The best advice I got from my podiatrist was to put my shoes on BEFORE getting out of bed in the morning. That first step out of bed with bare feet actually re-tears the attachment, so you're just setting yourself up for a painful day.

I'm still struggling with a case of PF in both feet. It's been well over a year now. It comes and goes; seems to be connected to whatever weird auto-immune disorder I've got that the doctors can't figure out. I can be perfectly fine and then have terribly painful days, then be fine again, without having done a thing to make it go away.

I got the cheapie orthotics (cheapie meaning $20 US rather than $400 for the custom-made ones), was told to buy new shoes every six months, and was sent to physical therapy.

The stretches help. I had to back way off on them before they worked, though; because my mystery disorder causes everything to tighten up, I could not start in with the stretch where you hang your heels off the stair. I had to start with the one where you face the wall and keep your heel flat on the floor, so that it barely even felt like a stretch. Whichever stretches you do, make sure you hold them for 30 seconds so that they are therapeutic. Repeat them three times per session, three sessions per day.

Icing the arch and using ultrasound waves helped, as did the exercises that built up ankle strength. Get one of those stretchy elastic thingies and work on flexing your foot upwards against the tension, down against the tension, and side to side against the tension.

The doctor's advice and the orthotics were helpful, but the physical therapy sessions made the biggest difference.

Kim