Signs Plantar Fasciitis is Healing, and What to Do When You’re Stuck
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It can take a while to fully recover from Plantar Fasciitis. Like with many chronic pain conditions, it’s normal to have a day or two of setbacks when you’re working on getting over Plantar Fasciitis.
To keep up your motivation, keep an eye out for these signs that Plantar Fasciitis is healing - and if you feel stuck, change up your strategy. Here are the tried-and-true tips from our co-founding physical therapist.
Plantar Fasciitis is a repetitive stress injury that affects the thick band of tissue at the bottom of your foot, called the plantar fascia. Plantar fascia connects your heel bone to your toe bones, maintaining the healthy, shock-absorbing spring of your arch. This tissue can develop microscopic tears and inflammation when the repetitive stress of your activities exceeds its capacity to support the load. Typical symptoms include heel and arch pain, especially in the morning when you take your first few steps, or during and after activities on foot.
When your symptoms are new and mild, it's possible to get over Plantar Fasciitis with in a week. Here's how to cure Plantar Fasciitis in one week.
However, Plantar Fasciitis typically doesn’t go away on its own, especially if you’ve had symptoms for more than a few weeks. However, with the right treatment applied consistently, most people can find significant relief from Plantar Fasciitis within the first few weeks.
For example, users of the Alleviate Method have told us their pain is 40% lower within the first 2 weeks of using the Plantar Fasciitis System 2. In certain situations, it's possible to get over Plantar Fasciitis with in a week. Here's how to cure Plantar Fasciitis in one week.
To fully heal Plantar Fasciitis, where you’re mostly pain-free and have strong defenses against flare-ups, it’ll take anywhere from 6 to 10 weeks, depending on a few factors, including the severity of your symptoms and how long you’ve had them.
Note, though, that even when you’re following the correct root-cause treatment consistently, it’s normal to have a few “bad days” where your pain is worse for no apparent reason, and you feel like you aren’t making progress.
That’s frustrating, but to be expected when you’re recovering from a chronic pain condition. With Plantar Fasciitis, progress is usually not linear - and this makes it even more important to be aware of the signs that Plantar Fasciitis is healing, so that you can keep your motivation up.
Reduction in pain and discomfort is the clearest sign Plantar Fasciitis is starting to heal:
Your first few steps of the day, right out of bed, are less painful
Your arch or heel pain during and after activities is less severe
You may feel less stiffness or pain in your arch or heel after a period of sitting
You can keep walking, running, or standing before pain kicks in
You have wider range of motion without pain or tightness
Because Plantar Fasciitis can affect other parts of your kinetic chain, improvements in Plantar Fasciitis symptoms can be felt elsewhere:
If you’ve had pain or tightness in your ankle, calf, knee, hip, or back as your body tries to compensate for the painful arch and heel, these areas may start to feel more normal
You may feel improvements in your Plantar Fasciitis in different ways:
Your ability to handle a variety of surfaces or activities is higher
You don’t feel as much need for pain-relief devices like a foot brace, Plantar Fasciitis inserts (orthotics), or Plantar Fasciitis night splints
You feel more confident about trying new activities that you may have avoided
To keep track of your progress, we recommend keeping a journal of your activities, Plantar Fasciitis exercises and other treatment work, and your symptoms.
If you use our Plantar Fasciitis Guided Recovery Program, pain assessments and progress tracking are built into the program. You can also use your own notes.
One clear way to see if you’re making progress is to use a diagnostic test on a regular basis. In our Plantar Fasciitis Guided Recovery Program, you use the Heel Walk Test each day to assess your pain level.
This is the same test physical therapists use to first diagnose the condition, and gauge patients’ improvements with treatment.
But what if it seems Plantar Fasciitis isn’t getting better? There are a few questions you can ask yourself to get “unstuck” on your journey toward pain-free. We cover the strategies for when Plantar Fasciitis is not getting better elsewhere, but here are some high-level overview:
With Plantar Fasciitis exercise PDFs, massage devices, braces, orthotics and more, it’s certainly possible to research and build your own treatment regimen. However, it’s difficult to know what really works and what’s snake oil - and trial and error only adds to your recovery timeline.
If you’re looking to take control of Plantar Fasciitis at home, we recommend following the gold standard of physical therapy - a method proven in clinics and adapted for at-home use - to simplify your recovery and make sure that all of your efforts count.
Here are the three key components of Plantar Fasciitis treatment that’s helped over 20,000 people (and counting):
Load management: this is about reducing the stress on the injured plantar fascia while it recovers. Physical therapists use a taping technique called low-dye taping. You can use the Loft 2 Brace to reduce the load and relieve pain, replicating the expert tape job.
Soft tissue mobilization: this is a technical term for Plantar Fasciitis massage to break up the scar tissue and promote tissue healing. Physical therapists use a technique called Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM). Our Arch Massager lets you easily replicate IASTM to release tension, relieve pain, and facilitate the growth of healthy, strong tissue.
Progressive strengthening: this is about gradually building strength in the muscles and other tissue that support the plantar fascia. Our Guided Recovery Program brings the structured, targeted physical therapy exercises to your home so your recovery work only takes 10 minutes a day.
Signs of Healing: Reduced morning pain, improved mobility, and less discomfort during activities signal recovery. Track progress with journals or the Heel Walk Test.
Chronic Plantar Fasciitis Needs Active Treatment: For pain that persists more than a week or two, use the Alleviate Method to treat the tissue damage and resolve the root cause of the pain. At this stage, Plantar Fasciitis won't go away on its own.
The Alleviate Method: By replicating proven physical therapy techniques at home, the Alleviate Method empowers users with tools like the Loft 2 Brace, Arch Massager, and a Guided Recovery Program. This approach has helped over 20,000 people see significant pain reduction—up to 40% within two weeks.
Alleviate was founded by a patient-and-clinician duo to bring the effective chronic pain treatment from physical therapy offices to everyone's home. With our Plantar Fasciitis System 2, that includes the Guided Recovery Program, you can use the Alleviate Method to recover from Plantar Fasciitis at home. No physical therapy appointments required!
Luke Ferdinands, Physical Therapist & Co-Founder
A New Zealand-trained physical therapist with over 20 years of experience, Luke developed the Alleviate Method to bring the gold standard of physical therapy care to everyone's home. Luke leads the development of physical tools and digital physical therapy content, focusing on driving clinical outcomes for people with chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions like Tennis Elbow, Plantar Fasciitis, Runner's Knee, and more.
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