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If you are one of the ten people who has failed to cure plantar fasciitis in two or three days, then you probably know that plantar fasciitis night splints do not work. After all, you've tried them right? They were bulky, hot, inflexible - or too flexible - and so uncomfortable that you couldn't sleep at all. If this sounds like you, then you are definitely not alone!
No wonder you had to take it off!
People who do not suffer with this foot condition cannot truly understand just how debilitating plantar fasciitis really is. Nor the lengths to which a sufferer will go to find a cure for it. The problem is that over time, people who suffer with plantar fasciitis become so desperate to cure their pain that they will put up with any amount of discomfort.
But it needn't be this way.
Plantar fasciitis is a painful inflammation of the main foot tendon, the plantar fascia, following injury. Although the injury can occur from a fall, or some such one off event, in most cases the plantar fascia becomes injured over time through continuous abnormal stress and overuse. This can be from too much exercise, carrying too much weight (as in pregnancy as well as obesity) or from over pronation, where the foot rolls inwards during motion.
And because it often comes on only gradually, it is often the case that a plantar fasciitis sufferer makes minor adjustments in their own life to compensate for the slow onset foot pain. However, these lifestyle changes (such as giving up exercise) are not always for the good and they rarely cure your condition, which only gets worse over time.
What you need is something passive, that works in your sleep. And this is where plantar fasciitis night splints come in. Night splints work. If you have tried them in the past and can recognize yourself in the first paragraph above, then answer yourself honestly. How hard did you actually try to find a night splint that suited you?
There are lots of different types of night splints, all of which are designed to hold your foot in a flexed position so that your plantar fascia is kept elongated overnight. Over time the tendon gets chance to repair itself in the stretched position, and your painful foot condition is cured! Healing in this way also means that the tendon is less likely to become injured in the same way again.
But you do have to give your night splint time to work. And that means wearing it overnight.
This means that you must take time to evaluate all the plantar fasciitis night splints available to you to find one which allows you to sleep comfortably. If you sleep on your front, you may prefer a splint which runs down your calf and under your foot. Or you may prefer one which fits over your shin and the top of your foot. Or maybe a sleep support type of splint would be better?
Make no mistake, plantar fasciitis night splints DO work. If they haven't worked for you yet, then maybe you just haven't given them time to work. Your plantar fascia will heal properly and your pain will be gone. Isn't that worth taking a bit of time and effort over to find the right night splint for you?
