Plantar fasciitis is “no joke.” It can be “devastating to a career.”
That diagnosis comes from former Rockies outfielder Ryan Spilborghs, who saw his big-league career short-circuited by the troublesome foot injury.
Rockies left fielder Corey Dickerson has been dealing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot since the final two weeks of spring training. The condition flared up Monday night, with the pain forcing him to exit the Rockies’ 14-3 loss to the Padres in the third inning.
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Plantar fasciitis involves pain and inflammation of a thick band of tissue, called the plantar fascia, that runs across the bottom of the foot and connects the heel bone to the toes.
“Sometimes it gets a little worse during the games when I stand around, and last night I stood around a lot,” Dickerson said Tuesday before the Rockies’ game against San Diego. “Plus, I had cleats on, and that can make it a little worse. But now it’s back to where it was before.”
Asked if he thinks it would be wise for him to go on the 15-day disabled list and allow the injury to more fully heal, Dickerson said: “It could (help), but I have performed pretty well with (the injury) the last couple of weeks with it, so I feel like I can still perform. Maybe it will get better with some treatment. We’ll see.”
Dickerson is hitting .286 with two home runs and is tied with Nolan Arenado for the team lead with 10 RBIs. Dickerson said his left foot feels fine when he’s hitting, but it hurts when he runs.
Spilborghs came down with plantar fasciitis in the summer of 2011 in his final season with the Rockies, and as it turned out, his final season in the majors. He has some words of advice for Dickerson.
“I would tell him it was devastating to my career, so make a concerted effort to stamp it out early,” Spilborghs said. “If it changes your approach to the game, your techniques or your mechanics, then you have to take care of it. You have to rest it. In hindsight, I wish I had gone on the DL.”
Rockies manager Walt Weiss is optimistic that Dickerson will not miss significant playing time.
“He’s doing pretty well, relatively speaking,” Weiss said. “As a matter of fact, I think we might even see him in the next day or two. It can be tricky, this injury. (He) will continue to get treatment every day, and we’ll communicate with him and try to take care of him when that injury starts to flare up.”
Spilborghs was heading into his third year of arbitration when he came down with plantar fasciitis. He said he was wearing cleats that were too small, and when he planted wrong on the second-base bag, his right heel flared up.
“This is an injury about pain threshold,” Spilborghs he said. “Some guys can play through it, some can’t.”
Spilborghs said he was “trying to be a big man in the clubhouse,” so he continued to play.
“Even after a rest, I was only 70-75 percent,” he said. “My strength as a player was my ability to hit the opposite way, to right field. But the pain in my heel wouldn’t allow me to do that.”
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Spilborghs, a career .272 hitter, batted only .210 that season. Eventually, he ripped the plantar fascia tissue in his foot and his season, and his major-league career, were over. He did play in the minors and in Japan, but he never made it back to the majors.
“It can be a very long process to heal,” Spilborghs said. “This injury is no joke.”
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or
