Why is it so important?
You may remember your podiatrist telling you how important it is to stretch and ice for plantar fasciitis. The doctor may have given you a sheet of paper that described the stretches with pictures and everything. Who knows where that is now? Are you doing your stretches? Do you remember how to do them or maybe no one ever showed you how to perform them properly.
First, let us review why stretching is important. Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the fibrous band on the underside of your foot. Imagine your foot arch as a hunting bow. Your foot arch is the wood portion and the string is your plantar fascia. If you place the string portion on the ground and push down on the wooding handle, you stretch out the string. This is very similar to the stress on your plantar fascia when you stand, walk, and run. Overtime, these overuses cause inflammation and heal pain. A common reason why some people are more prone to developing plantar fasciitis is due to tight calf muscles and weak foot muscles. This is easily corrected! You can improve your symptoms and decrease the chance of recurrence just by
doing a few simple stretches.
Stretching is so critical to the treatment plan, that many podiatric physicians will refer you to a physical therapist. This will speed up the recovery process and will help prevent reoccurrence!
When stretching for plantar fasciitis, you must be persistent and diligent. While sleeping, your muscles are not being used and they become tight. When the alarm goes off and you jump out of bed, you will often have excruciating heal pain with your first step. This is because your tight muscles are causing increased pull on your plantar fascia. The first thing you should do in the morning is stretch! You may experience similar pain after sitting for a long time. Once again, the first thing you should do is stretch. Stretching should be done about three times a day along with icing. No excuses. Some stretches are so easy you can do them while sitting at your desk working!
Push the wall to China exercise
Place both hands on the wall at shoulder height. With your toes facing strait forward, extend one leg backwards. Imagine you are trying to push the wall to china. You should feel your calf being stretched.
Towel Stretch
While watching TV, sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you. Wrap a towel around your feet so you are hold on to the ends, one in each hand. Slowly pull the towel toward you keeping your back strait at 90 degrees. You should feel your calf muscles stretching.
Bottle or Tennis Ball Roll
Use a frozen water bottle or a frozen tennis ball for best effect. This is too simple. Roll your foot over the bottle or tennis ball.
Now you have no excuses! Now you know three easy stretches for your plantar fasciitis. Remember to be persistent and diligent and to talk to your podiatric physician about other treatment options to help relieve your pain.
For a video presentation, go to youtube.com/pwishnie and click on the stretching video.
