I'm A Holistic Podiatrist & This Is Why I'm A Proponent Of Natural Remedies For Foot Pain

Suppose you decide to take up walking for exercise. You generally feel fine doing so, until one day you notice pain in the heel. The pain may teeter back and forth between manageable, nonexistent, and piercing. These symptoms point toward plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the ligament that supports the arch of the foot.

A standard treatment would be a cortisone injection and a prescription for an NSAID. Though both of these treatments can provide relief from inflammatory pain by suppressing chronic inflammation, they're not necessarily helpful long term.

Remember, chronic inflammation is a pathway that protects what isn't readily being repaired. When your body is in pain, you are forced to stop doing what caused the problem (in this case, walking), rest the injured part, and compensate by putting more weight on the other limb—hopefully giving your immune system a chance to heal the problem.

When taking medication, though, the injury remains the same, but the brain is no longer getting the pain signal. In other words, the injured body part is no longer protected. Assuming the problem is solved, many people will continue to use (or overuse) an injured foot, preventing it from repairing, and potentially leading to further injury.

The gentlest approach is to use homeopathic injections1. These natural medicines are derived from mostly plant and mineral sources. In high doses they would be toxic, but homeopathic medicines are extremely diluted and harmless. (Just make sure you're working with a doctor you trust.)

Another technique is platelet-rich plasma injection (PRP), which utilizes the patient's own platelets3 by drawing blood.

Platelets are high in growth factors and enzymes that foster repair. This technique can cause a temporary worsening of symptoms as the body's first response is to protect what it believes to be a sudden injury. It usually subsides within days or a week.