Dealing with Plantar Fasciitis from Home

It has been rough being stuck at home for the past several weeks. However, I have been taking advantage of the downtime by getting outside more and increasing my running mileage. I was feeling good and had a great run on the beach last week. Unfortunately, I woke up the next day with some pain in my right foot. It was a familiar ache that made it very painful to take those first few steps out of bed that morning.

I have struggled with plantar fasciitis in the past and I was fairly certain that it was rearing its ugly head again! The pain did get better as I moved more that morning, but I knew I needed to be proactive in dealing with it. So, I decided to do a little research online to see if there was anything that I could do from home to treat it.

I came across Upswing Health, a web-based service that helps people treat their musculoskeletal (MSK) injuries right from home. I decided to check it out further and discovered it is FREE right now! In fact, it is the only national telemedicine service that allows you to talk to a sports medicine doctor for free.

So, I decided to go through the process of answering the online assessment questions. It started out by asking “what hurts” and there were several different areas to choose from. I selected ankle/foot. Then, there was a series of injury identification questions that I answered. Sure enough, the possible condition identified was plantar fasciitis. 

Once the possible problem was identified, an overview of the musculoskeletal (MSK) injury that I may have was provided. It was very thorough and discussed: causes, symptoms, when to see a doctor, non-operative treatment, surgical treatment and recovery.

The next step was an option to start a conversation with a Certified Athletic Trainer. I filled in a little more information about specifically what was going on and within about 15 minutes, I received a text message from the trainer asking how she could help. I gave her more details about my issue. Then, she put together a personalized exercise program for me and gave me some tips on what to focus on. It was that easy! 

I was able to get started treating my injury that day, right from the comfort of my own home! The plan included seven different stretches with video clips showing me exactly what to do. This was all so convenient, check out two of the stretches below.

After a few days of following the plan, the Certified Athletic Trainer followed up with me to see how everything was going. At this point, the pain had subsided in my foot, but I needed to stay on top of it and continue with the stretches. I was thrilled to be feeling better so quickly. Upswing Health helped me get back up and running in no time!

Have you ever dealt with a musculoskeletal injury? Has being stuck at home got you feeling a little stiff? Do you think Upswing Health could help you or someone you know? You can learn more about this great service by going to www.upswinghealth.com

Thank you so much for stopping by. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. I hope you are staying safe and healthy at home.