What Causes Plantar Fasciitis - Foot Anatomy - Dr Gill

Understand Plantar Fasciitis - Anatomy of Foot Pain - Dr Gill
Plantar fasciitis is one of those conditions which can creep up on you, it is incredibly painful, and often appears out of the blue. In this video, we look at the course of the plan, how that relates to the anatomy of the Achilles tendon and the great toe, and also look at potential remedies for Plantar Fasciitis
Foot pain is always a huge inconvenience, and should not be dismissed. The plantar fascia can become inflamed or damaged relatively quickly if you wear the wrong shoes. Conversely, whilst the plantar fasciitis pain is not going to disappear merely because you understand the anatomy, understanding what has triggered the pain and inflammation of plantar fasciitis will help you understand what exercises you can adopt to improve its resolution and stop plantar fasciitis from occurring again
You can now consult via video or in person with Dr Gill at Dr Finlay’s Private Practice - www.drfinlays.co.uk/services/...

[@panzerscoutempire27]

as someone who has been born with flat feet, I am esp. thrilled to see this video

[@DrJamesGill]

Hope it was useful

[@jax422]

I have worn stilettos 👠 everyday since I was 12 years old. I have royally messed up my feet. I have given myself plantar fasciitis and and absolutely destroyed my gate and center of balance. I was excited to see this video.

[@martiniboy1811]

I had plantar fasciitis a couple of years ago in both feet. In my job as a hog farmer I walk 8+ hours a day so I couldn’t properly rest it like an average person could. I would do the stretches every morning for 3 times longer than recommended because otherwise it wouldn’t be effective. I would ice my feet at least twice a day. Rolling your feet on a water bottle filled with ice is a great way to reduce the pain. There were times where it felt like it was improving and times where it got almost crippling. It also affected the way I walked because I had to over compensate for whatever was hurting the most that day. A specialist told me it would take about a year before it got better and he was correct. This video did a great job of explaining what it felt like to have plantar fasciitis, and I wish I could have seen it when I was suffering.

[@DrJamesGill]

I’m glad to hear things have improved 😊

[@helderferreira1610]

Glad you recovered and managed to work suffering that pain. I'm through it on my left foot for a month. Quite unhappy to know that it will last for 11 months more! 😮😮😮

[@Slblufc]

Who else is here for the feel of the atmosphere he creates with his voice. I have no association with Medical school but I think I've watched nearly every video. I JUST CANT GET ENOUGH

[@Blu_LGC]

abso-fucking-lutely

[@DrJamesGill]

Are you saying I have bad breath? 😜

[@kattmilk]

​@@DrJamesGill😅😅😅 I think he's referring to the first thing I noticed - your VERY calm and relaxing voice. You could be talking about the joy of root canals, & I'd still be soothed! 😂

[@johnosullivan954]

I have plantar fasciitis but the ASMR voice is a nice bonus.

[@starfishgurl1984]

As a 3rd shift retail worker who unloads trucks and restocks the sales floor I frequently walk 20,000+ steps a night at work and with my dads knees and my moms feet/back proper shoes for me are a must because they help prevent me from dealing with this as much as a result. In addition to getting fitted for my shoes at a running store I alternate between two separate pairs of shoes everyday and I replace one of the pairs roughly every six months so that I’m always breaking one pair in while wearing the other one out and the change that those small steps had on my physical/joint health was tremendous for me that I highly recommend everyone who can to do the same! I still deal with this from time to time randomly when I overdo it but with bad genetics joint wise I’m prone to it anyways so thankfully my shoes minimize my chances dramatically and don’t make it nearly as bad as it would be otherwise.

