One of my friends who also suffered from plantar fasciitis recommended acupuncture; she sees an acupuncturist for a lot of things, but one of them was plantar fasciitis and acupuncture is what she attributes to curing her plantar fasciitis. And wow, Lee is so right; we really need a cute nickname for plantar fasciitis because it is a pain to have, to say, and to write. P-Fasch? 

So far, I have had acupuncture five times. Here is my story. (*Law & Order noise*)

Before the Appointment:

The first time I went, I had a few suggestions from my friend which I found very useful.

1. Wear sweats.
2. Wear jogging shorts under the sweats.
3. Always say yes to the heat lamp. 

The person who performs my acupuncture is an ND, a doctor of naturopathy. She works for my husband’s health system, so she is in-network for my insurance. Before I made an appointment, I checked whether our insurance covered the appointments and it sounded like they would not. The first appointment would be $175 and subsequent visits would be $100. Since we have an HSA, and since I would do pretty much anything to get rid of my p-fasch, nope, that is ridiculous plantar fasciitis, my husband and I agreed that I would try it out anyway. (It turns out that my insurance does cover a portion of it, which is fabulous but also makes me roll my eyes because health insurance is SO obtuse; thank goodness we can afford it either way, but SHEESH. If only it were easy to figure out information that would help me make health decisions!)

Prior to my appointment, I had to fill out a huge packet of information. Some of it was the type of data that most doctors collect – basic demographic information, medications, allergies, medical history (mine and my family’s), details about why I wanted to be seen. Some of it was more unusual, like the question, “What would make today’s appointment successful?” which I had no idea how to answer. 

There was also this very interesting sheet that had me detail exactly what was going on. I especially liked all the different options under “Describe nature of pain.” I was a little mystified by some of the questions under “Women Only” (and hope that this hospital system is moving toward updating their forms to be less gendered), but trust that the answers are meaningful to my doctor.

The First Appointment:

The room where the acupuncture took place was a cross between a room at a spa and a generic doctor’s office exam room. It was small and had your typical doctor’s office exam table, but there was gentle spa music playing over a speaker. 

I sat on a chair and the doctor asked me some questions about why I was there. She wanted to know what other treatments I had explored. She wanted to know with great detail and exactness what the pain was like and where it was located. I both appreciated how thorough she was and felt flustered because I wasn’t sure I was describing it correctly. She had me remove my shoes and socks and show her exactly where the pain was located on my feet.

She asked me if I had ever tried acupuncture before, and I said no, and she asked if I wanted a brief overview of acupuncture and I said yes. 

She referred to a large poster hanging on the wall and said that the body has all these channels, or meridians, that travel from one end to the other. By stimulating certain areas of the body, you can affect other, related areas. She showed me the needles, which were much much smaller and thinner than I had anticipated. She asked if I had any questions, and I can’t remember if I did or not. 

She told me that she recommended six sessions for plantar fasciitis; I did not ask if that was for plantar fasciitis in general, or just my case. She said it was very important to have them back to back; I can’t remember why, but it may be that the effect is cumulative.

Then she told me remove my pants and get on the exam table. She left the room. I was very glad that I had followed my friend’s advice to wear running shorts. The table was covered with a generic sheet of exam table paper, but she had put a cylindrical pillow on the table as well as a sheet folded in half lengthwise. I lay down and put the sheet over my bottom half, but it barely covered the shorts region, so I was doubly glad I was wearing them. 

She came back into the room and had me remove my watch and glasses. Then she asked me to relax my legs over the cushion in the center of the table while lying flat on my back. This hurt my lower back, so I asked if she could provide another pillow and she did; I was glad I asked because I had to lie in that position for nearly an hour and my back would not have liked that. 

I was extremely anxious: this was a new situation and I didn’t know what to expect. She either noticed or I volunteered that information and she asked if I wanted something to help relieve that anxiety. I said sure, and she retrieved a small bottle of something from a drawer and sprayed it under my tongue. I don’t know if it helped, but it was interesting. 

