This video, I'm going to show you how to fix pain at the
bottom of the foot for good. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over a
very easy to follow three-part guide that can give quick and
long-lasting relief for pain at the bottom of the foot
including for plantar fasciitis. All three parts work
just a little bit differently but when you put them together,
you're going to get the best of everything. Make sure to go
through all the exercises and use what gives you the most
relief. As a bonus, all of these can be done at home
require no special equipment and find give quick pain relief
even within 30 seconds. So, let's get started and fix that
pain at the bottom of the foot right now for good. In this
part, we're going to focus on relieving soft tissue tightness
especially over the plantar fascia. When this becomes
inflamed, it can cause plantar fasciitis and a lot of pain at
the bottom of the foot. This is one of my favorite therapies.
It's called gua sha or muscle scraping and it's very easy to
do. We just need a couple things. The first a form of
massage oil or lotion. Anything designed to be put on the skin.
The next is a large metal spoon. I like one with a little
bit more thickness to it. You get better results. So start
off by taking your massage oil or lotion and coating the whole
bottom of the foot, the top, the sides, around the ankle,
Achilles, and the calf muscles. We're going to focus on
everything and be thorough to get better results. So with the
spoon right here, it doesn't matter what part you use. You
can the handle, the tip, the rounded portion. I would
experiment with all of that and whatever works better for you,
go with it. As a note before we start though, we're only going
to go over soft tissue like muscle, anything that you can
pinch on to. You want to avoid anything that feels bony
including joints or a bunion if you have one of those because
it can cause a lot of irritation and we definitely
don't want to do that. So, let's take our spoon and what
you're going to do is angle it roughly 30 to 45 degrees. Start
right below the big toe right in the ball of the foot. You're
going to press in there where it's going to be a very
comfortable self massage but not causing any discomfort. Do
a slow stroke downward just like this. Kinda glide it over
the skin. It usually feels really really good. I like to
go over one spot roughly about five times and then from there,
I move over just a little bit and repeat. I do this whole
process pretty much going from the big toe working my way to
the outer part of my foot. When you do this too, you may notice
that red pockets start to form over the top of the skin. I
don't know if you can kind of see it over the video right
here but a little bit's forming. That's a good thing.
That's blood flow coming to the area which helps promote
healing. You may also find that one certain spot just feels
really really gritty, almost like sandpaper. That's
generally a spot of adhesion which you really want to focus
on breaking up because it can give you more relief but pretty
much do this whole starting from the top right here,
working your way in, work your way down towards the heel. Any
spot that feels like it needs more tension, stop over it at
that point and throw more repetitions in until you really
start to feel it break up. You're going to repeat this
pretty much all the way around the heel. You want to do it
around the ankle obviously staying off that bony part
right here. Go over the Achilles, the calf muscles and
work your way around the shin and the top of the foot. Really
explore the area and target those tight, achy spots as much
as you can. From there, you can then use different parts of the
spoon like the rounded portion right here to dig in to any
spots that you found needed more attention. You can also
attack those tight, achy spots, those fibers at different
angles too. So, instead of going straight up and down with
it, go at a 45 degree angle. You'll just notice it hits it a
little bit better. If you feel like that one right there just
allows you to get better results, again, go with that. I
also like to take this one to the next level stretching the
bottom of my foot out that plantar fascia just a little
bit more with what is known as a toe spreader so I take my
fingers I put them right in between my toes and then I pull
my toes toward me like this until I feel a really deep
stretch pretty much from my heel all the way towards the
bottom or I should say the ball of the feet right here and at
that point I'm just going to repeat this process this can
make it a lot more intense so only go to your comfort level
so give that one a try again explore the whole area use
different of the spoons, different angles, anything that
works better for you, go with it. In this part, we're going
to focus on a self mobilization or self-reset technique for the
foot. It's a personal favorite for many because you can get a
satisfying self pop or crack in the foot. It usually feels
really good also. We're going to target what are known as
metatarsals, big, long bones in the foot. When these drop or
become raised, they can cause pain pretty much throughout the
whole foot and also cause what is known as metatarsalia a lot
of pain in the ball of the feet. So, I'm going to show you
two different ways to reset this. The first one is going to
be correcting a metatarsal that has dropped downward. So, let's
find our contact point to begin with. I'm going to start right
here at the big toe over the first metatarsal. The big toe
right here, we're going to find two knuckles I like to call em.
You have one right here but if you trace down a little bit and
move your big toe, you're going to find another one right here.
