Red Cross (Injured Souls) Thread

[OakLeaf]

I just want to add a note of caution based on my own experience with Achilles tendinitis, plus plantar fascia that used to be just full of trigger points - so, related, but not the same thing. Large grain of salt both because of that and because I'm not an expert of any kind...

Rest is good to heal the acute injury. Not so much in the long term. What's been key for me in preventing the AT and trigger points from coming back is ditching the orthotics and going barefoot or minimal as much as possible - then also the PT did manual mobilization on my foot and ankle joints that were absolutely rigid from years of orthotics, and besides the myofascial release and stretching that everyone has mentioned, doing targeted foot and ankle strengthening exercises.

One exercise that gets a lot of mention for PF that I haven't seen yet in this thread, is using your toes to skrunch up a towel and then extend it again. And in the spirit of bringing healthy movement into everyday life, rather than limiting it to discrete periods of "exercise" - as much as I can, with shoes or not, I focus on the idea of standing on "four corners of my feet" that we learned in yoga. Try to keep your weight equally in the heads of the first and fifth metatarsals and both sides of your heels, and lift all three arches - that takes hip stabilizer as well as foot muscles.

Anyone who's ever broken a bone knows what happens not only to your muscles, but especially to your connective tissues and tendons, when you're in a cast. Rigid orthotics are just a cast for your feet. Sometimes necessary for short term healing, but just be really careful about relying on them long term. I wound up causing myself a lot of problems with mine.