This painful injury makes headlines because of the number of athletes – especially professional basketball players – who experience it. However, plantar fascia ruptures can occur in anyone who participates in high-impact exercise, such as jogging, or from having an abnormal gait due to structural anomalies, being overweight or wearing improper footwear.
Ruptures of the plantar fascia ligament may be signaled by a popping sound, intense pain, swelling and bruises appearing on the foot. If your plantar fascia has ruptured, you will typically be unable to rest your full weight on that foot or to push off on it. If you believe you’ve experienced a rupture, you should seek immediate medical help. Surgery is generally not indicated in such cases. Rather, your doctor will typically recommend up to two weeks of rest, the use of a removable walking boot and crutches. You may receive a referral to a physical therapist or instructions for carrying out foot and heel stretching exercises on your own.
Once you are able to bear weight on the injured foot again, you will likely receive a recommendation for the use of a custom orthotic shoe insert designed to support and improve the mechanics of the foot. Studies are currently being conducted on the use of Platelet Rich Plasma injections as a means of hastening recovery and providing long-lasting results, but evidence is, as of yet, inconclusive. The average adult will recover from a plantar fascia rupture in three to four months.
Avoiding the pain of a plantar fascia rupture and the disruption in daily life it creates should be the goal of anyone experiencing onset symptoms of aching in the heel. Preventative use of a Plantar Fasciitis-specific orthotic insert, such as HTP Heel Seats, can help you ward off serious injury to the plantar fascia ligament before it happens.
If you believe that you have damaged your Plantar Fascia ligament – please seek immediate medical help.
Call our office on (817) 847-8500 to make an appointment.
Abridged from www.heelthatpain.com/plantar-fascia/plantar-fascia-rupture/