How A Night Splint Might Help Relieve Your Plantar Fasciitis Pain

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The pain from plantar fasciitis can be felt in your heel and along the bottom of your foot. Swelling of the tissue can cause stiffness and pain as you move your foot when walking. Pressing on your heel can often cause pain as well. Calf, heel, and foot stretches are often prescribed for plantar fasciitis to help work out the stiffness associated with the condition.

While you can do the stretches often during the day, you aren't able to do them at night when you sleep, and that can cause intense pain when you first start walking in the morning. Your podiatrist might recommend wearing a splint or boot while you sleep. Here's how they work to help the pain from plantar fasciitis.

Why Plantar Fasciitis Pain Is Worse In The Morning

As you go about your usual activities of walking during the day, you stretch your tendons and fascia so they stay loose and more flexible. When you sit down and rest for long periods, the tissues begin to swell and tighten, and you'll notice pain when you start walking until you work the stiffness out again. The effect is even more pronounced when you sleep for several hours at night. Then, when you stretch them first thing in the morning, you'll experience pain until you've started walking again and loosen up your feet.

How Wearing A Night Splint Can Help

The purpose of wearing a night splint is to hold your foot in a stretched position all night while you sleep. The splint is made of soft material that is comfortable to the touch, but getting used to having your foot stretched all night might be difficult at first. There are different kinds of splints you can wear. Your podiatrist may recommend one that is like a boot with a rigid back that fits against your calf and a rigid sole that fits along the arch of your foot. This splint securely holds your foot in a bent position so your calf and heel tendons are fully stretched all night. Other splints have a rigid front and fit below the calf.

Some splints are soft like stiff socks and have a strip that runs from the toe to the front of the ankle to keep your toes and foot pulled into a flat position. These splints keep your foot at a 90 degree angle to your leg so the position is like your foot would be if you were standing. After you sleep all night with your foot in the stretched position, it should be less stiff and more flexible when you wake up in the morning, so you experience less pain. Wearing the splint nightly could help speed recovery from plantar fasciitis.

Your podiatrist may also recommend that you continue to do stretching exercises and rest your foot as much as possible until it heals. A night splint is just one possible treatment for plantar fasciitis. If it doesn't bring you relief from pain, your podiatrist may recommend a medical procedure or other treatments instead.

For more information, contact local professionals or visit sites like http://www.advancedfootclinic.org.

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