[@zakvargo9147]

Dr Gill, I’ve been watching your channel since it’s inception and I still find every one of your videos entertaining, informative, and very relaxing. Please keep up the hard work, you’re amazing! As a request, could you dive into more exercise topics? Resistance training, aerobics, nutrition, recovery, joint health, etc

[@DrJamesGill]

It might be something to look at. I’m training for my first IronMan event, so I’m doing the research alreadyb

[@Alice_Walker]

Thank you. This is a great explainer 👍🏻

[@lamecasuelas2]

This Is great, i've been suffeeing from plantar fascitis for years, i feel like i'm actually getting better because i've been working Out and stretching my legs or a regular basis but still, i'm now %100 there

[@DrJamesGill]

These things are slow. Glad it’s helping though

[@samydin3533]

great info Dr James . indeed if you can make another video to demonstrate how exactly to do the exercise . thx Dr

[@bluest_of_berries7212]

I have flat feet and it went untreated causing a case of joint issues and plantar fascitis so it's fascinating to watch this video and understand more about my pain.

[@raven7458]

Very informative. Thank you Dr Gill.

[@DrJamesGill]

You are very welcome

[@TofuTheCool]

It’s amazing - I had this as a child and it would usually happen at odd moments of the night. My feet, sometimes both or sometimes one, would randomly ring out in severe pain for no reason for several minutes, sometimes 15, at a time. I would cry when I was younger because the pain was so bad and my mom would put a pair of my socks in the dryer and warm them for me to put on my feet to hopefully make my feet feel better. This happened from when I was a younger as I can remember until about age 10. We never looked into the causes, just extremely painful soreness for no reason until the pain went away. I completely forgot about this pain until this video explaining what it could’ve possibly been! Thanks Dr. Gill!

[@DrJamesGill]

I’m sorry you experienced that, but also it’s good it’s passed. It might be worth while speaking to a professional to get some advice on stretches

[@ChrisCanomi]

Great content! My man has this problem n I been looking for content to understand

[@DrJamesGill]

Glad I could help! I would definitely recommend speaking to your doctor

[@hardnox_227]

i have to get surgery on my foot for planters fibroma, little nervous i enjoyed learning from your videos

[@draelon]

Thanks for making this video. I've been "lazy" over the last 8 yrs after almost losing a leg to a post-surgical infection. I used to run 5k per day but due to chronic compartment syndrome, I had separate fasciotomies and unfortunately the second became infected (and I got to learn what a wound vac was after multiple surgical cleanings). I've allowed myself over the years to get very out of shape, although I recovered and kept the leg with minor nerve damage (primarily due to the swelling that occurred prior to the infection... unfortunately I had an allergic reaction to the mastidol in the wound closures). Recently, I'd been having really annoying pain I wasn't familiar with. It started a few months ago and has been getting more and more frequent, and while buying a new pair of shoes today, I mentioned the issue to the individual fitting me (custom shoe shop that specializes in repairs and custom orthotics), and they immediately mentioned plantar fasciitis and showed me stretches (which sadly I was already familiar with but hadn't been doing since I haven't been running in years). After getting home I decided to watch a video and learn about it so I could hopefully begin to improve things myself without resorting to medical treatment if necessary and thanks to your video, although I will contact my primary care physician and let them decide if I should have it looked at or just wait and see if I am able to improve the condition on my own... to be clear, I'll follow their advice but I've already been increasing activity lately and been trying to get myself to where I'm running again with 6-8 months (i have quite a bit of weight to lose first), which hopefully will improve things if I start randomly stretching throughout the day.

[@YouTudey]

Thanks a doc! You rock!

[@DrJamesGill]

You're welcome!

[@benny.sullivan]

A nice, clear explanation of the pathology. In terms of treatment for plantar fasciitis, if these initial interventions fail, GPs would usually refer to a podiatrist.

[@DrJamesGill]

Absolutely, sometimes Ortho get involved, but not that often thankfully

[@djack6318]

Even though this is for study for students. I found this very helpful to understand my own foot pain. I have done the measures to counter the problem outlined by Dr. Gill. And my foot pain has lessen so much in a few days. 😮 Thank you for this info. I understand it can not be credited as a doctor visit. But it gave me insight.

