Trying to figure out why you have plantar fascia pain? Watch the video above!
Foot or heel pain when you walk, run, or jump? Point tenderness along the base of your plantar fascia? Foot extremely painful with the first step out of bed int he morning? You're probably dealing with plantar fasciitis.
Plantar fascia pain is no fun. It inhibits almost every area of your life, especially your workouts. Walking, running, jump rope, box jumps, squat jumps, burpees, sometimes olympic lifting...ouch. When dealing with plantar fascia pain it becomes hard to find things that don't aggravate it. You want it resolve your problem, and you want to resolve it now! Here are the main components needed to resolve your foot pain. No foot orthotics necessary.
1) Reduce Volume of movements which aggravate your foot.
It's going to be hard to completely eliminate everything that aggravates your foot, but you need to take out the major movements which elicit the greatest pain. These movements are most likely going to be your more plyometric movements; movements that involve running, jumping, and quick changes of direction.
2) Put of the "fire"
Once you take away the major movements which aggravate your foot, it's time to begin treating the pain. You need to decrease tension at the plantar fascia insertion point. Do this by loosening up your calf and plantar fascia. You can do this by rolling on a lacrosse ball, foam roller, and by wrapping your foot + ankle with a voodoo floss band. A major key is to NOT roll the most painful area of your plantar fascia. Continually rolling the plantar fascia insertion point may actually aggravate the fascia further.
3) Begin to load the tissue!
In order to get the plantar fascia to heal, you need to LOAD the fascia in a controlled manner. You can do this by performing VERY-SLOW Full range of motion tempo calf raises. The longitudinal loading of the fascia will begin to heal the injured area.
4) Work on your foot and hip stability while standing on 1 leg.
If you are dealing with plantar fascia pain, most likely you have an underlying foot or hip stability deficit. Performing closed chain single leg stability exercises, where you force yourself to keep a stable hip and a stable arch, you are able to address a possible root cause for your issue AND isometrically load the plantar fascia (which will help with healing).
5) Address your running mechanics, your jumping mechanics, and your training volume.
Most likely one of these three things is also at the root cause of your plantar fascia pain. Faulty running mechanics, poor jump-land mechanics, under recovery, and a quick increase in training volume often result in you developing plantar fascia pain. As you return to sport, it's important you develop a plan to address these. Failing to address them will mostly likely result in another experience with plantar foot pain.
If you are experiencing foot pain, find a clinician who understands the rehab process and understands your goals to help you get back to the activities and sports you love. They will guide you along your journey, let you know what's normal and what's not normal, and they will get you back to the things you love in the quickest most efficient manner possible!
Do you have lingering foot pain? Does your foot tend to "flare up" a few times a year? Do you fear hurting your foot again? Does this fear prevent you from living life fully, and training without limitations? I have good news for you, you don't need to live in fear of knee pain any longer!
The solution? Bulletproof your body by fixing your foundational movement patterns and building strength within those movement patterns! Build resilience, run fast, run far, lift heavy weight, and live your life without pain or worry.
Here at Ground to Overhead Physical Therapy, we help athletes all over the country resolve their athletic pain. We do this with in person appointments for athletes local to our clinic. Remotely, we help athlete through individualized training programs designed to resolve the athletes pain and achieve their goals. We coach the athletes through electronic communication, video analysis, and video calls; guiding them step by step along the process of eliminating their chronic pain.
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Interested in how you could eliminate your foot pain and improve your performance?
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Send me an email at Tancini@groundtooverheadphysicaltherapy.com .
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Dr. Michael Tancini. DPT, PT, CSCS