In this video above I demonstrate three simple stretches to help you overcome the pain and frustration of plantar fasciitis; a problem that affects so many runners.
Simple Stretches for Plantar Fasciitis
Plantar fasciitis is an injury that quite a number of our subscribers messaged me about, asking for more information. The typical heel pain that comes with this often stubborn injury is often quite debilitating and can hang around for a long time if not managed properly.
Thankfully, there are a number of simple techniques you can treat your plantar fasciitis at home – or more specifically deal with some of the common contributing factors, such as tightness in the calf muscles.
Let’s start with understanding the anatomy around the bottom of the foot and ankle region. The plantar fascia runs from the heel bone the calcaneus, along the bottom of the foot, and across the metatarsal heads, the balls of the foot. As we walk and run, the action of us loading the toes adds tension to the plantar fascia, which helps create a more rigid foot and solid base to push-off through.
That’s a good thing, and is how the foot’s supposed to function.
Coming back to the heel bone, the calcaneus, another structure which attaches to this bone is the achilles tendon, which transfers force from the calf muscles. If the calf muscles are chronically tight, the achilles is going to be subtlety pulling the calcaneus in a direction which places constant strain on the plantar fascia… which it won’t like.
So to effectively manage your plantar fasciitis symptoms, it’s important that we deal with any tightness in the calf complex, and ensure that the big toe in particular is able to dorsiflex properly.
Let me know how you get on with the stretches in the video 🙂
