Plantar Fasciitis Exercises and Stretches

What You Can Do About Heel Pain

Nancy Hausauer, LMP
706 Sixth Avenue * Tacoma, WA 98405 * 253-686-1214
Massage, lymphatic massage, and energy healing serving Tacoma, Seattle,
Federal Way, Puyallup, Lakewood, Olympia, and the Puget Sound region

By the time we're middle aged, many of us have experienced plantar fasciitis -- pain and stiffness in the bottom of the foot (usually close to the heel) that's especially bad when we first get up in the morning or after we've been sitting for a long time. At best it's uncomfortable, and at worst it's disabling.

While plantar fasciitis can be stubborn, there are many things that you can do to relieve and prevent it.

Plantar fasciitis exercises and stretches should be a part of your self-care plan. You'll need to stretch your calves and the arch of your foot. It may also be helpful to strengthen the muscle at the front of your calf.

Calf Stretches
Calf stretches require pushing your foot firmly upwards towards the shin. There are two main calf muscles, and so there are two positions required.

With your tennis or running shoe on, face a door frame (or other 90 degree angle, such as a street curb).

1st position: With your knee straight, put your heel on the floor and your toes on the doorframe, and then pull yourself forward using the door frame. Hold for 10-15 seconds.

2nd position: Bend your knee and repeat to stretch the second main calf muscle. This will probably not feel like as much of a stretch as the straight-knee stretch, but it's still important.

Then switch feet.

Foot Arch (Plantar Fascia) Stretch
Sit on the floor with your legs outstretched. Place your hands or a towel or strap under the ball of your foot. Pull the end of your foot (i.e. your toes) towards you. Hold for ten to fifteen seconds and switch feet. Feels good and it's so easy!

Plantar Fasiciitis Exercises: Front of Calf
To strengthen the muscle at the front of your calf, raise your foot toward your shin and hold for a moment. Repeat ten to twenty times.

And If You Do Nothing Else, Do This
Simply put a pair of shoes with 1 1/2 to 2 inch heels by your bedside. When you get out of bed (whether during the night or in the morning), put your feet immediately into those shoes. Don't take a single step without them. Leave them on as you walk around in the morning, until your feet have a chance to warm up. After a while, you can take them off and gingerly test to see if it hurts to step down on your feet. If it doesn't, you're good to go, with or without shoes. But if it does hurt, leave the shoes on (or switch to another pair with similar heels if you need to).

Continue with this practice until your heel pain goes away completely and you've totally forgotten about it. In the interim, practice some of the other tips that you'll find below (stretching, wearing good shoes, etc.)

The reason this works is that wearing a shoe with a moderate heel places your foot in the same position as it was while you were in bed--toe pointed slightly down. This keeps the calf muscles and heel fascia in a shortened position, so that it doesn't stretch and re-tear when you first step down on it. As the heel warms up, you can often switch to lower heels. (But be kind to your feet and wear moderate heels, with good arch support and shock absorption.)

Other Self-Care Advice for Heel Pain
In addition to plantar fasciitis exercises and stretches and wearing shoes with heels when you first get up in the morning, try the following:

• Ice: if your heels are acutely painful, hold a cloth-covered ice pack over the painful area for 15 to 20 minutes three or four times a day or after activity.
• Rest or reduce impact on your feet: decrease your mileage (if you're a runner), or take up a lower impact form of exercise such as swimming or cycling until you're better. The worse it is, the more likely you'll need to actually take some time off from your high-impact activity in order to heal.
• Add arch supports to your shoes: experiment with over-the-counter arch supports to take tension off the plantar fascia and cushion shock. I like Superfeet (green) orthotic, but you may have to experiment to find what works best for you.
• Replace worn-out athletic shoes; avoid high heels, thin soles, no-arch-support shoes. Throw out your flip flops.

• Morning warm-ups (and throughout the day): when you awake (and often throughout the day), repeatedly roll your ankles and flex and point your feet.
• Massage your own foot using a tennis ball. Just roll the tennis ball around with your foot, applying a pleasurable amount of pressure.