MARS WELLNESS Comfort Dorsal Night Splint - Pain Relief from Plantar Fasciitis, Drop Foot, and Achilles Tendinitis - Large

This is a combined review for the 5 types of night boot/braces for plantar faciatis I've tried over a number of years. I'm sure your millage may varry, depending on foot, leg shape and more. I have large calfs and triangular shaped size 8.5 foot womans. My PF for short started a few years ago when I was working in a hospital and walking miles in it as a chaplain. Not sure why I've got current flare...In my experience the splints that wrap the bottom of your foot are better at getting that critical right angle than those that are on the top of your foot and don't even generally pretend to put your foot at a right angle. Braces with stabilizing, tightening straps on the sides that allow you to flex the foot up are helpfull. Anything which has a picture of a foot on its toes - well just laugh and move on.Futuro Night Plantar Fasciitis Sleep Support, Adjustable - This supports from the top and was a waste. Just useless.Night Splint 90 Degree Plantar Fasciitis Heel and Foot Pain Night Boot Padded (Large) This was too big and I sloshed around. There is a balance in making something small enough you can sleep in it and not get tangled in the sheets, and big enough that it does its job. Maybe in the right size this would have been okay, but I got the large because of the reported calf dimensions and it was useless for me.Comfort Dorsal Night Splint for Effective Relief From Plantar Fasciitis - Small / Medium By MARS Wellness This is now my traveling brace. It packs up small and isn't quite as comfortable or as rigorous in putting my foot at the right angle as my favorite (the Vive) but it is okay. I might padd it a bit to adjust how the velcro touches my leg....Plantar Fasciitis Splint By Vive - Hard Plantar Fasciitis Night Splint Relieves Inflammation & Pain - Foot Splint Best for me. It is a modest size, has a rubber tread on bottom which means that I feel more secure going to the bathroom at night. The wedge really improves the angle. And you can tighten the side straps for more pressure (believe me a small adjustment does a lot) I really like that the closures on the straps mean you can set tension once and don't have to figure that out again every night. If you don't have large legs you might not be able to get the calf tight enough, but for me it is the best. I ended up trimming several of the straps. I might do another adjustment to the way the velcro touches my leg....Plantar Fasciitis Night Splint by Vive - I'm not a confirmed buyer on Amazon for this one because I got it (or something very much like it) from my podiatrist. It is middling successful. I just couldn't get more than a 90 degree angle out of it, and it is so high on my leg some sleeping positions are not comfortable. But it is made of a nicer fabric than my 2 favorites (Vive and Mars) so it has that going for it. At the moment I have this by my reading chair and in my current problems am putting it on just while downstairs and relaxing. If you are very sensitive to the fabrics on your skin you might want to use this over my number 1 or 2Hope this is helpful to you and that you don't have to buy 5 braces to find your winner!

I am an older runner who normally does 25 - 30 miles per week, 4 to 5 days a week. I have been injury free for many years but just recently have had to deal with plantar fasciitis pain and symptoms. 3 weeks of rest is not an option for me so I needed to find ways to deal with the pain and improve recovery times between runs. The biggest issue with PF is not when you're running but when you are resting, particularly if your feet are up (recliner) or you are in bed. The tendons connecting the heel to the ball of the feet relax, making it painful to re-stretch that tendon when you stand up. The classic sympton is the sharp heel pain and inability to put weight on the foot when you first get out of bed in the morning.My regimen for dealing with the issues include:1) Ice after running,2) Stretches and strengthening exercises to increase flexibility and calf strength.3) Use of a night-time splint when feet are elevated.4) Use of a padded heel cup when spending long amounts of time on my feet (not running).I'm happy to say that this splint works well to manage resting pain and to keep the tendons stretched while resting. It is a "soft" splint that uses adjustable velcro fasteners to secure the toe and the heel and to pull the toes up toward your shins to keep that tendon stretched. I do NOT use it overnight only because I was not willing to get used to wearing it in bed, but I do use it after icing and running and it works very well to ease the pain and speed up recovery. Note that I am a size 12 men and this is adjustable enough to fit well.The only down-side to the device is that it is much more comfortable around the toes and ball of the foot if you are wearing a sock. That's not necessarily a bad thing but it increases the warmth and sweating especially on a warm, humid night.I have tried a number of approaches to control the symptoms but the above regimen works well for me. I have been able to keep up my running and it appears the PF is actually getting better over the last few weeks.P.S. I also but one of those plastic rocker things that is supposed to help stretch and help with PF. Save your $20 and spend it on this splint instead.