The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution

by Jim Johnson

The 5 Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution by Jim Johnson. Published by Dog Ear Publishing,2008, Paperback

Genres: Nonfiction, Health

86 pages, Paperback

First published February 7, 2008

About the author

Jim Johnson, P.T. is a physical therapist who has spent over 25 years treating both inpatients and outpatients with a wide range of pain and mobility problems. He has written many books based completely on published research and controlled trials. His books have been translated into other languages, and thousands of copies have been sold worldwide.

Besides working full-time as a clinician in a large teaching hospital and writing books, Jim is a certified Clinical Instructor by the American Physical Therapy Association and enjoys teaching physical therapy students from all over the United States.

Reviews

[SL Reads and Reads]

I've had plantar fasciitis most of my life. It got so bad 11 years ago that I quit working out. For years after that, I was never entirely without pain. I went to my general practitioner, then to a podiatrist. I bought expensive shoes and custom orthotics. I did my stretches. I followed all the directions I was given. But nothing worked!

Nothing worked until I tried the approach Johnson suggests in The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution. It's evidence-based practice and, for me, it's the only thing that really works. I started the exercises nearly two years ago. They took several weeks to work, and since then I've had NO PAIN (except when I've done something stupid like wear flip-flops to the beach rather than my usual Danskos). I've even been able to start running, something my foot pain has never allowed me to do before. I still do the stretches from time to time, but no longer quite as frequently as I had to do at the beginning.

I am so grateful for Johnson's research and this book. (It's crazy expensive, though.)

Sidenote. One of my great frustrations with my foot pain was the way doctors just advised me to "lose weight" as if that would cure all my ills. Actually, I gained weight in the first place after I stopped exercising because the pain was too bad! When the pain went away and I began exercising again, the weight came back off. Imagine that.

[Kathleen Manson]

I've had Plantar Fasciitis for exactly a year. It has been one of the most miserable and debilitating conditions I've ever experienced. At the start I thought I could just push through the pain but it just made it worse. At its peak over last summer I couldn't walk for a block without the sharp, stabbing sensation in my feet crippling me. I had tried everything, orthotic shoe inserts, new, expensive runners, several physiotherapists... I could no longer go for hikes or long walks. I still kept up my yoga practice, but at the start of year after reading this book and the excellent Injury Afoot by Patrick Hafner which I really recommend as a companion piece to this book, I took their advice and fully committed to healing. The most important thing for me was to admit that I had this condition to myself and others and moderate my life accordingly. Not easy as a busy mum who works full time, albeit thankfully desk based. First thing was to stop going barefoot, I discovered Birkenstock shoes worked for me, I even wear a pair in the shower. Giving up my regular yoga practice was the hardest thing, but I know it's temporary. The simple exercise in this book sounds almost too simple to work, but I've followed the stretch routine to the letter, as well as the general, evidence-based advice in this book for eight weeks now and it is working for me. My pain is both less intense and less frequent, so progress. I can now walk barefoot in the morning with no pain. I am now going to slowly introduce the things I love to do while keeping a balance of recovery and the healing process. The book is simple, well laid out and easy to read. Each chapter gives you the evidence and a summary, I dip into it regularly to keep me motivated and on track. Recovery is possible.

[Michael Hall]

During my own recovery from plantar fasciitis, this book has been an excellent complement to physical therapy. Written by physical therapist Jim Johnson, the book is short, accessible, and easy to read. More importantly, Johnson draws on published research, including randomized controlled trials. That evidence-based approach is one of the reasons I tend to look for his books.

I’ll give a few key points I learned:

- Plantar fasciitis involves more than inflammation. Degenerative changes also play an important role.
- Stretching the plantar fascia directly produced measurable improvements in patients.
- Three major risk factors highlighted in the book are being overweight, standing for long periods of time, and reduced ankle mobility.

This book has helped shape my own recovery plan for plantar fasciitis. I started physical therapy about four months ago. Reading this book helped me better understand the condition and, working with my physical therapist, shape a recovery plan. After four months, my condition has improved, and I’ve made objective progress by meeting my mobility goals. It’s not over yet, but I’m hopeful that I’m on the right track.

