For many months now, I have been playing with some unreasonable pain on my left foot. At first, I thought it was some achilles heel that I messed up during my jogging session or something. It was very painful, especially when I jogged, so I stopped jogging and started piling back the kilos. I was 79 kilos start of 2013, and got down to 71, and now I am back to 76. It became painful during golf as well, but I played through, thinking it was nothing. Then it became painful just walking, like normal walking around the mall sort of with my kid.
Having enough of this for so many months, I met the foot specialist in Sunway and after probing a little on my feet, he declared I had Plantar Fasciitis.
What??
Anyway, he illustrated it saying its like having a rubber band at the sole of my feet, stretching from my heel to the base of my toes. This basically supports the arch of my foot. The arch, surprisingly is an important aspect to my foot. So typically, this rubber band should be working, but mine has been strained, suspectedly probably torn. Which sucks.
I know why. When I jogged I never warmed up. I just put on my shoes and I go. Because of this, my calf muscles are tight, which strains up my plantar, and after a few rounds, my plantar decides enough is enough.
So now, the doc asks me to do two things:
Stretch my calf muscles – which is easily done by standing at the stairs with the front of my feet on the stairs, and just drop my heel down till I feel the strain in my calf
Get good shoes and supportive soles – I went on to this shop at Tropicana Mall that specialises in soles. It’s like Foot Solutions, where they make special soles that you can slip into your shoes. Unlike Foot Solutions, that costs close to RM600, this one only set me back RM250.
Since using the sole and exercising, my game has notable improvements. For one, I don’t feel that much pain anymore when I follow through. That had previously made me hold back my weight on my right, and not shift properly because it hurt like hell. Now, I just shift to the left and although I do feel some tingling, it’s minor and ignorable. Thank you Doc!
My driving has improved remarkably. My last two games in KRPM and Bukit Kemuning was 88 and 87, and that too could have been much better if not for some daft putting and horrendous irons.
So if anyone is facing plantar fasciitis, treat it, and play better golf!