[pct-l] Plantar Fasciitis and KT Tape

[Scott Williams]

Hey Diane,

I've actually been up skiing for a bit and had time for a few short replies
but didn't have the time to tell that whole story again.  So, many of you
may have heard my shoe saga before and can just tune out if you want to.
 But let me start with the caveat that everyone is different and what works
for one, may be deadly for someone else.

I first had Plantar Fasciitis 20 years ago, an injury from walking on
pavement with dress shoes.  I'd do anything to get some exercise at noon.
 It was healed with orthotic inserts and years of walking on trails only.
 Pavement just killed me.

More recently I'd been training on our local mountain for several years
pain free and while prepping for the PCT, I thought I'd better upgrade my
inserts as everyone was raving about Superfeet.  So I got fitted and
slipped them in my old shoes and within a week, could barely walk.  This
was a month before setting out and I had a case of PF that did not go away
even when I took out the Superfeet.  I didn't know if I'd be able to make
it.  I added some foam cushion and set off on trail with a big bottle of
vitamin I.

Early on in the desert section I met and began hiking with Mango who was
also suffering from PF.  He taught me to sit upright in my sack in the
morning and use a bandana to pull my toes toward me to stretch out the
plantar before getting up and putting any weight on my heals.  I also
learned to stretch and strengthen the plantar by standing on the edge of a
stair tread and lowering my heal.  Walking hurt, but both of us just kept
hiking and living on Ibuprofen.

When I got to the High Sierra, the walking on soft snow, constant wet
shoes, and icy stream and river dips seemed to be the ticket and the PF
went away on it's own.  It was like I was walking with constant ice packs
on the inflamed part and it really helped.  Northern California and Oregon
were a breeze, even knocking out consistent 28 to 35 mile days.  But the
trail in Oregon is easy and when I hit WA it got tougher again.  The young
folks I was walking with didn't slow down at first, and the stress of 28 to
32 and 33 mile days finally took its tole and the PF came back gangbusters.
 When I crossed into Canada I was living on massive doses of Ibuprofen,
probably doing real stomach damage, but it is all that got me to Manning
Park, and I wasn't going to quit so close to the finish.

I took a break after the thru hike and vacationed, but the PF didn't lessen
a bit.  Two months after finishing, it was mushroom season around here and
my chanterelle hikes were killing me, as was the Ibuprofen.  Then I read
"Born to Run," by Christopher McDougall, a wonderful sports/medical
anthropology/personal overuse injury recovery story.  It's a can't put it
down, fast paced read.  When my 20 year old daughter picked it up, she said
it was the first book since Harry Potter, she just couldn't put down.  This
is the book that has begun to challenge what Nike and others have done to
our feet over the past 40 years and the reason all big shoe manufacturers
now have "barefoot shoe" lines.  The gist is that we've padded and
supported our feet so much that we now have a culture of people with weak
feet, a society prone to PF and a host of other injuries that were nearly
nonexistent before Nike introduced the arch support in 1970.  We are
designed to have an arch that supports our whole weight over thousands of
miles and many years, expanding and contracting and supporting our upright
posture much as a Gothic Arch supports a cathedral, no extra support
needed.

Two months after finishing the PCT, and with no relief in sight, I tried
what McDougall had done, and pulled out my arch support.  Instant relief!
 I went a few days and pulled out my extra foam pad, even more relief.
 Eventually I pulled out the insole itself and have been hiking on the flat
inside of my Montrail Sabinos now for over two years, pain free, except for
a short recurrence on the CDT this summer when I overdid it on Mount
Taylor, simply pushing too far, too fast, early on in the hike.  In that
case the PF was very mild and was gone by the time we entered the Weminuche
Wilderness in Colorado.

When I crossed into Canada at Lake Waterton this fall, my feet felt so
good, as did the rest of me, that had it not been for missing my wife, I'd
have just kept walking the Divide across Canada.

"Born to Run" also introduced me to a completely different way of walking
and running, a different gait, that keeps my knees, ankles and hips from
hurting and suffering overuse injuries, and one that will be taught by Big
Foot at the ADZPCTKO this year.  Big Foot is another person who has
overcome Ibuprofen addiction by a change in how he walks and runs and what
shoes he wears.  I've had serious knee injuries 20 years ago, and now I can
run trail for hours, downhill with a pack with no pain, day after day.
 I've learned to "shuffle" on trail with no heal strike and therefore no
shock to the ankle, knee or hip, a gait practiced by the Tarahumara in the
Copper Canyons of Mexico and the Bushmen of South Africa.  Knees slightly
bent, body straight above my feet and not leaning forward appreciably, my
feet land on the fat pad on the side of each foot and roll to the balls and
toes before pushing off.  My heal barely touches.  I kick up a lot of dust,
but I run and walk pain free.

Anyone who walks or runs long distances should read "Born to Run," as it
goes way beyond just the issue of foot pain, and delves into the very
nature of humans as a species, and the primal need many of us have for, and
the joy to be found in, long distance running.  I extrapolate from that,
the great peace we have in long distance walking.  Our joy on trail is
genetic.  We're built for the long haul like no other animal on earth, and
we love it.  The bone marrow, human rightness I felt when I hiked the PCT,
is not an anomaly, it is what we are built for.  We did it for 4 million
years barefoot, carried forward by the inherent strength in the feet nature
gave us, without padding and arch supports.

Now, all that being said, if you are pain free with your Superfeet, or any
other orthotic insert or pad, by all means keep using it.  Everyone's feet
are different.  Boots, trail runners, or the incredibly light "slippers"
Marcia Powers uses for thousands and thousands of miles, are all just fine
if they get you from camp to camp with feet that don't blister or hurt.  I
was in great pain, and seem to have found a way to walk a few thousand
miles pain free, so I keep walking unpadded and unsupported.

As I hiked the CDT this summer, I came to like my shoes better the thinner
the sole got.  I lost traction in the rubber that was worn away, but my
feet worked more like hands, feeling the trail, the rocks and roots, my
toes grasping and flexing inside my shoe.  Feeling the ground used to make
my feet sore, now it just feels good and maybe someday I'll have the guts
to try Marcia's "slippers."

Shroomer




On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 6:47 PM, Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes <
diane at santabarbarahikes.com> wrote:

> Shroomer must be out hiking or something. I believe he suffered a lot
> of Plantar Fasciitis. He discovered that removing all the insoles
> from his Montrail Sabinos was the answer. Nothing inside his shoes
> but his socks and feet. Minimalist like the whole barefoot movement
> but with all the benefits of decent trail shoes. He has hiked pain
> free ever since, including a thru-hike of the CDT last summer.
>
> On Mar 7, 2013, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> > Plantar Fasciitis and KT Tape
>
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