I gave the book four stars because I feel that you may also benefit from additional help, such as physical therapy, to recover from plantar fasciitis. For example, I have found soft-tissue work to be an important part of my own recovery. I would recommend this book as a complement to the recovery plan of anyone dealing with plantar fasciitis.

[Ashley Nelson]

Extremely useful book for sufferers of plantar fasciitis. Author uses plenty of of research studies to back up claims. Plus the sources are cited. Book provides the "5-minute solution", plus biggest risk factors, and other treatments that may be used. Also includes nifty pages to track progress and whether your pain is getting better.

[Wendy]

Searching online for stretches for PF would provide the same level of info as this book. Too much explanation of how studies are performed with control groups. Not at all necessary.

[William]

Having been affected by plantar fasciitis, I was pretty desperate for a solution when it occurred. This book is a short, easy-to-read, and to-the-point discussion of plantar fasciitis. Most importantly, it also presents an effective protocol for treating plantar fasciitis and alleviating its symptoms. The treatment involves direct stretching of the plantar fasciia, which is something I haven't seen mentioned in other books on running injuries. The only person to talk about this to me was, like the author of this book, a physical therapist. The author also gives a protocol for effective stretching of the calf muscles; this is more detailed than just "stretch regularly", which is the summary of advice from other books. I also appreciated the references to published medical studies, which gave me confidence that the author had investigated the topic and was doing more than repeating received wisdom. The author has a definite focus on patient education.

The one negative that will probably cause most people to avoid this book is the price. It's available for a discount on the author's website, but even that might still cause people to balk. All I can say is that I think this book is worth the price (or, the author deserves the price for putting this book together). As I said, I haven't seen the suggested treatment mentioned in other books. Yes, the information could have been summarized in a shorter manner, but I appreciated knowing the reasoning and the "why" as opposed to a mere recitation of "do this!"

[Rachel]

Quick and easy to read, potentially a little patronising in places, but just take it with a pinch of salt. It's supposed to be accessible to anyone so it fits that bill. I borrowed this from a friend so didn't have to part with money for it, but I'm aware its a quite pricey (so maybe not that accessible to everyone!)

In terms of the medical information given, the studies it references are interesting, and the stretches do help relieve the condition (for me anyway) but only combined with other solutions. The author swiftly dismisses research into other solutions by saying that they cannot be trusted as they combined more than one treatment, however his own solution was tested in that very same way (stretches + inserts + anti-inflammatories) so I found that a little hypocritical. I don't think this is the ONLY solution to plantar fasciitis, however its a useful read to see what the condition actually is, and get an idea of the different solutions available.

[Chad]

This guy did all the research so you don't have to. The conclusion is a particular stretch may be helpful, and that as long as you follow through with doing *some* sort of treatment consistently, you'll probably get better.

It is a bit outdated at this time (January 2026) and I wonder whether there are more and better studies done since the publication of his book. Likewise, I am particularly curious about using the bumpy foot roller items, as that is something completely absent from his book (I am guessing it wasn't a thing that came up during his research at all?)

Anyway it was a quick and easy read, and also provided good reasoning for why and how he encouraged the plans as he did.

[Georgina Allen]

A short book with even shorter amount of actual solution! A reasonable book if you need some education on how to sift through scientific research but otherwise a good internet search would probably do.

But then again I'm already getting some relief from the stretch and stopped trying other things that weren't working so it wasn't a total waste of time and it has saved me some money.

[Paul]

Many thanks to Jason and Vicki for sending me this book. Provided a good, quick, easy to understand explanation of plantar fasciitis, causes and treatment options. As a result, I'm on the mend and hope to be back on the trails soon.

[Nancy]

Quick and easy read. The altar backs up his statements by citing scientific studies. I will return update my review once I've tried the stretch for eight weeks.
Update: The stretch hurt, rather than helped my problem, so I discontinued it.

[Tori]

1st read - 1/19/10
2nd read - Sept 2013

[Beth Wood]

Clear and concise, well-researched and extensively referenced. Best information on this topic I have seen, including the internet and what I learned from two different podiatrists.