I came across a post that stopped me cold.
A podiatrist had finally told a patient, after two years of failed treatments, that what she had wasn't plantar fasciitis anymore.
It was plantar fasciosis.
Not fasciitis. Fasciosis.
That one word changes everything.
Fasciitis means inflammation. That's what they'd been treating me for. Ice. Cortisone. Anti-inflammatories. Rest. All aimed at calming a fire.
Fasciosis means degeneration. The tissue isn't just irritated. It's breaking down. Layer by layer. Micro-tear by micro-tear.
And it can no longer rebuild itself fast enough to keep up.
That's why the pain never stopped.
Every treatment I received was aimed at inflammation.
But my tissue had already shifted to degeneration.
The cortisone calmed the flare.
But the tissue kept breaking down underneath.
The orthotics cushioned the impact.
But the tissue kept breaking down underneath.
The rest paused the load.
But the tissue kept breaking down underneath.
They were putting out a fire that wasn't there anymore while the foundation crumbled underneath.
And the same thing was happening to my Achilles tendon. Same heel bone. Same tissue. Same breakdown. That's why it spread.
It wasn't ten separate problems. It was one problem. Tissue that could no longer repair itself. Showing up wherever my body was loaded hardest.
And my feet hit the floor first every morning.