Plantar Faciitis/Achilles Tendonitis Stretching

Hi I have both Plantar Faciitis and Achilles Tendonitis for  a  while now but with going to rehab it is finally getting better. I went to an appointment with my orthopedist and he said to do these heel stretches where I put my hands agaisnt the wall and with my injured heel placed back and turned inward and stretch it 30 seconds/5 times per set/8 times a day. Now my heel felt GREAT before I started doing this, and I was doing the stretches my physical therapist assigned me to do at home. But now that I have added this to the regime, my heel pain has returned and I want to know if that is normal at first, because my doc said I really need to do this is I want to be able to recover sooner and if its not Im going to stop this non sense because this has been the most frusterating injury I have ever had. SO someone fill me in please.

[JMcCormack]

Bilateral 1/4" heel lifts are a text book treatment for achilles tendonitis.  Try not to overdo the stretching as you might cause the injury to worsen.  

Custom Orthotics should be able to sucessfully treat the plantar fasciitis.  A certified ortothist, podiatrist or pedorthist can best help you with this.

Best Regards

[uanto]

Forget about Surgery, Cortisone Injections, Braces and Splints, Orthotics or Ultrasound Therapy.

I invented this new treatment for myself and I am almost cured in only one month. It will only cost you about 3 dollars and 15 minutes of work everyday.

I know what you are thinking... I must be crazy or trying to sell something. No, this is not an infomercial...

The 3 dollars are for a jar of Vaseline Petroleum Jelly. The rest is a daily massage that you can do it by yourself.

I have had retrocalcaneal heel spur for almost a year. I visited my doctor a couple of times, he suggested stretching exercises, advil, etc. I gained a little flexibility but no improvement in my pain.

Then I decided to tried something new... Researching online I found that the Heel spur is an accumulation of calcified deposit that attaches itself onto the calcaneus. That the tissue surrounding the calcaneus is not very vascular, and the exudate -- a by-product of inflammation -- has very few ways to be carried away from the area. After a period of time, this exudate will calcify (or harden) and, after repeated trauma, greater amounts of this calcified deposit will create what we call heel spur.

I thought: Maybe with massage I would increase blood circulation and hopefully dissolve the calcification. I was not very optimistic but there was not much to lose... the other option (surgery) could be worst. Three days later I realized that I was right on the money. The improvement I had in one week exceeded my expectations.

I continued researching online and I found out that actually I had discovered nothing new. The following article demonstrates that I was on the right track and encourages me to keep my daily routine: http://www.massagetherapy.com/articles/index.php/article_id/295/Running-Injuries-Part-1-
This is what I do everyday: Before going to bed I use a little vaseline to massage the heel spur and the surroundings areas. I use only my fingers and most of them from both hands.  It has to be a deep massage and this requires a lot of work and they got fatigue very quickly.
After one month of this treatment I can see that the bump in the back of my heel is almost completely gone. I could say that I am 70% cured.
I hope that this information could be useful to someone with this problem. It is not life threatening but it diminish your quality of life.