Plantar Fibroma [Symptoms, Causes, Shoes & Best Home Treatment]
Do you have plantar fascial fibromatosis (AKA Plantar Fibroma Pain)? We go over the 100% best diagnosis, shoes, insoles & HOME TREATMENT PLAN!
Table of Contents
Plantar fibroma massage & treatment video:
Plantar fibroma causes:
Heel Pain Causes: Picture & Photo Gallery
Look:
- One of the top causes of heel pain is plantar fasciitis. This is damage to a ligament that holds your heel to your toes.
- Another root cause of heel pain has flat feet.
- There are also photos of heel spurs that can occur to the bottom of your heel (plantar fascia insertion) and the back of your heel (Achilles tendon insertion).
- Baxter’s nerve entrapment can also happen at the bottom of the heel.
- An underlying cause is an overpronated flatfoot or an over a supinated high arched foot.
- A plantar fibroma is a thick nodule that can occur within your plantar fascia ligament and contribute to plantar fasciitis.
- This can lead to the formation of a heel stress fracture( AKA calcaneus stress fracture.)
Please click on the gallery for a guided tour through heel pain conditions!
What Is Plantar Fascial Fibromatosis:
- A plantar fibroma (AKA plantar fascial fibromatosis) is relatively non-dangerous, but it can become excruciating.
- A plantar fibroma is a development of what feels like a “pebble” of connective tissue.
- It could even feel like a much larger thickening of the cords at the bottom of your foot.
- These nodules are extremely slow-growing fibroblasts & myofibroblasts. It could take months to years before they even begin to irritate you and eventually develop disorganized collagen.
- They eventually lead to more and more irritation.
- This can cause your toes to bend and stiffen because you adapt your biomechanics and walk improperly.
Plantar Fibroma Symptoms:
- A plantar fibroma nodule can occur on the inside of the foot, near the arch’s highest point.
- This is called the central and the medial band of the plantar fascia.
- The lump itself is usually pretty painless.
- It can be a small plantar fibroma nodule or a large nodule.
- Only the pressure of the floor creates pain.
- Only 1/4 of people show it in both feet.
- It can be stiffer and more swollen, causing morning pain.
Plantar Fibroma Causes & Risk Factors:
- Family history.
- Associated lumps in hands as well.
- Associated with Ledderhose disease: Nodules in hand.
- Associated with Peyronie’s disease: Nodules on penis shaft.
- Diabetes Mellitus.
- Trauma.
- Increased body weight or obesity.
- Poor shoes.
- Barefoot home walking.
- Working and walking on hard floors.
- Age >30 years old.
- Associated arthritis & foot pain.
- Other biomechanical problems in the back, knee, or hip.
Plantar Fibroma Running:
- The plantar fibroma can be very painful for runners.
- We usually see this develop because the foot is flattening out work over pronated during the running gait.
- This usually means that there is an underlying tightness or biomechanical abnormality.
- We find success with good supportive shoes and a soft orthotic with a cut-out for the nodule.
- It may be in the runner’s benefit to take pressure off their feet through crosstraining until they can aggressively massage out and stretch the plantar fibroma goes away.
- It can be challenging to accommodate heavy running workloads with the plantar fibroma.
- In our opinion is best to consider this as a serious injury like a stress fracture and crosstraining until it starts to improve.
Diagnosis:
- A good option for a plantar fibroma doctor is called a podiatrist.
- Express her foot and ankle specialists that are well trained in taking care of plantar fibroma pain.
- The initial evaluation consists of a history and physical to assess any family history or underlying factors that would likely make it likely that plantar fibroma is the cause.
- Other causes are very likely, including plantar fasciitis, flatfoot pain, high arched foot pain, heel bone pain, Baxter’s nerve entrapment, and calcaneal stress fractures.
- An x-ray is a good option to rule out any signs of heel spur or other pathology.
- An in-office ultrasound may be utilized to evaluate the size of the plantar fibroma.
- If surgery or a biopsy or plan, an MRI may be to your benefit.
- There is a chance that this could be cancer. This is something called a sarcoma.
- The only way to reasonably rule this out is to, unfortunately, have to do an invasive biopsy.