[@DrJamesGill]

That’s tremendous to hear it’s helped. If it doesn’t fully settle though, I would recommend seeing your doctor

[@djack6318]

@@DrJamesGill Ive always had this problem of my feet straighting at all times. My calves are very strong. That was the bit in the video that hit me. I never really did stretches for my calves. So seeing how that affects the bottom of the foot was an eye opener. I do plan to see a doctor about it if my pain stalls on fading away. But my legs dont hurt as much when working anymore.

[@DrJamesGill]

Any benefit is a win in my book, so pleased to hear that! I personally find, that whilst painful, foam rolling can be useful too

[@LunaLuxASMR]

I love your videos🤗

[@DrJamesGill]

👍

[@___FS___]

I was told by my chiropractor to only wear shoes with a wide toe box as letting my toes stretch out really seems to strengthen my arches (I went to him for hip pain that ended up being caused by my foot). So far so good, although now I hate wearing normal shoes..

[@Thekijuju]

Its crazy. Alot of pain sources from back issues, hip or knees can all be found in the feet. Eventually when the feet are fixed all the chinks from the feet up fix themselves. Its so weird lol.

[@xEchoAlertx]

I would love to see a similar video about shin splints, if that’s something you’d have interest in making

[@atulrai6575]

Nice james

[@DrJamesGill]

👍

[@heroicrockstar]

I absolutely love these videos, Dr Gill is awesome, but the first turn to the camera was very jazz club 😂

[@DrJamesGill]

I'll be honest, I don't really understand what that means

[@herbiegobananas1744]

Hahaha ! I was just about to type same. Nice

[@learicist]

Turning to the second camera is such a badass move

[@adrievanduijn8334]

LOL😂

[@SparkesIsRunning]

Hi Dr Gill. Great vid. As a podiatrist and now physician Associate your videos are invaluable to my practice. Just wanted to point out that you say ‘palmar fascia’ twice at around 6:04 and then again briefly after. Love what you do

[@DrJamesGill]

Yes, unfortunately verbal slip, but can’t edit it now it’s up

[@SparkesIsRunning]

Oops sorry.

[@imsbvs]

I had this a few years ago, it was not good. I had been shielding at home and took my first holiday - a caravan (to continue shielding), walking was very painful indeed, some stretches aided but it was time that healed the problem.

[@mandomavicus3616]

I can definitely vouch for calf stretching when getting this from running, whenever I developed it from running, my go to was still training but lightly to keep everything warm and all the repair mechanisms at play, but would stuff my running shoes with a bit of padding in the heel and then do 2 x 1 minute calf stretches each side on the curb at the side of the road and it would clear up quite smoothly, I do the stretches daily now as a preventative measure. Great videos as always! Were you planning on doing any videos on Thoracic Outlet/Carpal Tunnel/Cubital Tunnel syndromes?

[@DrJamesGill]

I think we’ll be looking at carpal tunnel when it comes to these medical issues next 😊

[@sandwichbreath0]

Thanks! I think I'm one of the 'calf' ones, as I've noticed I get pain in them sometimes when trying to walk fast to catch a train, etc., and I get plantar fasciitis a lot. A physio gave me shoe inserts years ago but they kept crippling me with more pain, so I stopped using them and now just rest the feet for a day or two whenever they get bad. As Dr Gill was talking about the heel and calf stretches, it suddenly all made sense! Glad to hear it's worked for you too, definitely gonna start doing these stretches daily now.

[@mandomavicus3616]

@@sandwichbreath0 Hopefully it gives you some relief! I usually do it after exercise so that the muscle is warm and I usually hold mine for about 2 minutes, usually doing both sides together but if I feel like I wanna really go for it I'll do one at a time for a more deeper, focused stretch, and use it as an opportunity for a moment of mindfulness as I'm at it lol. I know the wrong footwear can also contribute though. Again, hopefully it solves the issue! And also.... Chevrolet... Zebra... And honesty lol.

