By Dr. Jordan S. Steinberg, D.P.M
Heel Pain or Plantar Fasciitis can have many different causes. One of them is by repetitive stress to the plantar fascia. People that are on their feet for long periods of time throughout the day, or people who have very tight Achilles tendons or heel muscles and calf muscles are prone to heel pain and plantar fasciitis.
If you have high arches or very flat feet you are also prone to heel pain due to the pulling of the plantar fascia. People who are very active in sports and running also tend to suffer from heel pain (Plantar Fasciitis).
Other culprits are poorly fitting shoes, wearing high heels, platform shoes, or any type of shoe that adds extra stress to the feet, especially on the bottom of the foot over the plantar fascia and heel.
Treating Heal Pain or Plantar Fasciitis With EPAT Therapy
There is a natural approach to addressing and treating heel pain and Plantar Fasciitis called EPAT Therapy, also known as Shockwave Therapy (ESWT). The best way to describe how the technology works is that it stimulates the body’s own natural repair mechanism, which can lead to a faster way of treating different types of pathologies.
It’s very hard to treat something that’s being aggravated on a constant basis by walking and normal everyday activities however, EPAT is an extremely effective treatment.
When a patient has a condition for a long period of time, the body or the affected area gets stale, where the body is not really trying to fix it, but the patient is still experiencing pain and problems with the area.
The great thing about EPAT treatment is that it causes the body to start working on the impacted area again. It can turn a stale area into an active area where most of the other modalities are not able to achieve this.
Utilizing EPAT technology over the last five years, I have seen patients respond around the 80% to 90% of the time for certain types of pathologies. It’s one of those treatments that you can see the benefits and sometimes the patient experiences immediate pain relief. With other types of conservative treatment, you don’t get that type of response.
EPAT can benefit a lot of patients for several reasons. The treatment can be a quick fix on a problem that could be more of a chronic pathology. It is also good for patients that have exhausted all other treatments and are headed either towards surgery or other different routes that are more invasive.
A lot of people like a more natural approach to healing versus multiple injections and other different types of anti-inflammatory medications. EPAT Therapy, since it is noninvasive can really have a major effect on the healing process it is more of a natural approach to addressing heel pain and Plantar Fasciitis.
*If you would like some information about using EPAT to treat heel, foot or ankle pain or to locate an experienced physician in your area contact us. If you are located near Florham Park New Jersey call our office Florham Park Podiatry at 973-922-0464.