Plantar Fibroma Treatment:
- Treatment of the plantar fibroma depends on whether your goal is to make the pain go away or focus on making it disappear.
- The unfortunate news is that usually invasive means are the only way to make it go away permanently.
1) If the Nodule is Small:
- Treat this like plantar fasciitis to see if the symptoms get better. We have developed a 4 stage guide that will take you through the complete treatment of bottom of the foot pain.
- Use this only if the nodule is small!
Non-invasive options:
- Anti-inflammatory medication.
- Accommodative plantar fibroma orthotics & insoles.
- Great plantar fibroma shoes.
- Offloading padding.
- Plantar fibroma-specific physical therapy.
- Plantar fibroma massage techniques like deep tissue massage and Graston technique.
- Corticosteroid shots can relieve the pain.
- Shockwave therapy.
2) If the Nodule is Large:
These techniques should be reserved for the end-stage of this disease. The consequences of surgery must be balanced; while the fibroma is gone, worse problems may develop.
- A plantar fibroma Corticosteroid shot can relieve the pain.
- Surgical resection of the plantar fibroma.
- This is a very rough option, as part of your plantar fascia needs to be removed to eliminate it permanently.
- This may eventually impact your biomechanics and lead to a flat foot.
- Radiation is a treatment option.
- Verapamil topical cream.
- Various steroid injections are an option. Repeat injections have been studied as an option.
Best Plantar Fibroma Products:
- There are usually two phases to treating plantar fasciitis pain.
- The two phases of treatment include controlling the acute inflammation and correcting the biomechanics, which led to the problem in the first place.
- If the tendons and ligaments are inflamed, they are almost frozen in place and cannot function properly.
- Once the inflammation is decreased, we need to correct the biomechanical causes to ensure that they can never become overworked and inflamed again!
- This doesn’t matter whether it’s plantar fasciitis, plantar fibroma, the sore bottom of the foot, or even Achilles tendon pain. Treatment is all roughly very similar.
Plantar Fibroma Cure & Natural Treatment:
Massage & Ice Products:
- Ice is an excellent option that can be safe for almost everyone.
- There is some debate about whether icing is worth doing, but this can help limit the need for medications and keep your options open for chronic pain.
- This works great for your arch, less for the ball of the foot.
- Manual massage on the plantar fibroma is a natural treatment that can also be considered physical therapy for your plantar fibroma.
- This works to break up the plantar fascia nodule. This works well for small plantar fibroma nodules.
- The more muscle and ligament tissue there is, the better ice will work there.
Menthol Based Gels:
- Biofreeze is one of our favorites.
- These gels have been studied to work 2x as long as ice.
- This works great for the ball of the foot.
- This can be very effective for pain relief, but this will not make the actual nodule disappear.
Massage Sticks:
- These can work great for loosening your muscles.
- This allows less tightness and pressure onto the plantar fascia and heel.
- This is very effective for the arch, the gastrocnemius, calf muscle, and the hamstring and thigh muscles.
- This also works very well for the gluteus muscles if you are having butt cheek or hip pain.
- The massage stick can break up lumps in your plantar fascia and small plantar fibroma nodules.
Remove the Plantar Fascia Stress:
- The key is to prevent future pain stress and trauma to the plantar fibroma nodule.
- This means keeping you active while keeping stress off of your plantar fascia tendon. This will prevent future re-injury and the development of plantar fasciitis.
- If you can get rid of the pain and swelling, this will let you start walking normally.
- If you can walk normally, the vast majority of your pain should gradually start to go away.
- The best way to ensure that your plantar fascia, foot, and ankle ligaments are not overworked is to support them.
- The best way to support them is to use great orthotics and great shoes.
- Some people may also need to rely on supportive ankle braces and other supportive modalities.
Best Shoes for Plantar Fibroma Pain:
- Getting a great supportive pair of plantar fibroma shoes will ensure that there is pressure removed from the heel and plantar fascia region.
- This is especially important if you have plantar fasciitis, heel spur pain, or Achilles tendonitis as well.
- Consider plantar fibroma shoes combined with a good supportive orthotic for best pain relief!
- The following link will show you what our favorites are.
