7 Best Trainers For Plantar Fasciitis in 2025

How we test trainers for plantar fasciitis

On one side, there are enthusiasts who get trainers for free and are often nudged in a direction the brand dictates. What to (not) talk about or what to promote the trainers for. 

On the other side, there's an independent shoe lab that we created and our testers who are interested in how the sneaker actually fits, feels, and performs, and not which brand it is. To keep this objective approach, we: 

• buy the trainers with our own money
• test trainers in various conditions and time frames and make sure there are no brand ambassadors on our team 
• lab test the trainers and describe each one with more than 20 data points 
• publish everything we find out so that it's available to everyone. 

Plantar fasciitis symptoms and causes

Plantar fasciitis is a condition in which the plantar fascia gets overused and inflamed. This can happen for many reasons: simple overuse, bad footwear or footwear that should have been replaced sooner, plantar fascia compensating for other muscles and tendons (like calves or Achilles tendons), and, therefore, overworking, and so on. 

The plantar fascia stretches between the ball of the foot and the heel bone. When it gets overused, it starts hurting at the bottom of the foot around the heel and the arch. This is especially felt when you wake up and with the first few steps you take. 

If you’re experiencing what looks like plantar fasciitis, we recommend seeing a specialist first to get a proper diagnosis and rehabilitation plan. This guide is not here to offer a medical diagnosis but to talk about features in trainers that may help while you’re dealing with plantar fasciitis. Other conditions and injuries may cause heel pain, so we strongly recommend confirming or denying plantar fasciitis. 

How can trainers for plantar fasciitis actually help you

Trainers can’t heal plantar fasciitis. It can help along the way and, given that plantar fasciitis is often an overuse injury, it’s important to take it easy and follow a rehab plan. 

Given the location of the plantar fascia, trainers for plantar fasciitis help get rid of any work it does not have to do. By this, we mean sending the stress to the other parts of the legs, decreasing the stress itself. This is accomplished with a:

• high heel drop, which utilises higher leg muscles and not foot muscles
• cushioned platform which helps increases the shock absorption the sneaker is able to do thanks to all the cushioning 
• stiff heel counter, which locks the heel in place which means that it moves less so the plantar fascia is working less 
• torsionally rigid platform which prevents excessive twisting of the foot which would put a lot of extra pressure on the plantar fascia. 

All the trainers for plantar fasciitis that we test go through extensive testing and, for some of it, we have to cut the trainers into pieces. This allows us to examine and measure various bits and pieces. 

5 features to look for in trainers for plantar fasciitis 

Based on our wear tests and lab tests, we realised that these 5 features are needed if you’re struggling with plantar fasciitis: 

1. Trainers should be cushioned with at least 30 mm of heel stack height
2. High heel drop, 8mm at least 
3. Midsoles that are not plush (too soft). We recommend those that scored at least 20 using a shore A durometer 
4. Torsionally rigid platforms 
5. Stiff heel counters. 

We will dive deep into each of these features below to explain why we find them so important for plantar fasciitis. 

1. Cushioned trainers feel good when you’re experiencing plantar fasciitis 

When we say cushioned, we mean at least 30 mm at the heel. And, fortunately, we measure heel stack height (and forefoot stack height) of every sneaker that goes through our lab, so you can always rely on accurate measurements. 

We recommend cushioned trainers in this case because we want to lower the impact at the landing. While this requirement may not sound like a big deal, it may be for those who are used to minimalist trainers or simply trainers that are low to the ground. Some of them are so flat that their very thin midsoles or rubber are not able to do proper shock absorption.

Stack height is directly related to the ground feel: the higher the platform, the less you can feel the ground. Some sneakerheads enjoy this because their feet are not prematurely exhausted by feeling every little bump and pebble. 

2. High heel drop is a must for plantar fasciitis

Heel-to-toe drop, or heel drop, is the difference in height between the heel and the forefoot in footwear. It goes from 0 mm, which we call zero drop, to very high or, better to say, very steep! The highest heel drop we’ve measured so far in our lab is 22.6 mm. 

