Your Plantar Fasciitis Won’t Go Away Until You Do This!

This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in March 2025. For the original video, go to

Mike: If your plantar fasciitis won't go away, despite using arch supports, icing, or even steroid shots, you may be treating the wrong problem.

Brad: That's right. So we're going to get to the truth on this matter. As a matter of fact, you may not have plantar fasciitis at all, and we're going to show you exactly what it is and how to take care of it. What do you say, Mike?

Mike: Let's get to it. Now, the matter at hand here is plantar fasciitis, but the real problem you may be having is called plantar fasciosis. And we realize we're not podiatrists. So we got this information from a professional named Dr. Ray McClanahan.

Brad: And I wanted to mention, did you get his pun, the matter at hand? We're really talking about the feet here. Anyways, yeah, he's a real doctor from the West Coast. He's studied this, and he's really got some good information that a lot of doctors aren't familiar with. So it's going to get you ahead of the game.

Mike: So the difference between plantar fasciitis and plantar fasciosis is that oftentimes the "itis" ending means you have inflammation in an area, which can happen all over the body. Fasciosis actually means you have tissue breakdown because of poor circulation. Now, Ray McClanahan actually references lots of studies where they did biopsies on the bottom of the feet and found the tissue wasn't inflamed, it was necrotic, meaning it wasn't getting a blood supply.

Brad: Yeah, so it's actually dying. So Mike volunteered the bottom of his foot for a model.

Mike: The things I do for YouTube.

Brad: And there is some artwork here that I happily put on. Now the red line represents the medial plantar artery, which feeds a lot of the tissues in the bottom of the foot. Now we'll get serious here. And this green represents the hallucis, in other words, the great toe adductor, which means that muscle controls moving the great toe in and out, and that actually can squeeze over that artery, limiting the blood supply to the foot as well as the plantar fascia. And again, as Mike said, when the plantar fascia does not receive enough blood, it can actually start to decay and cause problems just like plantar fasciitis, but it's fasciosis.

Mike: So one thing to look at with your own foot anatomy is, can you spread your toes out wide as I can?

Mike: Do you have a possible bunion, hammer toe, or pinched toes like this? More often than not, people who have more of a pinched toe like this or bunions are going to develop plantar fasciosis easily.

Brad: That's right, and if you wear shoes like a lot of people do, maybe most, the toes actually come together at a point, and we cut the bottom out here so you can see how the toes get squeezed together, and you're like that all day long, and that helps decrease the blood circulation in that main artery we just pointed out.

Mike: So, what you want to actually do is start looking at footwear that has a wider toe box, like this shoe I have here.

Mike: Also, things to look at when purchasing shoes are called zero-drop. Now, what that means is you're the same height off the ground from your heel to your forefoot. If you are not zero-drop, you typically have a heel that is elevated a lot more than the forefoot. Now, a lot of shoes, you don't have to go straight flat minimalist like this one is. You can still have some cushion in there, but you just want to make sure it's the same distance off the ground from the front to the back of the shoe.

Brad: Yeah, let's even compare this a little more. If we put this one down, you can see the toe is relatively flat, and this one, we have what we call toe spring. Very common in more shoes, it lifts the toe up, plus it squeezes the toes together. That toe spring also contributes to a lack of circulation from that same artery.

Mike: So, if you look at my foot here, say we have a small toe box, my toes are getting pinched this way, elevated heel, I'm getting more pressure in this muscle here, and the toe spraying was the other thing I was forgetting about. So now your toes are also going up with the heel elevated like this, and they're scrunched together. So look how much pressure is in this area, cutting off the blood supply. So we need to get new shoes.

Brad: There you go. So let's get to the fix on how to actually correct this. We did go on at nauseam explaining it, but I think it's important.

