Plantar fasciitis is a very common foot condition that is also extremely painful for those suffering from it. Up to 10% of the US population suffers from the condition. Unlike a “true” wart (which is viral in origin) the “plantar’s wart” (the most common and visible sign of plantar fasciitis) is caused by a tissue inflammation. It can occur anywhere along the line in the bottom arch of the foot from the heel to the balls of the feet. Cures range from doing nothing to surgeries. A middle-of-the-road alleviator might be shoe inserts for plantar fasciitis pain.  However, considering the deep-tissue nature of the disorder, are plantar fasciitis shoe inserts effective as treatment?

Because plantar fasciitis may exhibit only minimal outward signs (a lump in the skin accompanied by a painful feeling upon walking as if a stone was in one’s shoe) many patients either believe they have (or are misdiagnosed with) a bone spur or typical heel spur instead.  Bone spurs (and heel spurs) are caused by a hook of bone that grows outside a normal spot, usually on the heel. Because many patients with plantar fasciitis experience their problems in similar areas a bone spur is often pointed up as the root problem. Interestingly enough (despite its common misdiagnosis) about 70% of all patients with plantar fasciitis are found to also have an underlying heel spur in further X-ray exams.

Beyond the normal pain associated with plantar fasciitis other conditions relating to gait and posture can result. People with a painful plantar’s wart, for example, may tend to walk more on the outside of the affected foot. This places great strain upon the muscles of the calf, and also stresses the hip on the side of the body affected. Furthermore, to compensate, many people develop a mild lateral curvature to the spine. Thus, back, hip, and leg pain can all stem from an untreated plantar’s wart.

Home remedies exist. But, because the wart is more a condition and not viral, those treatments used for common warts may not work at all. Shoe inserts for plantar fasciitis may prove effective in alleviating the pain associated with the disorder. Plantar fasciitis is most pronounced in the mornings – taking that first step on a tender mass of painful tissue the size of a marble is not the best way to start one’s day. Dr Scholl’s®, the foot care commercial enterprise, has several gel-filled shoe inserts on the market. Almost any one of these products will greatly reduce the general pain of walking by cushioning the shock to the painful wart site.

Shoe inserts for plantar fasciitis pain, however, do not cure the problem. The inflammation develops in the tissue over a bone that is perhaps prolapsed – it is the resultant callus that forms around this bone that creates the classic plantar’s wart. Surgery is about the only solution to cure the condition – usually, the calloused wart is removed and the underlying bone either put back into proper alignment or its offending edge is shaved down, eliminating the rise of a future plantar’s wart.

Are plantar fasciitis shoe inserts effective as a treatment for plantar’s warts and their pain problems? That depends upon how one defines “effective”. If the object is to cure the problem, the answer is “no”: such inserts cannot remove the condition. If, on the other hand, one wishes to alleviate the pain and walking difficulties associated with having a plantar’s wart, then by all means the shoe inserts for plantar fasciitis can be very useful.