As you get out of bed in the morning and your foot hits the floor, you feel a sharp pain on the bottom of your heel, just behind the foot’s arch. This is the all to familiar signs of football/plantar fasciitis.
The plantar fascia is a fibrous piece of tissue that runs along the bottom of the foot and helps maintain its stability. As we walk or run, it lengthens and contracts.
But this constant movement can cause the plantar fascia to develop tiny tears or become inflamed, causing plantar fasciitis. This is especially true for activities that activate the plantar fascia frequently, like running.
- Stay off your feet.
Resting the plantar fascia allows inflammation to go down and mini-tears to heal. This can happen within a week or two. - Stretch it out.
There are stretching exercises that can help ease the pain of plantar fasciitis, including the following:- While seated, roll a tennis ball back and forth under your foot.
- Stand about 1½ feet from a wall with your hands on the wall. Keep your feet flat on the floor and lean forward until you can feel the stretch in your calves.
- Sit on the floor with your legs straight in front of you and a belt or exercise band wrapped around the ball of your foot. Pull back gently on the belt/band to stretch and flex the foot.
- Ice it.
An ice pack on the bottom of the foot can relieve pain. Or try rolling a frozen water bottle under your foot to ice and massage it at the same time. - Rethink your shoes.
Sometimes simply switching shoes can ease plantar fasciitis. Or try adding orthotic shoe inserts to support the arch of your foot
Luckily we can treat this condition with Shockwave Therapy in the clinic, please call 0404 80005 for more information