Mike: So, when you're looking at footwear, what you can try just at your house is walking around in slippers or barefoot, because that's naturally how humans are. Well, I guess we don't naturally have slippers, but our feet will function a lot differently and actually start spreading out normally. Now I realize most people don't want to go walk outside on pavement, gravel, or whatever you have barefoot. So, looking at different shoes, like I kind of mentioned, look for zero-drop shoes; they often have a wide toe box. There are many brands out there; they're all fine. These are just some cheap ones I found on Amazon for like $45 because I realize people don't want to spend a lot of money on shoes, especially when they're first getting used to them.

Brad: Right, I actually have a friend who has chronic plantar fasciitis. He's tried all of our things, but it's not working. But this, he hasn't tried, actually, his shoes are very thick, and he's got a big arch support in there that the doctors prescribed, and he continually has pain as he walks throughout the day. Gets worse throughout the day. So I'm going to talk to him about doing this particular remedy, wide toe box, zero-drop shoes, and we're going to show some other things.

Mike: Now, I would mention that when you first start doing this, your body may not be used to it. Some of your tendons, like your Achilles tendon and your calves, are not used to being stretched out. They get shortened from the elevated heel. So you want to gradually work into these shoes. Just start with walking in them, maybe a short distance each day. Put your normal shoes back on. If it feels good, you could start wearing them more often, but your body has to get acclimated. If you go too much too soon, you may actually get injured.

Brad: Right, so if you're at work, maybe wear them for an hour the first day, and after a week, go to half a day if everything is going well. So it might take a few weeks to get from using them for an hour to all day long.

Mike: So one main area we do want to address is tight calf muscles because, as I said, if you have an elevated heel all your life, they're going to be tight, and we need to stretch them out. There are many ways you can stretch your calf muscles. I'm going to show one variation you can do on the steps, and Brad will show one you can do at a wall. So for this, I stand on the edge of a step, hold onto the railing, and then you're going to walk your heels towards the edge of the step here and allow them to relax and go down. I keep my knees straight, and I'm feeling a really good stretch here in my calf muscle. And so the calf muscle actually connects to the plantar fascia, which connects to your Achilles tendon, just like Brad is showing there.

Mike: So we're getting everything nice and stretched out. We're going to hold this for roughly 30 seconds and relax. And we're going to do it two to three times. If you are feeling better, not as tender later on down the road, and you want to get more of an aggressive stretch, you can try doing this on one leg. And I'm really feeling that right now.

Brad: And I do want to stress one thing, at least me personally. I don't like doing this one barefoot. We're doing it so you can see the anatomy in Mike's sexy feet. Anyways, put a shoe on, and it'll grip the stairs as well. I highly recommend that you do it that way, or put a shoe on.

Mike: I think you meant defined calf muscles is what he was going for, but it came out weird.

Brad: Right, well, whatever. It's there. Anyways, let's go over to the wall. The wall stretch is probably the easiest to do. And again, do this with shoes on. Well, you could try it the other way, but shoes, toes pointed straight ahead, straighten the knee, and lean forward. The front leg is not getting stretched at all, only the back one. So you do one leg at a time. Keep your foot pointed straight ahead. And then bend the knee and stretch a little bit more. It gets a different muscle. 15 to 30 seconds on both feet, up to three times. You should get a nice stretch.

Brad: If you happen to have an incline board like this, it's my favorite way to go because it's easier, you use body weight, and it works better. But the wall is fine as well as the stairs. Just options. All right, should we wrap her up?

Mike: Yeah, so those are a stretch to do for plantar fasciitis, and looking at your footwear. However, if you want some more exercises or stretches to help with this problem, watch "Fix Plantar Fasciitis Fast - Foot Pain Gone (50+)."

Brad: What did you do with my shoes?

Mike: I don't know. There are shoes everywhere.

Brad: Yeah, it's a nice video anyway. It fixes plantar fasciitis, and it's going to give you some more options to help stretch into a few other things. So again, plantar fasciosis is the key.

Medical Disclaimer: All information, content, and material on this website are for informational purposes only and are not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider.

Affiliate Disclaimer: Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We are highly selective in our products and try our best to keep things fair and balanced to help you make the best choice for you.