Plantar Fasciitis - Common Symptoms of Plantar Fasciitis

Most frequent symptoms of plantar fasciitis are a strong burning (as if someone is holding a match to the bottom of your foot) or sharp pain in the arch of the foot, usually close to the heel. You may also experience pain behind your toes, and sometimes across the bottom of your foot.

Plantar fasciitis sufferers most frequently report pain after short periods of rest and can be the most painful when you awake in the morning but the pain may start to subside as your feet warm up. The most common and sure sign of plantar fasciitis is painful feet in the morning. If you catch yourself frequently saying to yourself in the morning, "My feet are killing me", there is significant possibility that you suffer from plantar fasciitis.

If you are on your feet for an extended period of time than you are accustomed to, or walk or run on different terrain than you normally would, you may entice a bout of plantar fasciitis. Plantar fasciitis pain will flare up and be at its worst usually the day after these rare occurrences.

Below is a list of common conditions that sometimes get categorized as plantar fasciitis:

• The pain of bursitis is only experienced quite far back on the heel. 
• If at night, you experience radiating, burning pain, numbness and tingling, the root cause is more likely to be something other than plantar fasciitis. 
• Tarsal tunnel syndrome in particular causes diffuse symptoms all over the bottom of the foot. 
• You experience extreme pain in your foot the longer you are on your feet, then you may very well have a stress fracture and you should seek immediate medical help. 
• Your heel bone maybe bruised from a sudden blow or impact of your heel to a solid force and can quite often feel like plantar fasciitis. 
• A condition called "fat pad syndrome" involves wasting away of the softness on the bottom of the heel.

Similar symptoms of plantar fasciitis can be also confused with the following conditions:

• A tumor in the heel bone would cause a deeper, duller pain than plantar fasciitis, and of course other signs of failing health as things get worse. 
• A disease called Paget's disease also causes foot pain - but is associated with bowed shin bones, a hunchback, and headaches. 
• Calcaneal apophysitis (Sever's disease) occurs only in adolescents and is limited to the back of the heel, where plantar fasciitis never goes.

Plantar fasciitis is as just as stubborn as all the other repetitive strain injuries. Once it sets in, it's not uncommon to have a recovery time as much as 2 years. The secret to success in beating and treating any injury is to avoid poor medical advice and to try to work around a limb of the body that we depend and rely on so much. Most health professionals do not believe that the condition is inherently slow-healing, just awkward to treat. Be sure to check out this great plantar fasciitis resource, especially if you are suffering from foot pain and want a step-by-step program to beat it.