Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of the connective tissue that holds the arches of the feet in place. This can cause severe pain in the heels. To help your doctor diagnose plantar fasciitis, you should give her a complete medical history and specific descriptions of your symptoms.
Instructions
Review Your Lifestyle
1. Consider your job. Tell your doctor if your job requires you to stand or walk for long periods of time. Staying on your feet for hours can cause the plantar fascia to swell and cause plantar fasciitis.
2. Step on the scale. Write down your current weight as well as what your weights has been in the past. Gaining weight can cause or aggravate plantar fasciitis, so it can help your doctor diagnose plantar fasciitis.
3. Take a close look at your favorite pair of shoes. Your favorite pair of comfortable shoes may have lost the ability to properly support your feet. Clue your doctor in on what type of shoes you wear to aid with his diagnosis.
4. Check out your stride. Taking overly long strides when you walk or run can stretch the plantar fascia tissue further than it is meant to stretch and cause inflammation.
5. Think about your work out routine. Plantar fasciitis can be caused by overly tight calf muscles. Proper stretching before and after exercise can loosen these muscles and relieve stress from your arches.
Keep Track of Your Symptoms
6. Keep a foot pain journal to help your doctor diagnose the cause of your pain.
7. Write down the times when your feet hurt the most. Plantar fasciitis often causes the most pain upon rising in the morning.
8. Note whether or not your feet hurt more when you climb stairs. Pain when climbing is another sign of plantar fasciitis.
9. Keep track of pain in your heels when you stand on your toes. Standing on your toes stretches the plantar fascia and can be a symptom of plantar fasciitis.
10. Pay attention to tingling or numbness that accompanies your foot pain. Numbness and tingling may indicate tarsal tunnel syndrome, which is a pinching of the tibial nerve in the leg.
Get a Medical Check-Up
11. Ask your doctor to rule out problems like arthritis. The symptoms of arthritis and plantar fasciitis are quite similar, but treatments can vary greatly.
12. Request X-rays of your feet to rule out bone fractures. Your heel pain may be caused by small pieces of bone out of place in your foot. X-rays will distinguish this from plantar fasciitis.
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