Plantar Fasciitis/Heel pain

[hawaii_gymnast]

I just recently got planter fasciitis and heel spurs. Very painful. I also reccomend massage. I am also going to physio.
I'm not a doctor or anything but my physio told me that if you (or DD in your case) has been doing gym for a long time there is most likely a change in something (more running, a certain skill, harder landings) because your bones adapt to the impact but if there is a sudden change that is when pain is usually caused.
Lots of stretching is important and doing less impact exercises like instead of running for warm up ride the bike instead. And take lots of ice breaks. I am also currently wearing heel cups in my shoes just to add some extra padding.
Hopefully what ever is wrong with your DD heals up quickly and she is back training.

 

[MaryA]

I'm not a doctor or anything but my physio told me that if you (or DD in your case) has been doing gym for a long time there is most likely a change in something (more running, a certain skill, harder landings) because your bones adapt to the impact but if there is a sudden change that is when pain is usually caused.

This makes sense, since she just started working on her level 6 skills. She's had problems with her heels before, but not for a while. I think the tucks seem like harder landindings than the tumbling she's done up to this point.

 

[gymjourneymom]

Just wondering how the doctor's appointment went?

 

[MaryA]

Thanks... it went fine. It was pretty interesting, actually. She told Kathy to flex her foot as far as she could. She couldn't flex it much past 90 degrees. Then she told Tory, Kathy's twin sister, to do the same and she could flex it much further (of course, she's my dancer). The doctor said that it was just a touch of Plantar Faciitis and that Kathy's hamstring (am I getting the right muscle group here?) muscles were just really tight and putting pressure on her heel. She said to stretch lots and to take tylenol when it was bothering her. By yesterday it wasn't really bothering her (though last night at practice she landed a tuck in a way where she sort of came down on the back of a couple of her toes, so she had her foot in ice last night... sigh) and the Dr. didn't seem to think it was worth seeing a specialist at this point. Pretty much her coach had said, "She has plantar faccitis. A doctor will just tell her to rest and stretch." and that's pretty much what happened. The Y is in program shut down this week, so she'll have a week of resting and stretching and we'll see how it goes from there.

 

[gymjourneymom]

Thanks for the update! Glad it's nothing too serious at this point. As you can see from what the doctor had your 2 DD's do(with the foot flexing), the one with the PF needs to stretch more to get her muscles looser. There are several specific stretching exercises she can do to focus on that area. Did the doctor show them to her? I'm afraid my posting them here would be considered giving medical advice.

See how she is after some rest. But if it's still bothering her when she goes back to practice I'd take her too a specialist. If her flexion is that tight she may need some physical therapy to loosen it up & teach her all the proper stretches for the area. Not trying & scare you, but as some other posters have mentioned without proper stretching & loosening of the muscles, PF can cause heel spurs to form over time. Good luck hope she's feeling better after rest & stretching.

 

[MaryA]

See how she is after some rest. But if it's still bothering her when she goes back to practice I'd take her too a specialist. If her flexion is that tight she may need some physical therapy to loosen it up & teach her all the proper stretches for the area. Not trying & scare you, but as some other posters have mentioned without proper stretching & loosening of the muscles, PF can cause heel spurs to form over time. Good luck hope she's feeling better after rest & stretching.

Yes, we're definitely going to keep a close eye on it. If it continues to bother her, I'll ask for a referral to a specialist. A friend's husband is a podiatrist with a specialty in sports injuries to the foot. I'm trying to see if I can line him up to do a talk to our gymnasts and parents about foot health, stretches, when to see a doctor, etc.