Many students who pursue a career in massage therapy enter the field because they have a family member, friend or personal experience with a chronic disease that causes pain. If you are interested in learning about how to treat the pain associated with plantar fasciitis, learn about your options at your local Arizona massage school.
What is Plantar Fasciitis?
Said simply, plantar fasciitis is heel pain as a result of inflammation of a band of tissue, the plantar fascia. Patients who suffer from this condition often have sharp, throbbing pain in their feet in the morning, and the pain diminishes as they start to move and stretch their foot throughout the day. Needless to say, it is a condition that results in a fair amount of discomfort to many hard-working patients.
Treatments for plantar fasciitis include:
- Pain killers and anti- inflammatory medications
- Steroid shots
- Splints to wear at night
- Shoe cushions or orthotics
- Massage therapy
Massage therapy is often an ancillary way to treat tired hurting feet, even those feet that do not have plantar fasciitis. At your local Arizona massage school, you can learn techniques that can make patients with all types of feet find relief from pain. In particular, you can experience the extra satisfaction of knowing that you are another part of a plantar patient’s overall treatment plan.
Reflexology and Shiatsu for Plantar Fasciitis Pain
During your pre-graduation training at an Arizona massage school, you will learn many massage modalities from the East and West. However, for plantar pain, you will find that your training in reflexology and shiatsu massage, both Eastern-style pressure point massages, will be useful for treating these patients.
Reflexology uses specific points on the patient’s feet to stimulate specific parts of the body from pressure points on the patient’s feet. Patients who suffer from plantar fasciitis may have pain in other parts of their bodies as they compensate for the pain in their feet, and reflexology allows the massage therapist to target the patient’s entire body pain while massaging the foot.
Shiatsu, like reflexology, targets pressure points to relieve pain and restore balance to the patient’s body. In training, you will learn how to target the area in the patient’s foot arch to relieve their heel pain.
Continuing Education at Your Arizona Massage School
Although you will learn many techniques to relieve various types of foot pain at an Arizona massage school, you will have the opportunity to supplement your education via continuing education units, or CEU’s. Health certifications in any industry, including massage therapy, require a certain amount of CEU’s depending on the state the certification was earned. If you are interested in learning specific pressure points and massage techniques specifically to treat plantar fasciitis pain, you can take a CEU course on it, benefiting both your professional career and your valued patients.