Regular training that shapes the body and mind is beautiful and useful. However, in addition to all the advantages of training, we must also be aware that, as human beings, we are “expendable.”
Three years and many days of training and mistakes have passed for me to understand what suits me in training. In the training process itself, I injured myself, which taught me patience and gave me experience.
All the decisions and harder training until last year, 2023, resulted in me injuring my plantar fascia. The plantar fascia is a broad ligament located on the bottom of the foot. It stretches from the heel bone all the way to the toes.
The plantar fascia injury started with a strange feeling in one part of the heel on the day I finished the Rajac Trail. I remember that night I felt the lower part of the heel was pulsating. I thought that it was from muscle fatigue and that everything would pass with three days of rest. However, that strange feeling turned into pain the next day. Because of this, I had to walk on my toes on my right leg. For the next three months, I walked every morning with pain and stiffness in the foot when I got up.
It was a bad feeling when I had to take a break from running. I could not run 1 km without pain in the lower part of my heel. Until then, I had not had a sports injury, which is why it felt mentally difficult for me.
Despite the clear signs that something was wrong, I still trained and went to the orienteering race. By the way, I applied mint-based cream to reduce the feeling of pain. In the evening after the race, I took medicine Brufen. After the race my foot was in pain even when I lie. I mentally beat myself up when I participated in the orienteering race in Strazilovo, where the terrain is quite steep. Because of the pain, I could hardly stand the whole path. I wore a tension bandage, but it didn’t help in this situation. After that I knew that I would have to take a break with the hills.
Poslednja trka gde sam trcala je Deliblatska pescara gde smo iskustveno stavili kremu i preko zatezni zavoj koji mi je pomogao tog puta. Ne moram da spomenem moj nivo serotonina kad sam osvojila medalju, a sto je uticalo psihicki da ne osecam toliko bol u stopalu. Toliko sam istegla plantarnu fasciju da vise nisam znala u kom delu me najvise boli. Osim stafetne trke gde mi je pokusaj zenske stafete propao pa sam je na kraju presla sa partnerom, sezona trka je za mene bila gotova.
I thought about going to the doctor, but I knew that this would not go away quickly. The plantar fascia injury requires patience and exercise. With research about the plantar fascia, I started therapy. Four times a day, I kept the frozen gel insert in my sock. Between cooling, it is necessary to warm the painful area by wrapping it in a blanket. It comes as a natural need after your heel is extremely cold. Three times a day, I did exercises for the plantar fascia. Also, I massaged the painful area with the massager I had at the time. The entire course of therapy was as follows: exercises, massage with a massager, gel therapy with cooling, heating a cooled area, and using mint-based cream.
In the meantime, I stopped active running and only tried to run 5 km on weekends. With therapy, I felt relief, but after training, the pain would appear. I was comforted by the fact that at least it wasn’t unbearable. After a month from the injury of plantar fascia, it took me at least 3-4 days to recover a little and not walk on the toes of my right foot.
After two months of the injury, I seriously considered visiting a physiatrist. The pain did not decrease significantly, which put me in an awkward situation. When I went to the physiatrist, I received a recommendation to undergo Shockwave therapy to stimulate the plantar fascia. After my research, I saw that this does not mean that it will help all the way.
In the meantime, I also discovered patches based on hot pepper. They are primarily used for neck pain, but they helped me with my heel when I had to walk for a long time or run. This patch hangs like a gel strip that you put on the heel and then put on socks. The patch does not interfere with moving. It works by warming the area. I was surprised by the effect after I got up an hour after sitting and expected pain in the heel.
Since the massager I used stopped working effectively, I decided to research what kind of massager could help in this case. I came across the Xiaomi Massage Gun, which is good for sports recovery. Through various forums, I found out that they help with plantar fascia injury. It is better to invest in a quality massager that will last than in several therapies that may not work. The working principle was similar to Shockwave therapy. It is necessary to stimulate the nerves of the plantar fascia several times a day to enable regeneration.
The Xiaomi Massage Gun has three operating speeds. Using the massager for the first time helped me recover. Speed three is for a deep massage. Using this massager has made my recovery easier after every run training session once a week. Of course, I continued with the therapy. I only stopped using the cream because I realized that it no longer had such an effect on my recovery.
However, there was still one problem to be solved. I knew that sneakers play a big role in relieving the pressure on the foot. As my old Salomon Sonic 4 was much used, I decided to devote myself to research and purchase new ones. Salomon DRX Bliss proved to be a good choice as they have a soft sole and support in the middle of the foot. Of all the brands, Salomon is going in the right direction of making shoes for running on concrete. As with the previous sneakers, it was important to me that while wearing them, I feel like I’m walking on clouds. The price of sneakers is a bit higher, so there is always another solution.
Another solution is to get a shoe insole. You can go to the Rudo store, where they will measure you and make insoles according to your feet. The third solution that I read on the Internet is to create support for the part of the foot that is under stress. Whichever solution you choose, it is very important to address the plantar fasciitis problem so that it does not turn into a more serious problem. You can go to the doctor for therapy. Eventually, you will only need patience and dedication to carry out independent treatment.
Even after six months of recovery, I still feel a slight pain in the lower part of the heel after hilly terrain. The difference now is that I need a few hours of rest for recovery, even without therapy. This means that the plantar fascia is in the process of regeneration.
In recovery, it is extremely important to have patience. It’s mentally hard when you can’t run as you want, and the consequences of not training appear. After six months, I return to the training phase at my own pace and without any strictly planned progress. The most important thing for me is to listen to my body and enjoy running.
