Any runner knows about plantar fasciitis; it’s the dreaded injury that can take you off the running journey for months at a time. Also commonly called ‘runner’s heel’, plantar fasciitis is the injury of the plantar fascia –  a thick and flat band of connective tissue located on the bottom of your foot. The plantar fascia connects your toes to your heel bone, supporting your foot’s arch. When you run, the ligament works with the achilles tendon. It stabilizes your inner forefoot when you push off the ground.

Plantar fasciitis develops when the ligament becomes strained, resulting in miniscule tears in the ligament and stress on the attachment of the plantar fascia on the calcaneus bone. After a while, the pain becomes almost unbearable.

Tight calves are known to increase risk of developing plantar fasciitis. Excessive pronation or intense hill workouts can also aggravate the ligament, increasing the risk. Around 10 percent of runners develop plantar fasciitis at some point in their running career, so it’s important to know how to prevent and treat it if you intend to keep running.

Does Acupuncture Work for Plantar Fasciitis? How?

A trained acupuncturist will diagnose plantar fasciitis as a repetitive stress disorder that presents as an acute strain. Acupuncture is used to stimulate Qi and relieve blood stagnation in the energy meridians (channels) to promote healing.

This might sound a little nebulous, but scientific research shows that acupuncture is effective in both relieving pain and speeding healing of the plantar fasciitis. Click here to read study results that include six month follow up evaluations on patients who had exhibited signs of plantar fasciitis for at least three months before starting treatment. Click here to read study results that show that patients that had not experienced relief from conventional treatments did experience relief once they undertook acupuncture treatments for four weeks. There are many other studies about acupuncture for plantar fasciitis available on the internet, but these two clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of this medical practice.

Looking for a Huntersville NC Acupuncturist for Heel Pain?

Suffering from heel pain? Acupuncture is recommended at least twice a week for three weeks. Most runners experience improvement after six acupuncture treatments. Give us a call or stop by our office to meet Dr. Doyle and discuss a treatment plan to improve your plantar fasciitis and get you out running again!