I had it really bad for years. I went to several different doctors and bought a million pairs of shoes and the only thing that help me was having a massage therapist work in my feet. I went twice and haven't had a problem since.

firemanswife-
Do you do much walking? How many pounds do you need to lose to be in the "healthy" range? I'm quite sure this is weight related. I need to lose about 60 pounds to be in my healthy range.

I think you have hit it on the head. I have about 40 pounds to lose and I walk all the time. I use a treadmill plus go for my walks outside. I noticed that once the weight started to come off my foot didn't hurt so bad but I just bought a pair of Sketcher walking shoes and I will never own anything else. They are wonderful!

I have it in my right foot.......started when I moved into this current house with wood floors. It's gotten worse because I've got a ton of weight to lose. Very frustrating, but advil helps (and stretching the heel in the morning).

deemarie- Do not stand or walk on your wood floors without shoes on! That will help!

I had my second child, and needed to lose weight as well. I was in the same situation as you. I lost 35 pounds and still have 30 to go, but I had a flare up last June that really made exercise hard.
Here is what I did:
1. Wore comfortable and supportive shoes at all times (no walking barefoot...very bad).
2. Avoided shoes that did not have support (go for Clarks, Josef Sibel, Borns, etc.)
3. Did not do exercises that put more stress and strain on my feet. No walking, running, etc.
4. Signed up at a gym that had a swimming pool and swam. I also rode the exercise bike.
5. Did exercises that my doctor gave me.

It did go away (after about five months). Now, I can feel it coming back, but I quickly make sure I am careful to put shoes on, avoid exercises that put stress on it etc.

I got this after my first son was born and it was painful to go barefoot - ever. I wore the cheap birkenstock sandals from walmart because they have nice arch in the shape and was it cleared up quickly after that (w/in six weeks). I did gain 70 lbs with my first, and 30 with my second, and didn't have it flair up with my second. At the time it happened I was probably 5-7 lbs over my ideal weight but my massive weight gain in my pregnancy most likely caused it.

I got it in both feet when I took up ice skating at age 40. I had a course of anti-inflammatories and was told to wear only shoes with good arch support (goodbye PayLess shoes). The conventional wisdom here is to alleviate the symptoms (pain) because if you do something (surgery) or nothing, it will eventually work itself out, which is just what happened. It took some time, but if I was careful about the shoes I spent the most time in, took some Advil when it was bad, and basically ignored it the best I could, I had much less trouble and now I can barely remember I had it it at all. I still wear better shoes, but otherwise it's like it never happened.