Heel pain and obesity: the chicken or the egg?

A new survey found that heel pain caused by plantar fasciitis, a problem that affects nearly a third of overweight people, often limits exercise and therefore makes it harder for people to lose weight. A survey of 381 American adults, conducted by Heeling Solutions LLC, (www.heelingsolutions.com) found that 90% of people with heel pain who exercise at least 1-2 times per week report that their heel pain limits your physical activity. The survey also found that 69% of people who reported heel pain were interested in losing weight, compared to 58% of the general public.

Plantar fasciitis is the most common type of heel pain and is an example of a physical condition that can prevent or derail a weight loss program. It usually affects people when they increase the amount of physical activity they do. Whether you’re a runner training for a marathon, a weekend warrior at a weekend tennis match, or an obese person just starting to exercise. The change in the amount of stress placed on the heel and foot can lead to plantar fasciitis. This can be especially devastating for overweight people who often develop plantar fasciitis when they begin to see progress in their weight loss attempt.

“It affects people of all ages and levels of physical activity,” says David Nader, an exercise physiologist and consultant for Heeling Solutions, a company focused on helping patients and their doctors resolve heel pain through education. and non-invasive techniques. Plantar fasciitis does not discriminate; even professional athletes in excellent shape get it. For example, Minnesota Vikings receiver Randy Moss, who missed last year’s Pro Bowl due to plantar fasciitis, or Pistons Rasheed Wallace, one of this year’s key players in the NBA Finals, who battled plantar fasciitis since the end of the 2004 season.

Although in most cases heel problems do not directly cause obesity, it is clear that solving heel pain is important to staying healthy and losing weight for a large number of people.

“Some conditions, such as arthritis, tend to greatly reduce a person’s ability to exercise, and there is little that can be done about it; however, there are others, such as plantar fasciitis, where there is no why be like this,” according to Dr. Jeffrey Peterson. , MD, Northern California Institute of Sports Medicine, “Most people can recover from plantar fasciitis using means, which can really make a conservative difference in helping people lose weight.”

Many people suffer unnecessarily from heel pain for years before doing anything about it. According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, an estimated 2 million people seek treatment for plantar fasciitis each year in the United States, and there are believed to be several million more who go untreated and suffer needlessly. In most cases, the longer a person waits to seek treatment, the longer it will take to get rid of it.

If your heel hurts and is limiting your ability to exercise, it’s time to get diagnosed and hit the road to recovery.