First injury - gutted and need advice!

[Ucandothis]

I haven't been on here lately due to pressure of work. I do a parkrun every week now but the last three weeks have only run once in between. On Thursday I got a bit of heel pain but ignored it. Today on the parkrun my heel started to hurt quite badly - I finished but then hobbled home and it is difficult to walk properly now. It sounds like it is plantar fasciitis - has anybody had this who can give me advice?? It is a sharp throbbing pain in the middle of my heel.

I have always had very, very tight Achilles and calf muscles so that might be the problem and only started running in December after half a century of inactivitity!

[yatesco Graduate]

I haven't had that specific injury, but I would advise that patience is key to this running lark, and taking the time to recover properly is very important. A weak or two on the IC isn't going to impact you in the long term, but not recovering properly will. (resting after that first pain would have been a better choice I think)

I have no idea when you graduated but a race-pace 5K once a week without anything sounds like you are asking your body to do a lot of effort and then nothing, which isn't wise. On the other hand if you have been running like this for years then fine, I don't meant to teach anyone to suck eggs ;-).

I would say that prevention is key here - have you invested in a foam roller? Very painful which I understand means effective :-).

I am not an expert at all (only graduated a few months back) so take this for what it is.

[Ucandothis Graduate in reply to yatesco]

Thanks - I graduated at end of March I think [it seems ages ago!]. I probably have done too much today which wasn't wise given that I haven't done enough training lately. I used to run without fail every other day but over the last four weeks I have only done once every 4 or 5 days.

I can at least walk a bit now - well hobble! Will rest and if it is no better on Monday I will book some physio. I think I need to start doing a very rigorous warn-up stretch routine and do some stretching every day. Until February I went to yoga twice weekly and I think that helped.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

It doesn't sound like plantar fasciitis to me, but I am no expert.

R.I.C.E is the answer initially ie. Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation, but if it is still worrying you in a couple of days then l would get advice from a GP or physio..

I also have tight Achilles and once, soon after completing C25k, l woke in the middle of the night to a sharp, very specific but not very painful pain in my heel. It went in a day or so and l never knew for sure what it was. PF really can put an end to your running for good if not sorted, so l would not take any risks.

Good luck.

[Shivani05 Graduate]

Soaking my feet in a tub of hot water with sea salt/epsom salt does wonders. I did it regularly during the program, and just did it again last week when my left foot hurt so badly I couldn't put weight on it and hobbled about the house. Was fine in 2 days. Hope you are better soon.

[Ucandothis Graduate in reply to Shivani05]

Good idea. Will get some Epsom salts tomorrow.