Steemit Learning Challenge-S21W5; Plantar Fasciitis"

Greetings, dear friends, it's another week in the Steemit Learning Challenge, and I'm delighted to join the contest organized here by @ashkhan. This week we are looking at a topic Plantar Fasciitis.

What's Plantar Fasciitis? Write in your own words after getting knowledge from the lesson post.

When the heel and bottom of the foot feels pained then we can conclude that the person whose having such pain is suffering from Plantar Fasciitis. Plantar Fasciitis happens to us when fibrous band of tissue which connects the heel bones to the toes become irritated.

The function of the tissue we have talked about above is to absorb any friction between the foot and the floor while walking or running on the ground. This makes you feet stable on the ground.

Let's look at the symptoms, causes and the treatment of the Plantar Fasciitis based on my little research and the study from the lecture. Let's look at them one after the other.

Symptoms: Some of the basic symptoms of the Plantar Fasciitis are seen below.

• Heel pain: One of the major and most notable pain one can experience is the pain we experience in our heel. This occurs majorly when we are taking our first morning walk or when we decide to take the first step after sitting for a while.

• Pain with activity: Activities such as too much standing, walking or being in a particular place can cause more pain or worsen the situation.

• Tenderness: When you press the bottom of the heel you will notice that it feel Tender.

Causes: Some of the basic Causes of the Plantar Fasciitis are seen below.

• Wearing shoes that doesn't fit your legs or is too tight on your legs.

• Having a flat feet can also cause this very issue.

• When you stand too much it can also cause you that.

• Obesity also causes strain on the foot which causes the Plantar Fasciitis.

• When you over do certain activities such as standing running etc it can also cause Plantar Fasciitis.

Treatment: Some of the basic Treatment of the Plantar Fasciitis are seen below.

• Always avoid any activity that increases the pain of the heel such as standing too much or running.

• Inflammation can be reduced when you apply ice pack to the heel of your foot.

• Always ensure you perform stretch exercise for the heel to keep your feet strong and out of pains.

• Consider meeting a therapist for some specific exercise which will help in keeping the foot and the heel very active.

• In terms of medication, you may likely use pain relief to reduce the pain.

How would you diagnose a plantar fasciitis? Any clinical investigation or assessment tests?

In other to diagnose plantar fasciitis properly, you will need to take into consideration the following process such as clinical evaluation, patient history and possibly imaging tests. These are the method that should be consider for proper diagnoses of plantar fasciitis.

Lets consider looking at them one after the other and then explain how it works in diagnosing the plantar fasciitis.

Clinical Evaluation: Here the clinical evaluation involves Medical History and Physical Examination. During the medical history, the doctor will want to know the nature of the pain and duration of the pain and possibly other conditions.

In the case of the physical examination, you will be required to stretch the foot so as to see if the pain will increase or not. Also a check to notice abnormal movement and if the patient has a flat feet will also be clearly checked. Also a check to see tenderness will be carried out close to the heel by pressing it.

Clinical Tests : Some of the clinical test that are usually carried out include Windlass Test, Single-Leg Stance Test and Silfverskiöld Test. We will look at them more below for your information.

In the case of the Windlass Test, the doctor will ask the patient to stand and he will try to pull the toe upward to see if there is an increased pain if yes then it implies that plantar fasciitis is what the patient is passing through.

In the case of the Single-Leg Stance Test, the patient will be adviced to stand using the affected leg for a while and this is to see if the pain will persist or there will be any changes and when this is observed then it will be concluded if the case is plantar fasciitis or not.

Lastly, the Silfverskiöld Test involve the check of the muscles around the heel to be sure that flexibility around the heel is not contributing to plantar fasciitis.

Imaging Tests (if needed): If the need arises then other test such as X-rays, Ultrasound and MRI may also be carried out to ascertain or confirm the presence of plantar fasciitis. The different test reveal some important effects which may be the cause of the plantar fasciitis and if confirmed then treatment can take place.

When a patient start feeling pains in the heel, an early diagnosis is very necessary and important as that will help them to tackle the issues faster so as to reduce the pain and also avert the long term issues that it may cause the patient.

Try to practice at least 3 exercises that you have learned from the lesson. Share images, gifs or videos while practising.

Having gone through the lecture and watched through the available videos careful some of the exercise that caught my attention imare the following I will be discussing below.

Ball/ Frozen Bottle Rolling

From the above, you will notice that I'm carrying out the bottle rolling exercise which helps me to reduce inflammation and redness.