Plantar fasciitis exercises are very often the best way for plantar fasciitis sufferers to handle the discomfort and ultimately rid themselves of the condition. Conventional plantar fasciitis treatments often fail to deal with the underlying problem and, as a consequence, only offer the sufferer relatively short-lived pain relief. Therefore I would recommend that you employ some of the following plantar fasciitis exercises in your day-to-day routine to enable you to rebuild your damaged plantar fascia.
Before you embark on your plantar fasciitis exercises regime, it’s important to note that if you only focus on exercising and strengthening your feet you could be doing yourself more harm than good.
Remember, your foot is only one part of your leg and it’s vital to realize that each part of your leg (your foot, hamstring, calf, Achilles tendon etc) is as important as each other. So it’s crucial that if you want to improve your condition, you should concentrate on stretching your calf, your hamstring and your Achilles tendon as part of your plantar fasciitis exercises program, as if any part of your leg is not as strong as it should be then your plantar fascia could be put under unnecessary stress and as a result, soak up too much energy during exercise. As I said in my previous article entitled “Plantar Fasciitis Treatment”, the plantar fascia should be considered as your body’s main shock absorber.
Plantar Fasciitis Exercises – The Morning Stretch
If you suffer from plantar fasciitis, then you will undoubtedly experience the most intense pain in the mornings after awakening. This is because your plantar fascia tightens overnight whilst you’re asleep. Before standing up and putting any weight on your feet, carry out the following plantar fasciitis exercises whilst still in bed:
- Initially, flex your affected foot up and down about 20 times before sitting up.
- Then, sit on the edge of your bed and massage the arch of your foot by rolling a tennis ball along it for about five minutes (you can also use a squash ball or a rolling pin).
- If you can, stand up and keep rolling the arch of your foot over the tennis ball for another five minutes.
When you have finished the initial plantar fasciitis exercises, make sure you put on suitable footwear with orthotic insoles inserted or maybe even Fitflops sandals. Ensure you do this instead of walking around your house barefoot (especially on cold, hard floors) as this will only aggravate your plantar fascia, causing you more pain and discomfort.
Plantar Fasciitis Exercises – Stretch That Calf
Ok, so you’re now up and about. The next of the plantar fasciitis exercises that I want you to do is to sufficiently stretch your calf muscles. What you need to do is stand up and face a wall and fully extend your arms out and put both of your hands against it at about head level. Put one leg about half a yard behind the other and (whilst keeping your rear heel firmly grounded) bend your front knee sufficiently until you can feel the calf muscles in your back leg stretching. Hold this for around half a minute and repeat for the other leg. My advice would be to repeat these plantar fasciitis exercises four or five times (or more if you feel able, but don’t overdo it!).
Plantar Fasciitis Exercises – The Hamstring Stretch
Right, now on to the hamstring. This is one of the most straight forward of the plantar fasciitis exercises. What you need to do is tilt you pelvis forward and extend one of your legs out front and bend the knee of your rear leg whilst keeping your upper body straight. By doing this you will feel your calf and thigh of your extended leg being stretched. Hold for about half a minute and repeat with the other leg. Do these plantar fasciitis exercises four or five times.
Plantar Fasciitis Exercises – The Towel Stretch
Sit yourself down on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you. Get a towel and loop it around the ball of one of your feet. Push the towel away from you with your foot (with a straight leg) and point your toes back towards you as much as you can. Hold this for around half a minute and repeat for four times. Then change over to the other leg and repeat these plantar fasciitis exercises again.
Plantar Fasciitis Exercises Resource
When I had the misfortune of suffering from plantar fasciitis, I wish that I had tried out these exercises sooner than I did. Instead, I followed my podiatrist’s advice of custom orthotic shoes, anti-inflammatory pills and ice packs. Whilst all of these things helped alleviate the pain, it just kept on coming back like a bad dream.
This went on for over a year and I was running out of patience until I discovered a book by Greg Hunter called Plantar Fasciitis Secrets Revealed. At first I was understandably skeptical about this book as I was aware of the large amounts of scams about on the internet. But I noticed that the book came with a 60 day money back guarantee and that I could pay through the ultra-safe PayPal, so I figured what the heck? I have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
So I bit the bullet and purchased Greg Hunter’s excellent book. It features some truly remarkable plantar fasciitis exercises, tips and secrets which absolutely changed my life for the better within weeks of implementing the advice within.