Lynne came to see me with a specific issue with her foot plantar fasciitis and ankle pain that was limiting her walking to a max of 5 miles with breaks. Normally this is less restrictive and people do not notice, but, Lynne was training to be able to do lots more. Lynne had committed to do a 500 mile trek in Spain the Camino de Santiago Trail. This trek will involve walking around 6 days a week for around 8 weeks approximately 12 miles a day carrying a back pack!
Lynne had had plantar fasciitis issues before and the pain at around 4 to 5 miles was similar to what was experienced previously even with her custom orthotics in her boots or walking shoes.
This obviously required some significant changes to Lynne’s treatment plan as some of the issues commonly associated with plantar fasciitis were not evident. So the first thing to change was standing and walking mechanics and to stop using her orthotics and to have bare feet at home.
Lynne was initially reluctant to not use orthotics as she had used them for some time and felt dependant on them. We started with a 3mile route for Lynne to walk at home which was flat and easy to practice her new walking movement and experiment not having insoles. Lynne did this for 3 times a week for the first couple of weeks of treatment in around a hour which was good progress as felt no pain even without insoles. Next challenge was to increase the distance to 4 miles along with the speed aiming for around an hour to complete the distance. This speed and distance increase triggered some of the plantar fasciitis discomfort but significantly reduced from before and it subsided quickly post walk to normal.
Lynne worked on these distance over the next couple of weeks with a technique and speed focus and was able to walk at the magic 4mph for the hour with no discomfort or pain.
Now for the tricky part longer distance over inclines. Lynne pushed to 8 mile distance and was able to do it with a couple of short breaks. Lynne then committed to a charity walk of 12 miles as a target for the daily walking she was going to do.
To make this realistic Lynne did a combination of walks 8 or 4 miles but with a backpack of increasing weight to mimic her planned trek in a few short months. Some discomfort but quickly disappeared and no residual issues post exercise.
Lynne was able to complete her cross country charity walk in 4 hours with only a couple of short breaks and carrying a loaded rucksack.
This was the real test and as a one off was fine, Lynne had already planned two different short breaks away with walking the focus everyday to prepare for this trek and was able to do multiple days walking over mixed terrain pain free. Lynne was delighted and the end of August departs for her 8 week adventure in Spain doing the Camino de Santiago Trail.
