I had this diagnosed by my Dr. after making an appointment after about 3 months, and he likewise said never go bare footed.

I happened to be speaking with a younger friend a short time later, and he said he had PF and it took him a year for the symptoms to totally go away. He actually used a Velcro and plastic foot brace while sleeping to keep his foot from pointing down, at least until he started getting cramps from the brace.

My symptoms lasted as long as his did.

Had a guy in the shoe section of a department store said he solved his PF quickly with shoe inserts recently. Me thinks he didn't really have PF.

PF is a real pain in the ass, especially for the first 5 minutes after getting out of bed!