You have a band of fascia that might be causing pain in the bottom of your foot. It’s known as your plantar fascia (usually it is the only type of fascia that anyone has heard about). When it is inflamed and you experience pain that is known as plantar fasciitis (PLANTAR FASCIITIS ). The good news is, at least in my experience, this is not a permanent state of pain.
Though you might have to do some maintenance to keep the pain away, most people with PLANTAR FASCIITIS are able to return to a normal life without pain at every step.
So What Can You Do?
The key to relieving plantar fascia pain is to stretch all the related muscles. This includes both calf muscles and the hamstrings. That’s right, tight hamstrings are strongly linked to plantar fasciitis.
Also, you can do self message on the foot or roll the foot on a soft ball. You don’t have to combat pain with agony, so if a tennis ball hurts, there is no need to use an object that firm.
Stretch What?
There are three muscles to focus on stretching when you have PLANTAR FASCIITIS .
Stretch the Calf
When you see your calf muscle, you are seeing a muscle called the gastrocnemius. It’s generally easy to stretch and most of us know how to do it, but just in case, you can learn how in the video below. The key is to keep the leg straight.
Stretch the Calf Again
Wait? What? That’s right, you have another muscle, the soleus, that lives under your gastrocnemius. To stretch this guy, you need to stretch the calf with a bent leg. This is an important piece many people miss when doing a calf stretch. The video below shows an example of this too.
Basically to relieve PLANTAR FASCIITIS you need to stretch the calf with a bent leg and a straight leg. Try both.
Stretch the Hamstring
A study of 105 people (that’s a pretty good size for fitness studies) found a significant correlation between tight hamstrings and PLANTAR FASCIITIS. Doing a specifically targeted hamstring stretch helped relieve PLANTAR FASCIITIS . The problem is people often stretch multiple muscles, not just the hamstring when trying to do a hamstring stretch. When you find your hamstring, it might not look that impressive because your leg will most likely not get as close to your torso, but it will be more effective. DO NOT feel like you have to kill yourself. If your leg is shaking and your find yourself in agony, like the muscle is about to snap, ease off. Treat yourself a little more gently and you’ll also get better results from the stretch and ensure you are working on the muscle and not the tendons on either end.
Once you have worked on a basic, static hamstring stretch, you can make things more dynamic with this exercise called the Tipping Bird. But check in, do you feel it in your hamstrings or somewhere else?
Good luck working to relieve that pain in your foot and let me know if you have any questions.
Do you or someone you love have plantar fasciitis right now and want more information? Here are two tools that should help. Keep Moving: Take Steps to Relieve Pain & Improve Your Life and the PEEPs in Motion Happy Feet workshop. Show you read this blog by using discount code PEBLOGREADER on the Peeps Workshop to save 15%. This offer will be available from April 8-April 12, 2019.
Keep Reading
Want to know more about fascia? Click here.
Every thought of walking on fire. Read about when some of the PEEP’s team did.
Read about one of my favorite gifts ever and how they helped my feet. Click here.
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