The Achilles Heel Of the NBA – Plantar Fasciitis

Joe Johnson recently found himself day-to-day with “heel pain,” which in the world of basketball is usually code for plantar fasciitis.  They don’t like to throw that phrase around too often because it typically has a bad connotation, so they say “heel pain” instead.  Sometimes with a little rest and treatment it can go away quickly, but the pain often becomes nagging and is tough to totally eliminate.  This injury plagues NBA players constantly; a cursory google search of “NBA players plantar fasciitis” reveals a list a mile long, with names like Dwyane Wade, Joakim Noah, Rajon Rondo, Pau Gasol, Derrick Favors, Tyreke Eans, and so on.  Rip Hamilton actually tore his, which feels like this, only in your foot:

So why does this happen to so many NBA players?  Here’s a quick lesson in anatomy and biomechanics to see why:

The plantar fascia is a thick band of connective tissue in the bottom of your foot that runs from the big toe to the heel.  It’s function is to stabilize the arch of the foot, meaning that when it tightens it helps create a rigid platform that you can push off of when you walk, jump, and run.  The plantar fascia does this by something called the “windlass mechanism.”  This picture shows how when your big toe gets pulled up as you walk, it pulls on the plantar fascia and raises the arch of the foot.

If this didn’t work, every NBA player would move like Eddy Curry.

This happens every single time you step and is an essential component of moving around.  You can imagine how much force is applied to the foot being an NBA player, with the ridiculous amounts of explosive and repetitive movements performed throughout the year.  Small variations in the arch of the foot (being too flat-footed or high-arched) can make someone more prone to developing plantar fasciitis.  There is excessive pulling on the part of the plantar fascia that attaches to the heel because of these abnormalities, so preventing that trauma is important for preventing such problems.  Most basketball shoes focus on ankle support rather than arch support, giving plantar fascia a way to rear its ugly little head under the right conditions.

If you’ve ever had plantar fasciitis, you know that it sucks.  A lot.  Just stepping on your foot can cause pretty nasty pain, especially if you’ve been sitting for a while or first thing in the morning.  It’s tough to treat without forcing a player to rest, especially when you do literally everything possible to piss it off for a living like NBA players do.  We’ll see if Joe Johnson is sidelined for a while or if he can tough it out as the Nets continue their assault on the slumping Knicks’ stranglehold on first place.

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