Plantar Fasciitis and Fibromyalgia: Is There a Link?

Those who suffer with fibromyalgia often have pain that is hard to pinpoint in their bodies. This pain often radiates throughout the entire body so it can make it diagnosing other conditions that you may have very hard.

A common complaint that is heard from those patients with fibromyalgia is that their feet hurt to the point that it hurts to walk or even stand on their feet at all. When this is the case, many doctors may diagnose plantar fasciitis.

What is Plantar Fasciitis?

Ultimately, this is pain in the heel of the foot. And when talking about pain, it can be extremely harsh pain! The pain is actually located in the ligament that is connecting your heel bone to the toes.

It is the portion of the foot that we see the arch. Thus, this is why this often causes pain when standing or walking.

One thing that everyone needs to remember about this issue is that you can get this at any age. However, those who are on their feet a lot are more likely to have this in one or both feet.

Why do Plantar Fasciitis Happen?

The one question that everyone has: why does plantar fasciitis happen to those who are affected? There are several reasons why this illness strikes a person. The causes behind this issue include:

• When you walk, your feet roll inward.
• You have flat feet or even high arches meaning that shoes often don’t fit that well.
• You are standing, walking or running for long periods of time.
• You spend a lot of time on hard surfaces that do not give.
• You are overweight.
• Your shoes do not fit well or they are worn out, providing little to no padding.
• The calf muscles or Achilles tendons in your legs are tight causing stress to the foot.

The problem with plantar fasciitis in those who already have fibromyalgia is that it can be hard to diagnose.

IN most cases, a doctor is going to try to pinpoint the exact location of where your pain is to determine if plantar fasciitis is the issue or not.

There may be x-rays involved to help narrow down whether broken or cracked bones could be the reason for the pain.

Pressure Points: Could this be to Blame?

One of the issues that surrounds plantar fasciitis and fibromyalgia are pressure points. For those who suffer with fibromyalgia, they have several pressure points throughout their bodies that are the center of the pain that they feel.

Many of those who suffer with this illness wonder if it could be pressure points that cause them to feel the pain in their feet?

While there are no pressure points that are near the foot area. However, there are pressure points on the inside of the knees, the outer hip area and in the lower back.

These pressure points could affect how you are walking. And as stated before, the way in which you walk could have a huge impact on whether you develop plantar fasciitis or not. Especially those pressure points that are going to cause you to limp!

This leads many people to assume that when it comes to having plantar fasciitis and fibromyalgia, they are just one of those unfortunate few who have more than one chronic illness they are dealing with. However, that is not always the case.

New Studies Find New Connections

There are new studies taking place on fibromyalgia constantly throughout the year. Fibromyalgia is one of those illnesses that is still full of mysteries.

The medical community still wants to know why certain people are affected, why it is more intense for some than others, and why are some symptoms more pronounced in people. These are all important questions that need to be answered.

However, while there are still many questions, they have discovered that there is somewhat of a connection between fibromyalgia and plantar fasciitis.

It was found that those who suffer with fibromyalgia often have plantar fasciitis. However, those who have plantar fasciitis do not always have fibromyalgia.

Therefore, we can conclude that those with fibromyalgia are more likely to have plantar fasciitis.

Treating the Pain

The problem with treating fibromyalgia and plantar fasciitis is that each person is different. In order to treat plantar fasciitis, the idea is to first relieve the pain and inflammation in the heel. In order to do this, a doctor may suggest:

• Pain relievers that also help with inflammation
• A change in the footwear that the person wears
• Physical therapy to help with the strength of the foot to ensure that this problem does not have again

Some remedies that regular people have found helpful is to soak their feet in a foot tub. The warmth can help to make the foot feel much better and easier to flex.

For treatment of fibromyalgia, many of the same recommendations are given such as pain relievers, and remaining physical so that this illness does not take over your entire life.

Many fibromyalgia patients find that they do have to change up their life a bit more to ensure that they are not overexerting themselves physically, as this can make the pain worse.

Chances are, if you have fibromyalgia, you have pain everywhere. But, if you were to look at all the pain, you may have intense pain in one or both feet.

This is something that you will have to deal with. The good news is that most patients see a complete recovery from plantar fasciitis within one year.

While fibromyalgia is one of those illnesses that does not really go away, it can give you relief to know that you can rid yourself of the intense pain in your feet with the proper treatment.

Fibromyalgia can cause several other issues to flare up, the key is finding a treatment that relieves these issues so that fibromyalgia does not take over your entire life.