published 12/15/07
Thickened plantar fascia — really thick!
Science confirms connection between plantar fasciitis and a surprisingly thick tissue in the arch of the foot
by Paul Ingraham, Vancouver, Canada MOREclose
Credentials and qualifications
I am a writer and retired Registered Massage Therapist (unusually well-trained for a massage therapist, a 3000-hour program). I’m almost done with a Bachelor of Health Sciences degree. I am a peer reviewer for The Natural Standard, and a copyeditor for Science-Based Medicine. My most important qualification is more than a decade of workaholic post-graduate study, clinical experience, and constant conversations with readers from around the world, including many experts who have provided countless suggestions and criticisms.
For more information, see: Who Am I to Say? More information about my qualifications, credentials and professional experiences for my readers and customers.
Credentials and qualifications
I am a writer and retired Registered Massage Therapist (unusually well-trained for a massage therapist, a 3000-hour program). I’m almost done with a Bachelor of Health Sciences degree. I am a peer reviewer for The Natural Standard, and a copyeditor for Science-Based Medicine. My most important qualification is more than a decade of workaholic post-graduate study, clinical experience, and constant conversations with readers from around the world, including many experts who have provided countless suggestions and criticisms.
For more information, see: Who Am I to Say? More information about my qualifications, credentials and professional experiences for my readers and customers.
EXCERPT The information in this article has been absorbed into SaveYourself.ca’s ridiculously detailed tutorial about plantar fasciitis.
Research groups in Australia and Taiwan and Turkey all confirmed in 2007 that — and I know you were wondering about this — yes, the connective tissue in the arch of your foot really does get thicker — a lot thicker — when you have plantar fasciitis.
If you have plantar fasciitis, chances are good that your plantar fascia is more than twice as thick as it should be. It’s that rather surprising amount of thickness that makes this newsworthy, at least for those of you with plantar fasciitis.
(While they were at it, the Australians and the Taiwanese also confirmed a connection between the thickening and flat feet. Flat feet, thick soles, and plantar fasciitis all tend to go together.)
Plantar fasciitis isn’t exactly a difficult condition to diagnose (although I’ve seen it happen). But if you have any doubt about a foot pain diagnosis, this thickening is a nice clear physical sign that can be diagnosed with ultrasonography. So if you’d like to confirm this, all you have to do is bring it to your doctor’s attention and request ultrasound confirmation that you have “thick feet.”
If you have plantar fasciitis, chances are good that your plantar fascia is more than twice as thick as it should be.
As long as I’m updating you on plantar fasciitis stuff, it’s worth noting that the effectiveness of night splints was acknowledged again in a 2006 review of night splint research, and were confirmed again in 2007 by (another) Turkish research group that did the first controlled study of night splints in a few years.
It should be noted that the Turks results were slightly less glowing than previous studies done back around 2000 — although the night splinting still gave “significant relief of heel pain in the short term,” patients in their study also took a little longer to get those results, and the more stubborn cases did not respond as well as the fresh cases. So night splints may not produce nearly immediate results in a majority of cases, as I once believed.
But I think the really important question raised by this study is obvious: what’s with the Turks and plantar fasciitis research, anyway?
For much (much much much) more information, see my advanced tutorial covering pretty much every imaginable thing about dealing with the condition:
Most plantar fasciitis can be cured!
Sadly, few patients ever get good advice. SaveYourself.ca offers an incredibly detailed plantar fasciitis tutorial that is the last thing you’ll ever have to read on the subject. Find out exactly which treatments are proven to work — and which ones aren’t, all based on more than 60 footnotes and clearly annotated references to the scientific literature. Add it to your shopping cart now ($19.95) or read the first few sections for free!
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