Plantar Fasciitis-How to Stretch and Strengthen Your Feet

I've had a few patients who suffer from Plantar Fasciitis and in conjunction with the treatments prescribed by their doctors, we do some work with the feet which seems to help relieve the symptoms and strengthens their arches.

One tool that helps relieve the pain and help stretch the fascia is a tennis ball. Stand upright and roll the tennis ball along the bottom of the foot with as much pressure as you can handle. After a couple of minutes place the ball under the toes and push down, wrapping the toes over the ball with small pulses, 15 times. Move the ball down under the ball of the foot and repeat. Move to the arches, repeat and again under the heel. The tennis ball stretches the muscles in the bottom of the feet which in turn affects the muscles all the way up the back of the body.

Try this interesting test. Stand tall and bend over letting your arms dangle. Check where your fingers fall in space, are they even between the hands or is one hand hanging longer? Now, massage ONE of your feet with the tennis ball for 2 minutes and then bend and dangle again. Notice how the hand on the same side you used the tennis ball on hangs lower than the first time! This is a true testament to how our feet affect the whole body.

Joseph Pilates designed the foot corrector which helps strengthen the arches of the feet when done correctly. Yamuna also makes The Foot Wakers and are wonderful! I often have my clients do standing footwork on the Foot Wakers to connect to their feet. There's also a fabulous exercise you can do with a towel.

Take a small dish towel and lay it flat on a smooth floor right under your heel with the majority of the towel toward your toes. Lift the front of your foot, place it down and try to move the towel toward your heel with the ball of your foot causing your arch to rise. Do this a few times until you've scrunched the towel all the way to your heel. This may be difficult at first but gets easier the more you do it and the stronger your feet become. I recommend finding a Pilates Instructor to help you connect with your feet if you have this painful condition.