Best Plantar Fibroma Insoles:
- These are our recommended orthotics for plantar fibroma pain.
- Custom orthotics can work very well, but they should not be the first line of treatment due to the cost.
- There are different types of different shoes.
- Women’s shoes usually need a less bulky orthotic but allow for less correction.
- A full-length orthotic requires a running shoe, boot, or comfortable walking/dress shoe.
- We recommend doing everything you can to get a good supportive shoe that can fit a full-length orthotic.
- A further home remedy tip for plantar fibroma pain is cutting out a hole where the nodule uses scissors or a knife. Be careful and start with a very low-cost orthotic.
Best Full-Length Plantar Fibroma Orthotics:
- These will only work in wider shoes or a good supportive running shoe.
- This will not work in sandals, flats, or most women’s dress shoes.
Best Dress Shoe Plantar Fibroma Orthotics:
- These are a great choice for dress orthotics.
Best 3/4 Length Plantar Fibroma Orthotics:
- These are great options for women’s dress shoes and thinner shoes.
- These are not the most supportive pair of orthotics.
Get A Great Dynamic Stretch:
- It is possible to stretch on your own, but these products can also really help!
- This will take pressure off of the ball of your foot.
- This is a form of plantar fibromatosis physical therapy that breaks up the scar tissue.
- We personally prefer this method of stretching.
Get A Great Static Stretch:
- These devices are great for stretching while you are resting.
- This is an excellent plantar fibroma physical therapy routine that you can do at home.
- This will also help take pressure off of the ball of your foot.
- This works great for plantar fasciitis.
- The night splint can be used while watching TV or at night time.
Best Heel Compression Brace:
- A good compression brace can stabilize your foot from turning outward.
- This prevents your foot from pronation.
- The pronated foot will turn your foot outward, in your foot will rub on the outside of the shoe.
- This has solved their pain for many of her patients and is very comfortable to wear inside your shoe.
- This solves both pain and outward pronation for a relatively low cost.
Best Heel Stability Brace:
- The stability brace goes a little bit further than the compression brace to stop your foot from turning out.
- This takes the pressure off of your heel and plantar fascia.
- At the same time, this is a little bit bulkier and does not affect every shoe.
- We find people are a little bit happier trying the compression brace before the stability brace.
Severe Plantar Fibroma Pain:
- If you think you might have a broken heel, a calcaneal stress fracture, or something of similar severity, these products might help!
- Always remember to see a foot and ankle specialist like a podiatrist if you have plantar fasciitis or more severe pain!
Plantar Fascia Tear, Broken Heel Bone, Achilles Tendon Tear:
- If you have a traumatic injury such as a torn plantar fascia ligament, calcaneus stress fracture, heel fracture, or insertional Achilles tendon injury: consider protecting your foot!
- The best way to do this is, of course, to see your podiatrist and get evaluated with an x-ray, ultrasound, and potentially even an MRI or CT scan.
- If you cannot do so, it may benefit you to be in a cast, fractured boot, or even keep the weight off of it with a rolling knee scooter or other protective devices.
- We as podiatrists frequently take patients off work for a very long period of time when they suffer a traumatic injury. Unfortunately, there is no other way around us in labor jobs.
- If you have a sit-down job, there are ways to get people back to work quicker, but this can be impossible otherwise.
Heel Injury Boot Treatment:
- There are pros and cons to using a boot to treat your heel injury. The Pros are that your injured heel will hopefully have a chance to heal gradually! If you are immobilized too long, the cons are that you will gradually become stiff and overworked to your other leg.
- Our favorite fracture boots and their supplies:
Offloading and Scooter treatment:
- These are favorite knee scooters and walking devices.
- If your plantar fibroma pain is severe, offloading can be very effective until the pain calms down.
Best Shoes for a Plantar Fibroma:
Click this link to go over the best shoes for a plantar fibroma!
Best walking shoes for plantar fibroma:
These are our favorite walking shoes for a plantar fibroma:
Best men’s walking shoes for a plantar fibroma.
Best women’s shoes for a plantar fibroma.
The Best Sandals for a Plantar Fibroma:
We go over the best podiatrist recommended sandals for a plantar fibroma!