time. It’s a slow process of getting tight and then tighter, tissue getting taut and less mobile, and then more and more micro wear and tear damage. Plus a chronic inflammation response that makes things worse and more painful. The other way is from having an otherwise ‘healthy’ foot and going for a run or some such activity, and creating too much of a stretch or tear in the plantar fascia. This causes an inflammation response that becomes chronic and causes muscles to tighten up to guard the injury, and then slowly get tighter and tighter. You then slowly get more and more micro wear and tear damage around the original injury. Notice any similarities? The true definition (or at least, a more useful definition) of plantar fasciitis is, “A slow progression of increasing tightness and inflammation that feeds on itself to slowly get worse and worse.” The only way to fix general foot pain and plantar fasciitis is to reverse this progression. How do you stop it? Follow this two-step plan to get your feet ache and pain free. Ice Dip. After work fill up a big plastic container with ice and water. Over a two hour span while you walk around, make dinner, watch TV, etc., dip your feet 10 times for 10-20 seconds each time. The “Ice Dip” is one of the best methods for almost instantly making your feet feel better. You get a huge circulatory turnover that gets pain enhancing chemicals out and new blood in. The more often you dip, the more benefit you get. Don’t let the simplicity fool you into ignoring it.
Kneaded Care’s Foot Massage Roller helps restore balance and promote healing. It’s designed especially as an aid in achieving these results. Check out kneadedcare.com. Massage. First thing in the morning and last thing before going to sleep take 60 seconds to massage your feet. Squish, squeeze, press into, knuckle glide, grind, pound, pull, stretch, etc. What happens when you squeeze a dry crunchy sponge under water? It gets wet and squishy and mobile. You want to help your feet become soft ,squishy sponges again. Don’t ignore the pain or hope it will go away. It won’t. Follow the suggestions above and you will be pleased with the results. Understanding the dynamic is half the battle. Joshua Tucker, BA, CMT, is The Tendonitis Expert. For more info, visit www.TendonitisExpert.com.
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