[@sandwichbreath0]

@@mandomavicus3616 Definitely on the footwear, too. I tend to need memory foam / gel inserts even in new sneakers. Thanks for all the advice. And LOL on the Chevrolet, Zebra, Honesty -- real ones know 😂

[@alexisdagenais8720]

@DrJamesGill - I have 1 question I am desperate to ask. When I was 9 years old, I had to have surgery for a left ankle posterior impingement problem. I have always had issues with pain in my left ankle. I am now 28. I gave birth at 24. From a week after my son was born 4 years ago, I have had terrible foot pain. It’s spanned from the old pain of my childhood pre-surgery to all of the symptoms discussed in your video. I’ve even had major burning on the top of my foot and in my arch. I know I need to see a doctor. But, do you have any hypothesis to how my surgery and my pregnancy might have expounded upon a potential plantar fasciitis diagnosis I anticipate receiving? Drs mentioned that premature arthritis was highly likely when I was a kid.

[@jaminblizz]

Ironically perfect timing my right foot has been hurting for weeks. And I'm not sure if its my faulty ankle or just bad foot

[@DrJamesGill]

Hopefully you’ll be able to see your GP to take a look

[@kattmilk]

I've had pain in my right foot for several months. When it became unbearable, I FINALLY went to a podiatrist. He did ordered an MRI and the results showed a 5th metatarsal avulsion tuberosity fracture and partial lateral plantar tear. I'm very flat-footed, but I just don't know how that happened, as I don't remember having an accident that would cause that type of injury. Now I'm stuck wearing a cast because the walking boot he had me in the past several weeks just didn't seem to help. Another podiatrist diagnosed me with an inflammatory plantar fasciitis and a stress fracture. I just don't know what to think! My pain is in the bottom and outside of my foot. 😢

[@edgarabarca6609]

I always come for the ASMR but i just strugling With a plantar fasitis for more than a year and this is really interesting

[@jasondikes5144]

can you do metatarsalgia next?

[@loadventureslife5090]

One day I jumped out of bed and when my foot hit the floor I yelled. I thought my foot was broken. I used a boot for a month and got special insoles. Try stretching your foot with your toes curled inwards towards ur heel it works.

[@DrJamesGill]

The boots are an interesting area

[@jamesa6272]

I have this in my room foot. I also have very flat feet but I wear orthotics for my flat feet. I don’t feel it at all in my left foot but my right foot feels it when I wake up and walk or sit for a while then walk. But it goes away quickly. Could the orthotics be making it worse ?

[@Notthatkindofdr]

Thank you, Dr. Gill! Great timing for me that you made this video, because I have started being bothered by (self-diagnosed) plantar fasciitis recently and it is helpful to learn more about it and how to treat it. By the way, I noticed a few times you misspoke and mentioned "palma fascia", like at 6:03. 🙂

[@DrJamesGill]

Yes, small mistake, thankfully I don’t think anyone would be too mislead by it.

[@lukacs37]

Just ❤

[@DrJamesGill]

👍

[@balaam_7087]

Hi Dr. Gil. I’m not in the field of medicine, but I wanted to share a corroborating anecdote. I took gymnastics as a young boy, and there was another boy named Peter who trained there. He was Caucasian, so I highly doubt he was from that particular tribe in Africa, but he also had just two toes on each foot-the big toe and pinky toe. He also had practically perfect balance, gait and coordination. We would joke that his feet clamped down on the balance beam and would call him out for cheating, but only in good fun of course (we got along well). Strangely though, I never noticed any scars or signs of trauma to his feet. My guess is he was just born that way, which makes me curious as to whether there are other groups of people with that condition besides that African tribe.

[@DrJamesGill]

Certainly with the Doma, it’s a genetic issue, and I’d have assumed the same here It’s amazing how the human body adapts

[@grahfkarate1799]

A lot of shoes with a narrow toe box and high heels. Slowly transition to zero drop😊

[@theblondeone8426]

ive had this six yrs im a nurse and its almost ended my career - my fav thing is stretching backward on a sloped concrete surface like a handicap ramp it feels amazing but has to be the right angle. it still limits me in the hrs i can work.

