Plantar Fasciitis: How I Eased My Heel Pain | Advance7
Policeman’s heel: how a retired officer finally eased his plantar fasciitis
Brian W. · Bolton
Thirty years pounding the pavements left retired police officer Brian W., from Bolton, with the very condition that’s named after the job. More than twenty years into retirement, the heel pain was still with him. He tells us how he finally found some relief.
Brian, tell us a little about yourself.
I served as a police officer for the best part of thirty years, most of it on the beat. People forget what that used to mean. You were on your feet the whole shift, walking miles, out in all weathers on hard pavements. I loved every minute of it, mind. I’ve been retired more than twenty years now, and you’d think my feet would have had the chance to recover, but they never quite did. There’s a certain irony to what happened, as you’ll hear.
When did you first notice something was wrong?
It was the heel. A sharp, stabbing pain right underneath it. The mornings were the worst. Those first few steps when you get out of bed were enough to make you catch your breath, like treading on a drawing pin. It’d settle once I got going, then come straight back the minute I sat down for any length of time. It crept up on me over the years and just never shifted.
What did you do about it?
Everything you can buy, I should think. Heel pads, insoles, gel inserts, all the stretches off the internet. None of it really got to the bottom of it, took the edge off for a day or two at most. And here’s the funny part. They actually call this condition policeman’s heel. Thirty years in the force and I end up with policeman’s heel. My wife thought that was hilarious. Still does.
When did you find out what it actually was?
I went to my GP in the end, and she knew what it was almost straight away. Plantar fasciitis, or plantar fasciopathy as it’s sometimes called. The thick band of tissue that runs along the bottom of your foot, the plantar fascia, had become inflamed and was tugging at the heel. She also checked the pain wasn’t coming from the ball of my foot, which is a different problem altogether, and sent me for an X-ray, which showed I’d also got a heel spur, a little bony growth on the heel that often tags along with it. It was a relief just to put a name to it after all that time.
What treatment were you offered?
The usual treatment for plantar fasciitis, starting gently. Stretches for the foot and the calf, a set of proper orthotics, and anti-inflammatory tablets. She sent me to a physiotherapist as well. Later on I had a steroid injection into the heel, which I wouldn’t wish on anybody, and it did help for a few months before it wore off. After that they talked about shockwave therapy, or surgery if it came to it. At my age I didn’t fancy either. I just wanted to get to the shops and back without limping.
How did you come across Advance7 for Feet?
This is the daft part. I was online looking for yet another pair of insoles when I came across Advance7 for Feet. Not what I went looking for at all, but the more I read, the more sense it made. Instead of just padding the heel, it actually works on the pain. There’s a cream you rub into the foot and capsules you take with it. I thought, well, I’ve tried everything else, what’s one more thing.
What difference has it made?
For me it’s the cream, worked into the heel and the arch of an evening. The rubbing gets the blood going and it soothes the soreness, and it’s the mornings where I really notice it. Getting out of bed without bracing myself for that stab of pain, after more than twenty years of it, is something I’d stopped believing was possible. I take the capsules alongside it. I can’t say every day is perfect, but it’s manageable now, and I’m back out on my walks. That’s more than I could’ve said a year ago.
What would you say to someone going through the same thing?
Don’t just put up with it the way I did. I lost years to that heel, far more than I needed to. If you’ve got that sharp pain under the heel, especially first thing in the morning, get it seen to and find out exactly what it is. Advance7 is what worked for me, so I’d say give it a proper go. You don’t have to let a sore foot decide what you can and can’t do.
Brian’s experience is his own and results vary from person to person. Advance7 is not a medical treatment for plantar fasciitis. If you have ongoing foot or heel pain, see a podiatrist or GP.
