Plantar Fasciitis

[OakLeaf]

Trigger point work, trigger point work, trigger point work. It will hurt like crazy, worse than your ITBs ever felt on the foam roller, but you'll be able to tell it's that same good hurt, and it should start giving you relief pretty quickly. Whenever you're standing or sitting, roll your feet out on a spiky ball or stick; if you have anywhere you can walk barefoot on gravel this time of year, or if you can bring a box of gravel into the house, do it for a few minutes each day.

The other thing that really helps my Achilles - very closely related - is barefoot single leg calf raises. If you need support starting out, do NOT hold tightly to anything since the point of the exercise is to strengthen the stabilizing muscles and align the feet and ankles. Just rest your fingertips lightly on a wall, chair back, etc., and experiment with doing them no hands, until you can do two sets of 15 on each leg without hanging on. Go as high up on the balls of your feet as you can. Then immediately stretch out the calves, both gastroc and soleus. If you have a varus or valgus heel, use a little wedge to align your foot while you stretch. (A rubber door stop works ... or stretching in a door frame between rooms where the carpet is of different thickness.) Whenever my Achilles or plantar fascia start acting up, I double down on those exercises and it works them right out.

Another highly recommended exercise (that I personally usually neglect ) is putting the edge of a towel under your toes, then use your toes to skrunch up the towel toward you and then extend it back out away from you.


Along the lines of the night splint (which only give me very temporary relief and I don't even bother with them any more), make sure to un-tuck the sheets on your bed, so that your sheets and blankets aren't forcing you to plantar flex while you sleep.