Based on plenty of research done for running shoes, there are 4 groups of heel drops: zero, low, mid, and high. For plantar fasciitis, we recommend a drop of 8 mm or higher (high heel drop). We do so because it’s important to relieve the plantar fascia of any pressure that is not necessary and, by choosing a higher drop, we’re choosing to utilise higher-leg muscles more than the lower ones. 

If you like steep trainers, here’s a selection of those with the highest heel to toe drop:

3. Very soft midsoles are out of the picture 

The softness of the midsole is measured with a shore A durometer on a sneaker that’s cut in half, as that’s the only proper way to do it. Once the needle is stuck into the midsole, we get a reading on a digital display and the higher it is, the firmer the midsole. 

For those experiencing plantar fasciitis, we recommend a midsole softness of at least 20. Fortunately, the majority of trainers are above that limit! At the moment of writing this guide, the measured softness range is 15-46. 

We recommend this just to be on the safe side and avoid too soft midsoles. These midsoles would make the platform more unstable as the feet may be able to wobble. Any extra (micro) movement may put more stress on the plantar fascia and we wantt to avoid that. 

4. Hard to get twist trainers are great for plantar fasciitis

If you hold a sneaker in your hands, you can do 2 things to test its flexibility: try to bend it, to test its longitudinal stiffness, and try to twist it, to test its torsional rigidity. When talking about plantar fasciitis, we care about the latter. 

Assessing torsional rigidity on a 1-5 scale, where 5/5 is the most rigid and 1/5 very flexible. This sneaker scored 5/5

We recommend finding trainers that scored 3/5, 4/5, or 5/5 on our torsional rigidity assessment. This means that if you try to twist them with your own hands, they will resist it. This torsional rigidity is important because it does not allow the foot to twist. This twisting would make the foot muscles work more, and, with the plantar fascia already inflamed, it could bring more stress to it. 

We recommend avoiding trainers that are easy to twist, like this one, which scored 1/5 on our torsional rigidity test 

Unlike this twisting movement, longitudinal flexibility is about being able to bend the foot with the sneaker. This is possible in flexible trainers and not possible in longitudinally stiff trainers. The great thing is, you can choose which one you want. 

If you’re looking for trainers that bend more naturally with your feet, look for lower numbers under Flexibility/Stiffness. 

This torsional rigidity that we recommend is another reason why minimalist trainers are out of the picture for those struggling with plantar fasciitis. The super flexible (in all directions) platform offers no support, there’s not enough midsole to cushion the impact, and the heel drop is not high enough to save the plantar fascia from additional stress.

5. You will love stiff heel counters in trainers for plantar fasciitis

Together with a torsionally rigid platform, stiff heel counters feel super supportive! In our experience, they are important because they lock the heel in place and add an extra layer of stability. This is almost immediately felt. 

Very stiff heel counter (5/5)

In our lab, we assess the stiffness of the heel counter by squeezing it and pushing it. We assign it a 1-5 rating, where 1/1 is the very flexible and 5/5 very stiff. For plantar fasciitis, we recommend heel counters that scored at least 3/5.

Very flexible heel counter (1/5) is pliable and often even sock-like but offers zero support 

Although this stiffness may sound harsh, we have some good news: these stiff heel counters are padded. Often, very padded! Look at the examples below. 

This stiffness comes from internal and/or external heel counters.

The external ones are easy to notice, and the internal ones are visible when we cut the trainers in half. 

Finding budget trainers for plantar fasciitis

Even if the sneaker you're considering is expensive at the moment, you may wait for it to get discounted. At any moment, you can look at the price history on our website or set a price alert so that you're notified once the price drops. You can also visit the deals page to look for the biggest discounts! 

In the table above, MSRP stands for manufacturer's suggested retail price. This means that we're looking at the prices when the trainers were released. The good thing is, discounts happen all the time and you can look for them.