[@fersone8293]

I just had it. Made massage and exercise. Now been 2 weeks now, yet it still hurts. Can't walk normal. Any help/advice? Until when is this? 3 weeks, 1 month?? Pls someone response. Ty.

[@olympic-gradelurker]

I have Morton's toe and developed had horrible foot pain every morning for at least 8 months after completing an adventure race last year. After about 2 months of no training have I just realized that i haven't had that pain for a while.

[@DrJamesGill]

Have you been able to see anyone about it? That might be worth while getting investigated if comes back

[@claudiawilkinson8769]

I thought it had been proven through biopsies that it’s not actually inflammation but thickening. There is no mention here of doing all the specific exercises to strengthen the small muscles of the feet as stretching alone won’t do it ( mine came on when I was very flexible after a few years of yoga). Mine has also been helped by red light therapy, collagen supplements ( joint health from cytoplan), HRT, but most importantly dry needling. Taping with K tape ( or similar) helps to reduce pain whilst waiting for it to heal). It is an extremely debilitating condition.

[@jacquese.pretorius8825]

I have been suffering from severe Sciatica for the past 18 years, due to Rugby and bodybuilding injuries, approximately 3 weeks ago it became unbearable and I went to see my GP who had Xrays taken which confirmed an old compact fracture of the L3 and an compressed disk between L1 and L2 as well as Lumbarization, within a week my left foot started aching and I was diagnosed with Plantar Fasciitis, I work with safety boots around Gold Mines, is it due to my Sciatica or Boots that I'm experiencing the problem.

[@DrJamesGill]

It would be worth while discussing with your GP to identify if there is a connection

[@kohinarec6580]

I had flat feet on my childhood and my ankles are still a bit deviated. I had a very nasty long-term fasciitis a few years back.

[@niallmckane5136]

Dr can you do a video on Carrie malformation as I’m just recovering from surgery from it

[@DrJamesGill]

To clarify do you mean a Chiari malformation? We can certainly look at it

[@niallmckane5136]

@@DrJamesGill yes

[@DrJamesGill]

I hope the recovery is going well?

[@ArianaGramsci]

I had terrible pain on a foot, went to the doctor and he told me it was fasciitis. He gave me a few pills and told me to come back if there was swelling. After a few days it was all swollen and it turns out I had a broken bone, but even today I still recall that pain and associate it with fasciitis hahaha

[@DrJamesGill]

Oh dear that’s not good. The problem with stress fractures is often the only thing which can detect them is an MRI, which makes clinical decision making hard

[@1eversince]

Can’t tell if I have this , or a bruised calcaneus. It’s right on the edge of my heel on the outer side ..

[@DrJamesGill]

Would be worth seeing your GP to check

[@AL-jo2vp]

Me: *drifting off to a new video Dr Gill: 'ectrodactyly' Me: *suddenly alert, goes down Google rabbit hole

[@DrJamesGill]

🤣🤣

[@3DGvisuals]

What would a track athlete with flat feet do to combat this condition?

[@DrJamesGill]

I think the first step, I will be to get a professional assessment, to find out what is triggering their issue, once you found the cause, you can look to manage it

[@3DGvisuals]

@@DrJamesGill hypermobility combined with a potential future track olympian is definitely the root cause, but I'm not entirely convinced that the advice provided thus far is correct and there are very few alternative sources of guidance available at present.

[@amirilan4435]

Trivia - the hebrew name for plantar fasciitis is Dorban - the word for porcupine 😊

[@DrJamesGill]

That’s interesting!

[@victoriarawlings689]

Amazing - now calling it my porcupine!

[@einsp227]

I suffer from this and nothing has helped unfortunately. I’ve tried numerous insoles and all those made for this condition and no relief.

[@DrJamesGill]

Have you seen a physio?

[@CaesarBro]

Mine is due to buying the base level of adidas football boots instead of the premium adidas models.

[@rodneyboulton6410]

I've suffered with this in the past. As you know it can come from nowhere and takes forever to clear up. Not great for someone who does 20,000+ steps at work

[@DrJamesGill]

Wow! What do you do for work?

