by Holly Middleton
Three things you can do today for your plantar fasciitis pain
What many people don’t realize about plantar fasciitis pain is that it’s a canary in a coal mine. Your angry, inflamed plantar fascia is trying to tell you something about what’s missing elsewhere in your body. You can take the pressure of this poor, overloaded band of tissue under your feet by improving three things: 1- improve your core strength, 2- get your legs working for you and 3- teach your foot’s arches to lift up.
1. Improve your core strength: When I begin working with plantar fasciitis patients I start with core strength. If your core can’t hold you up, then all your body weight is being pushed down into your feet. For core strength you want to focus on learning to hold a stable core while your limbs are moving. I begin with deadbug (and its cousin dying bug) https://youtu.be/UIL7VI5_EQg and then progress to bird-dog https://youtu.be/tWkerYDgpys. Both of these exercises will teach your core to get stronger with your pelvis, ribs and skull stacked up in good alignment while moving your limbs as your core keeps you stable.
2. Get your legs working for you: Next I focus on leg strength to help support your torso above you rather than dumping all of your body weight into your plantar fascia. I start on the floor with pelvic bridges https://youtu.be/7NOGZGBusWQ to build leg and core strength together. Then I introduce sit-to-stand squats https://youtu.be/auC3XZx1tgA to give your body the strength to work against gravity pulling you down. Then I add static lunges https://youtu.be/FnStLVekgGU with good supportive breathing patterns and long tall alignment to restore leg strength.
3. Teach your foot's arches to lift: Finally, I want to get your feet moving well, in particular learning how to lift your arches up off the ground to take the pressure off the permanently-long plantar fascia. I will do heel raises https://youtu.be/MW2WG5l-fYE, and use wedges https://youtu.be/Y8sVcM4aWzA to reintroduce the arch-lifting movements. These exercises not only restore the missing movements but restore the strength to feet that have become weak and unresponsive.
Plantar fasciitis no longer has to be a frustrating and painful daily occurrence. Simply restoring your body’s ability to hold itself up, stabilize itself on top of your legs and move your feet to offload the plantar fascia can go a long way to alleviating pain. Give these exercises a try and then book in to see one of our movement experts to dive deeper into the root causes of your plantar fasciitis.
Are you suffering from plantar faciitis? Holly is available for consultations and active rehabilitation. To learn about how you can work with Holly online or in person, please email hello@thebalancedcollective.com
