Great, thanks so much for the replies!  Your articles were very interesting and I plan on sharing them with a couple running buddies.  I have a buddy who rarely ever stretches and runs all the time - it was frustrating to continually stretch and go through the motions of rehab and still be in pain.  Perhaps I can let my foot heal completely then gradually introduce stretching again and see how it goes.  If the pain in my foot returns I'll know to avoid that particular stretch and move on.

It's interesting that both of the foot docs I sought treatment from never mentioned that stretching, night splints and/or my orthotics could be the underlying issue.  I was considering an invasive treatment whereby the doc actually cuts into the bottom of my foot (presumably to remove scar tissue or excess fiber...).  I didn't bother asking for specifics because that was a procedure that truly would have been my last resort.

Anyway, I hope others see this thread and consider the other issues at play before they spend more than a year like I did tirelessly "rehabing".

Thanks so much again   I'll be sure to keep this thread on hand should I see other folks struggling with chronic foot pain that's refractory to the various types of treatment.

Wow! Aside from your chiropratic visits (which I was contemplating) our attempted remedies are almost exactly the same   Kudos to your husband for putting up with your continued aches and pains for more than a year - I know my wife was getting tired of me complaining about the pain and not being able to run...

I too had to wear orthotics/shoes all day everyday around the house but can now go barefoot and/or in flip-flops for days straight without any pain!!!

I hope you find the same relief I did by removing all of the remedies you've come across.  Looking forward to my 3+ miler today at lunch!!  Be sure to let me know how you're doing - glad I'm not the only one out there with this

To answer your point - I'm still in the come back phase...  I ran on Monday (5K), biked on Tuesday (20 min) and my foot is sore this morning.  It was kind of sore after my run but nothing like before.  Still no use of orthotics or the night splint and have not been doing the runners stretch.  As for how much time before I started feeling pain relief, I'd say a week or so.  Taking the orthotics out of my shoes left my feet feeling funky - strange gap between sole of shoe and foot and general readjustment.  Once I stopped the night splint I felt almost no pain within a day or two...  I've been orthotic-free now for about three weeks.

That said, I was up around 3am this morning and my first couple of steps resulted in the tell-tale PF pain...  I debated putting on my night splint since I only had another two hours to sleep but decided against it.

I ran 2.5 miles today and am currently icing my foot.  Good practice would have me lay off the running completely, but after all this time (1.5 years) I'm wondering if that will really help.  I figure I'll take off the next couple of days from running so that should give me some time to rest.

As for my shoes, I wear Clarks http://www.clarks.co.uk/womens/unstructured during the day.  I purchased these shoes back in November and wasn't overly impressed with them. They felt good for a couple of weeks but the throbbing and burning in my left foot eventually returned.  I work in an office setting so the shoes are pretty clunky looking. For what I paid for my Clarks, I've heard that Eccos are incredibly comfortable - like walking on clouds...  From what I remember, they weren't very dressy looking though.

As for my running shoes, I use Asics 2140s.  I've found these to provide a lot of arch support and support around the heel.  PLUS they're right around $80-90 which is a price that I'm comfortable paying for running shoes. I may end up trying gels next time around...

Well, I have a kickball game tonight - no need to laugh, I know, kickball - so I'll see how my feet feel tomorrow morning.  Hoping the ice works and I'll probably start taking my Volterin again to see if I can knock down the inflammation...

What shoes have you found helpful?  Where are you in dialing back your remedies?