The Plantar Fasciitis Trials - Part 3 - The Podiatrist

So.. Picking up where I left off on part 2 - Off to see the podiatrist.

First, lets look at my thoughts/views/experiences regarding podiatrists.  I had never been to one (that covers experiences.)

I love research, so I had googled everything I possibly could in regards to  Plantar Fasciitis and (when I first got them) Vibram Five Fingers.  This had led me  to several Podiatry forums.  I read everything I possibly could on both topics - after all, these were the foot experts right?   Before I looked into Plantar Fasciitis and had been researching VFFs, I noticed a really common theme.  Podiatrists hated them.  This wasn't a huge surprise, after all Christopher McDougall had said the same thing in articles and in his book.  It was amazing to me the outright vehemence that the Podiatrists posted about them. The more common viewpoint seemed to be that any form of "minimalist" shoe was simply a horrible injury waiting to happen, whether you did "too much too soon" or not.  In fact, the whole idea of "too much too soon" as a problem was ridiculed.

The Plantar Fasciitis Trials - Part 1. Background

So, I've recently had several discussion regarding my experiences with Plantar Fasciitis both in comments on my blog, and with several people in person.  This made me realize it might be worth taking the time to really take a look and explain what I have done, and why!  I'll start with the background.

[caption id="attachment_2188" align="alignright" width="210"] My first pair of Vibram Five Fingers[/caption]

It all started with my switching over to Vibram Five Fingers.  I didn't know at the time that it could contribute, or why.  Looking back, I suspect that a big part of it is the old "too much too soon" problem combined with my complete lack of flexibility.  I don't know that moving into the five fingers slower would have prevented this - but had I been stretching my calves/Achilles/hamstrings - the additional time would have helped.  But I might be getting ahead of myself.