[@rodneyboulton6410]

​@@DrJamesGill I work nights in a supermarket. The shopfloor is very big so I cover a lot of ground in one night.

[@DrJamesGill]

Ah. That makes sense, and I’d imagine safety boots too?

[@rodneyboulton6410]

@Dr James Gill Yes. Thankfully I haven't had any issues recently.

[@starfishgurl1984]

I’m the same way only it’s a retail store instead of a supermarket but we sell groceries too and the other day I hit 25,000 steps because we had two trucks and I covered half of the back side of our unload line due to 4 callouts because of bad weather and then I had to cleanup the back room afterwards before I left to prepare the sales floor for when we opened (we have to move stuff out of the back room to unload and then bring it back after because we don’t have a big enough back room for our demands).

[@psychicbyinternet]

Off topic but have you ever watched Philosophy Tube? Great KZbin channel that makes video essays. She has a video on the problems in the NHS with trans healthcare that you all might find interesting. It's called "I emailed my doctor 133 times: the Crisis in the British Healthcare System."

[@brazilian__guy]

Are you on Instagram Dr. James ?

[@DrJamesGill]

Not really no.

[@Jamie_Pritchard]

So THIS is what I have?!

[@carterwongtbs]

I encourage you to reconsider your recommendations regarding footwear. If you think about the restrictions that the average shoe places on the feet, you'll discover that the culprit here is our footwear. Most shoes function like casts. They don't allow the many joints in the feet to articulate properly because they are too narrow and restrictive at the toe box. They also restrict articulation through excessively thick soles that don't allow the feet to conform to the surfaces they press on. Additionally, most shoes have a rise from toe to heel, which permanently fixes the calf in the shortened position when the shoes are worn. I switched to minimalist footwear about two years ago and have alleviated many of my daily ache and pain issues (mostly hip and shoulder focused) through this change. Minimalist footwear provides protection from the ground while allowing the foot to function much more closely to how it would naturally (free of shoes). The process of switching to minimalist footwear is not easy. It is not an overnight cure. It is uncomfortable and requires dedication. It is the type of process that people are prone to be discouraged by, because it is likely that they will feel worse before they start to feel better. However, like I said, I have had great success with pain relief through minimalist footwear. Recently, in a similar approach, I have eliminated my mattress. I have been sleeping on the floor for about a month and am experiencing similar success in mitigating daily neck pain and discomfort. The first three-ish weeks were rough as the soft tissue in my right shoulder adjusted and the pain was sometimes much greater than that of the daily ache variety. But I think I've gotten over that hump and am already experiencing a large decrease in everyday neck pain while becoming increasingly comfortable sleeping on the not-soft floor. Katy Bowman has web resources and has written books on this subject and her presentation of information is what started me down this minimalist path. Also, speaking as a massage therapist, the pain that you experience when you foam roll should not discourage you from doing the foam rolling. Tissues should be supple and adaptive to pressure. The sensitivity that you speak of is an indication of great restriction in your tissues, which is why it hurts so much. The more foam rolling you do, the less it will hurt to foam roll.

[@scooting_turtle7830]

3:30 Tom Holland with a little dad mixed in.

[@DestinyMakesMusic401]

In agony right now please tell me how to fix this, I’m a dancer 🥺

[@marthanye3029]

can't stop laughing at great toe 🦶

[@DrJamesGill]

??

[@marthanye3029]

@@DrJamesGill such an excellent toe 👌 never heard it called that before 😄

[@appletree9974]

Too much explanation you need to show more exercises 😊

[@Crumpy87]

Great video very informative. I suffer from Plantar Fasciitis from my time in the Army and it can be excruciating. I seek trigger point therapy to help, it’s a very painful treatment, but it does relieve the first steps of agony in the morning for a few months

[@DrJamesGill]

Has your GP referred you to a specialist? Might help?

[@KF-cx8bm]

Trigger point??? what does that involve? Does it help?