"Sole Splints"

Camilleon · Post by **Camilleon** » 15 Jul 2005 07:45

I've had HORRIBLE sole pains (both sides, at least

) whenever I play lately... I call them "sole splints" because they are very similar to shin splints, except that they occur in the muscles that stretch along the sole of the foot. It's actually called Plantar Fasciitis; it's the tearing of the muscles that stretch from the heels to the toes or balls of the feet. It can potentially cause heel spurs.

IT HURTS LIKE A BITCH, especially in my arches. I'm really surprised that more footbaggers haven't complained about them. I found two good websites: http://adam.about.com/reports/000061_9.htm & http://heelspurs.com/index.html. The first one says: "It is usually associated with overuse during high-impact exercise and sports..."

I ripped out the original Laver insoles and I have Dr. Scholls athletic insoles (almost brand new) in there, but those don't help... I don't feel it when I'm not playing but the pain usually comes back when I play alone or with one other person (and then for the rest of the day/night afterwards

). They might also be because my Lavers are half a size too big... but I tie them tight, I have extra flat insoles under the athletic ones for extra cushioning and space-filler, and my insoles fit my feet fine, so I don't know...

I've had problems stretching those muscles but I feel like I HAVE to, and unfortunately the stretching suggestions on the websites only really seem to stretch my calves, which I've always done anyway. Has anyone here experienced this or know what I'm talking about? Can anyone help me out? I'm going to see a physiotherapist about it soon, but until then, anything?

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 15 Jul 2005 10:27

I was thinking that your insoles may not be the best for your condition. I think more arch support may be the way to go . . . meaning a support with a lot of curve for the arch rather than too little. Hope you get better because that sounds painful!

professor · Post by **professor** » 16 Jul 2005 09:34

I don't know if I've had exactly what you're talking about, but sometimes when I would playing the arch of my foot would hurt really bad. Especially when I would do a lot of butterflys because of the way your feet hit the ground for them. You hit the ground with your toe first then kind of drop down to your heel.

While I was doing a run I would feel fine, but I knew that the second I stopped I would be in pain as my muscles relaxed or whatever. The thing I would do to stretch them was get in a calf stretching position (hands on a wall or something with one foot back). And instead of keeping my heel on the ground for a calf stretch, I would lift my foot up on the balls of the foot and bend that knee downwards and push down on my foot. This stretches the arch of your foot like crazy.

While my arches hurt this stretch totally killed. I could do it only a little bit because it hurt so bad. Also a little stretch I would do throught the day was when I would walk, I would do kind of the same motion as above with the foot that was behind me at that moment and stretch it a little bit as I was walking. I'm sure I look a little wierd to some people, but hey it was worth being able to play footbag.

I haven't had any of these problems for a few months now, so I'm guessing my feet got used to the impact. I don't know if this is what you experienced at all, but I guess this could help anyone with arch pain.

Chim-Chim · Post by **Chim-Chim** » 17 Jul 2005 18:16

Try this stretch (pretty basic)

get in butterfly stretch position, and stick one leg straight out in front of you, pull your toes back/push them down as far as you can (with your hand) and lean into it.

concentrate on putting most of the pushing/pulling pressure on your two bigger toes.. be careful not to pull the bottom of your foot toward you or you could hurt your hip.

hope this helps

Camilleon · Post by **Camilleon** » 18 Jul 2005 10:36

Thanks guys. I tried the stretches from the website again, going a little deeper, and they seemed to work. I think they are similar to what you guys are describing. I didn't have any sole pain while playing yesterday!!

I still have to try the butterfly stretch one... sounds interesting... Thanks again!

Jamo · Post by **Jamo** » 22 Jul 2005 15:38

I had that...not from footbag but just from walking long distances. I went to a podiatrist and he gave me specialised arches and stretches to do and theyve gotten a lot better.

Chim-Chim · Post by **Chim-Chim** » 22 Jul 2005 16:26

I have specialized arches as well. Unfortunately I can't keep balance in laver's without my arch supports after wearing them so long.. gotta deal with the extra weight when freestyling

Jamo what stretches did the podiatrist show you?

Sporatical_Distractions · Post by **Sporatical_Distractions** » 22 Jul 2005 16:46

when I used to play ice hockey, my soles would hurt like all hell. The thing that I did to fix it was to loosen up my skates to the point where i still had full range of foot control without fucking with my ankles. I've never experienced it through footbag though.

Guest_2 · Post by **Guest_2** » 13 Aug 2005 11:34

I've had it too

, I tried to find Dr. Scholl's for it, but they would mess with my clippers....I just quite kicking for a couple weeks to let it go away

crazylegs32 · Post by **crazylegs32** » 28 Sep 2005 21:44

I am getting chronic plantar facsitis too. I first had it last year and I considered it a "gimpy" foot. I had numbness on the outer edge and pain in the heel. It went away and now its back this summer, Its really bad in the morning but if I warm it up the pain subsides.

scott behmer · Post by **scott behmer** » 01 Dec 2005 18:15

hey there. you may have already tried this or it may not work but i'm just trying to help. i've noticed that sometimes i get a similar pain and i have linked it with lacing my shoes too tight. i wear shoes that are a little bit bigger on me than most footbaggers probably do and i think lacing them tight puts your foot at a wierd angle. next time you kick try lacing them a little looser and see what happens.

hackeysnacker · Post by **hackeysnacker** » 01 Dec 2005 18:38

yeah it's easier for muscles to relax w/ looser shoes, as well as socks that aren't too tight. A lot of the muscle control for ankle crank comes from the [outside] shin, which seems to cause muscle imbalance on either side of the bone, and so if the shin can relax when u're not 'cranking' it won't cramp us as quickly. I saw a post up here by someone about that (I think Irish or Smith) and i took the advice and i don't get shin splints as bad/often anymore, any my feet don't cramp up any more either.

Moxie · Post by **Moxie** » 03 Dec 2005 18:51

My foot developed the "sole splint" type pain today. It's on the outer edge of the bottom of my foot. I had this problem once before, a long time ago when I was trying to flex the "ankle crank" muscles- as in, trying to flex then release the muscles instead of just stretching them by putting my foot sideways on the ground. As soon as I relaxed my foot, I could tell that I had done something bad to myself.

That was so painful, I hope it goes away faster this time.

crazylegs32 · Post by **crazylegs32** » 03 Dec 2005 19:38

My foot has been bothering me for awhile and not getting better so I did some research. I found that theres a device called a night splint that can help with this problem. THe night splint holds your foot in a slight toes up position as you sleep. Without the splint you tend to sleep in a toes pointing down position and while you are sleeping your foot is healing. Then when you wake up it hurts to step because your foot has healed in the tightened up position.
edit: The night splint really seems to do the trick for me, Im gonna keep using and doing the stretches for a month or two and then hopefully Ill be all healed up