She felt my pulses (she said it that way: pulses) on both wrists. She had me pull down my mask and stick out my tongue. I did it wrong and so she demonstrated how I should do it: let my jaw fall open and my tongue fall out in a relaxed way. She looked under my tongue as well. I wanted to ask her what it was telling her, but I chickened out. She asked if I had eaten breakfast. I hadn’t, because I don’t usually eat breakfast that early (it was 9:00 am); in reviewing the information packet for this post, I see that there is a recommendation to eat before you come. Whoops. 

She started with my feet and inserted several needles in each foot. I think I tried to ask, at first, why she was putting needles in certain places but her answers were not satisfying so I stopped asking. She wasn’t mean about it or anything, it just seemed like the informative portion of the appointment was over and now she was focused on placing the needles. I did not want to distract her when she was inserting needles into my body, I’m sure you understand.

She also put a couple of needles in my knees and then a few in my hands, specifically in my thumbs. Those ones hurt the most. The meaty part of my left thumb burned slightly for almost the entire appointment and then it felt sore for several hours afterward. She put another needle in my scalp. 

When she inserted them, the most typical sensation was a brief spark of pain that immediately subsided. She would flick the needle gently after inserting it, which was very briefly uncomfortable but not painful. There are a few places – my thumbs and the top of my left foot – that are more sharply painful, and for which the pain lasts a few seconds. I have not had any long-lasting pain like I did that first time with my thumb.

She asked if I wanted the heat lamp and I said yes. She positioned it above my feet. Then she dimmed the lights and left. 

My friend says that it’s best if you fall asleep, and I can see why. I am very good at entertaining myself and allowing my thoughts to freewheel around my head, and yet I had a hard time lying there for 40 minutes with nothing but the spa music and my throbbing thumb for company.

After the allotted time, the doctor returned to the room. She turned up the lights and removed the needles (in the same order in which she inserted them). Removing them caused only very slight discomfort. 

Then she told me to drink lots of room temperature water and the appointment was over.

Subsequent Visits:

I tried to schedule back-to-back appointments with her, but it wasn’t possible. So what I did was skip three weeks and then start again with six back-to-back appointments. Since it had been awhile since our first visit, she took my pulses and looked at my tongue again during my second visit; she hasn’t done that on subsequent visits. She also asked me whether I still get a period and where I was in my cycle, which she hadn’t asked the first time. 

During the second appointment, she put in fewer needles than she had the first time. For instance, she only put needles in my left hand. I said something like, “Only one hand this time?” and she said, “Do you want me to do your right hand?” and I said, “I just noticed that it was different from last time.” “With you, less is more,” she told me. (However, after more visits, it seems like she simply makes decisions the day of the appointment for where to place the needles, and how many. I have had more and less, and they are not always in the same places.)

During the second appointment, she recommended that I soak my feet. She told me to use Epsom salt, rosemary oil, and eucalyptus oil in water that was not boiling but more than hot for twenty minutes each morning. 

Before I left, she also inserted two little acupressure points in my right ear. They were like stickers with tiny hard bumps on them. She said I could apply pressure to them which could help ease the pain in my heel. She said it helps some people but not others; I liked that she was open about the possibility it might not work but that she also gave it a try. The one in the top part of my ear – right under the very top crest of the ear – hurt a lot, and was so sore that I took it off two days later. The one in the bottom part of my ear – just inside the ridge of cartilage that lies atop the earlobe – did not hurt, but came out on its own after about four days. I did not experience any benefit from the acupressure. 

During the third appointment, she inserted needles once again into both hands. I did not ask why; I care, but also… I am just going with the flow. During that appointment she also inserted two needles into each of my ears. I KNOW. It was odd but not terribly painful. Nowhere near as painful as the needle insertion in my left hand. I said something like, “Wow, that hand always hurts so much.” And she gave me a knowing look and said, “That’s because it’s connected to your right foot.” I am not 100% sure what that meant, although my right foot is the one that has the most pain, so perhaps that has something to do with it. I should probably ask more questions, but I’m not sure what questions to ask and I’m too nervous about bothering her.

