The April 2011 edition of Triathlete magazine on-line talks about chronic plantar fasciitis and how to treat it (“A Heel Up”). One of the recommended treatments to resolve chronic plantar fasciitis, or plantar fasciosis, is ASTYM treatment. Here is why:

For years, chronic plantar fasciitis was considered an inflammatory condition and treatments were aimed at reducing the inflammation that was thought to be the cause. However, treatment aimed at reducing inflammation to cure plantar fasciitis had only limited success. That puzzled health care providers until it was recently discovered that almost all cases of chronic plantar fasciitis are caused by degeneration of the plantar fascia (not due to inflammation as previously thought), and treatment should involve stimulating regeneration of the affected tissue. Here is a link to a research article talking about the histologic findings showing degeneration of the plantar fascia in cases of chronic plantar fasciitis: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12756315.

Very few approaches focus on regenerating healthy tissue. However, a good treatment option that regularly stimulates regeneration of strong, healthy tissue and has a high rate of success for plantar fasciitis is ASTYM treatment. You can see what ASTYM treatment is like by clicking here: http://astym.com/video