Going back to the second appointment: At one point, I apologized for being so sweaty. She asked if I was anxious, and I said I didn’t think so; it’s just that my feet were sweaty and I was embarrassed. She stepped back for a moment and said, “You have nothing to be embarrassed about! You should see some of the feet I see!” Then she told me what was meant to be a very comforting story about how some people come in with filthy feet, and how clearly I had cleaned my feet before I’d come in, and had nothing to be embarrassed about. (I had NOT cleaned my feet; I mean, they were clean because I had showered, but they could have had sock lint all over them for all I knew.) I think I prefer if doctors (as well as aestheticians of all kinds) participate in the polite fiction that they have seen everything and it is all normal and nothing bothers them. 

Also, since I was so sweaty, I declined the heat lamp for my second appointment. This was a mistake! Always request the heat lamp!

Something else you should always do? Turn off any alarms you may have set, because you won’t have your phone or your watch and you will be unable to get off the table to do anything about it and Siri doesn’t hear so well when she is buried in your coat pocket on a chair five feet from the exam table. Ask me how I know this.

By the third appointment, I was relaxed enough that I nearly drifted off to sleep. 

During the fourth visit, the needle insertion HURT, especially in my right foot, my left hand, and my ears. I could feel my heel doing this long slow blink of soreness through the entire session, and my left thumb was sore for about an hour afterward. Plus, my feet were twitching during the session which was unusual. (I chickened out and didn’t mention it to the acupuncturist at the end; she seemed a little rushed.) During this session, she put needles in both ears, on the crown of my head, and between my eyebrows. The eyebrows one hurt the least. I did mention that I seemed to be extra sensitive and the doctor suggested it might have something to do with where I was in my menstrual cycle. She didn’t seem perturbed, so I tried not to let it bother me.

The fifth visit was this morning. It was unremarkable, and again I felt relaxed enough that I almost fell asleep. Well, it was unremarkable except for this: I have been having upper back pain, probably because I did a Pilates move horribly wrong. The pain travels down my right arm and into my hand, so it’s not super. I can only lie flat on my back while in bed, and sitting, and especially driving, are very uncomfortable. So I tentatively said that maybe I should make another appointment for this, but I had been having back pain and was that something she could address? She asked a few questions and added a few extra needles to my body. She did so by first pressing on my legs in different areas and asked me to identify the most sensitive/painful points, and then she put the needles there. She did the same thing with the shoulder on the side of my back that hurts. She also asked to look at my tongue again. I still haven’t gotten up the nerve to ask her what she is looking for when she looks at my tongue. I suppose I should look it up.

Results So Far:

Keep in mind that I am only in the middle of the recommended six sessions. (I am not counting the first session in the six, since there was a several week interruption between the first and the second.) Also, at my most recent session, the doctor suggested I make an additional two or three appointments, so it seems like I am really only halfway through.

Is acupuncture addressing my plantar fasciitis? I don’t know. A family member who has undergone acupuncture treatment for a different issue says that she thinks I would have seen improvement immediately, and that wasn’t the case. However, the doctor said it would take at least six sessions, so maybe there is a cumulative effect when it comes to my specific issue? I don’t know. I am tackling the problem from a variety of angles, so it’s hard to say whether acupuncture is helping or not. But I will say that I have noticed a real improvement in my level of pain. It’s not perfect: my feet are still stiff and painful most mornings when I wake up, and anytime I am sitting for long periods (like reading a book or watching a TV show), and some days I still limp around. But my right foot hurts a lot less, in general, that it did previously. Sometimes, my left foot doesn’t hurt at all. And there have been two or three times when I have gotten up – from bed, or from sitting – and my feet have felt entirely normal. One recent Saturday, I had almost no pain the entire day. (This was so remarkable, I kept mentioning it to my husband, who was not as elated as I thought he should be.) And as the weeks go by, I seem to have less and less pain overall. It’s very encouraging! So if acupuncture is part of a multi-pronged approach that seems to be working, even if slowly and incompletely, then I am going to continue doing it.