We want to focus on this second knuckle joint the metatarsal
pretty much is right at the bottom of that knuckle joint
the head of that metatarsal that is going to be our contact
point so if you take two fingers and pinch right below
and above that on your foot you can start to trace that
metatarsal all the way down we want to go all the way towards
the top though to start with so I'm going to take my hands
overlap them like this and then support the top of my
metatarsal just like this my thumbs are going to then go
right over the head of that metatarsal The movement is very
easy. What I'm going to do is try to expand the top of my
foot by supporting it by also trying to kind of put like a U
shape in like this to help stretch it open while then
pressing into that metatarsal at the same time just like
this. So, if it's dropped, what we're doing is raising it and
if this is dropped, you can get a sudden clunk, pop, or release
in there but don't try to force it. What I do is I try to hold
this one comfortably for about 15 seconds. I just and then
throw in another repetition or two if it feels like it needs
it but from there I just trace down a little bit more and
repeat I'm going to do this over the whole length of that
metatarsal wow that is a really sore spot for me you're also
going to find pockets that are just really sore like muscle
tightness and at that point you can just really dig into those
muscle knots too and focus on kind of like a nice circular
massage while you do this it's a really nice technique but
you're going to repeat this whole process pretty much going
from the top all the way down to the bottom right through
here and then you're going to move over to the next
metatarsal again you're trying to expand the top of the foot
pressing in there at the same time but go only to your
comfort level explore the whole area and any spot that feels
like a knee it's just a little bit more attention or there's
like a certain metatarsal that definitely feels like it's more
locked up the hot spot per se throw some more repetitions in
at that point so next let's focus on a metatarsal that has
raised at this point and we need to drop it back down. For
this one, again, I'm going to start right at the first
metatarsal. This time around though, I'm going to pretty
much make a cup with my fingers right here and then support
right on the outside of my foot. I'm then going to use the
meaty portion of my palm right here to press right on the head
of that metatarsal. The movement is easy. I'm clamping
down and then pressing down at the same time. If you notice,
this does is it takes that raise metatarsal and drops it
down again you can get a oh actually I just got one right
there a sudden clunk with this one I do this one almost daily
it usually feels really good but I hold it for a very
comfortable stretch for about 10 to 15 seconds just relax and
then repeat this one again a couple times and then I just
move down like this let's see if I can actually get one more
to release right here but usually it's always about the
third metatarsal that just really opens up for me and it
usually feels really good but you're pretty much just going
to repeat that whole process working your way then down
towards the outer part of the foot. Again, any spot that you
feel needs a little bit more tension. At that point, throw
some more repetitions in. In this part, we're going to
strengthen the muscles that help support the feet. If your
goal is to get long-lasting pain relief, possibly even get
rid of it for good, make strengthening your main focus.
I'm going to begin by targeting two muscles, the tibialis
anterior and the tibialis posterior. When these muscle
become weak, strained, and inflamed. It can cause a lot of
issues throughout the feet including heel spurs, collapsed
arches, plantar fasciitis, just a whole lot of pain on the
bottom of the foot. So, let's start by doing the tibialis
anterior raise. We're going to go next to a wall or a door for
this one. To get into position, you're going to have your legs
hip with apart, feet slightly out in front of you, knee
straight, all of your body weight onto your heels. That
way, we can lean right into this door or the I'm going to
have my whole backside flush against it. From there, I'm
going to keep my back straight and slowly pivot forward
through my waist lifting my shoulder blades and shoulders
slightly off that wall so only my bottom is going to be
supported. Next, I'm going to then raise my toes upward
towards the ceiling as much as I can. The more that you go up,
the more that you're going to feel a deep activation of a lot
of muscles into the calves but more importantly, the muscles
on the front part of the leg over the shin. That is the
tibialis anterior. So, you want to hold this position for about
5 seconds. You're just going to relax and then repeat this 110
to 15 times. With each repetition, challenge yourself
to go up just a little bit more. If you feel like you have
a little bit more energy, throw in another set or two but if
you would like to take this one to the next level, space your
feet slightly further away from that wall. The further you go
out, the harder this will become. So, next, let's target
the tibialis posterior muscle. So, how we can help strengthen
the tibialis posterior muscle is with an exercise fittingly
called the tibialis posterior raise. For this one, we need an
object that we can place right in between our heels, a tennis
ball works perfectly. If you don't have one, you can also
just roll up some socks or use a towel but start off by
squeezing that object with your heels as much as you can. From
there, place all of your body weight onto the balls of your
feet and do a calf raise that is just lifting your heels
upward towards the ceiling as much as you can while also
squeezing into the ball or the object as hard as you can
you're going to feel a ton of muscles start to fire in the
calves but more importantly into that tibialis posterior
hold this one comfortably for five seconds you're going to
relax and then repeat this 110 to 15 times and with each
repetition build into it just a little bit more challenge
yourself to drive your heels up and into that object as much as
you can and if you feel like you have a little bit more
energy, throw in another set or two. So, here's a strengthening
exercise that can also help improve balance. I call this
one the foot opener. I'm going to start standing and
place all of my body weight onto 1 foot. I like to keep my
back straight, put my arms out in front of me kind of like a
genie position. If you have a lot of balance issues or a lot
of muscle weakness, you can definitely do this with a chair
in front of you or next to a wall for extra support but the
movement pretty easy. What I'm going to do is move through my
waist turning towards one direction as much as I can. If
you go inward, what you're going to do is put the foot
into pronation or help to flatten the arch out. You'll
really feel a very good stretch but also a lot of muscles
starting to fire to maintain this position. So, challenge
yourself to go in as much as you can. You want to hold this
for about 5 seconds. From there, you're just going to
relax and now, you're going to go outwards. When you go
outwards, you're going to help to put the foot into which
really creates a larger arch into the foot. So, if you have
a fallen or dropped arch, really focus on this movement
because it can really help to reform that arch. Again, a
five-second hold, you're just going to relax and I like to do
this one nice and slowly for about five to 10 repetitions on
both sides and it can become a little bit challenging too to
do and from there, if you would like to take this one to the
next level, I like to use a tennis ball or anything that
bounces while doing this movement. So, I'll go in just a
little bit and now this time around, I'm just going to
bounce a ball in front of me. What you're going to notice is
is your body really has to stabilize this movement. So,
give that one a try. Just bouncing this ball for maybe
about five to ten times and then going outwards with it and
then repeating. Maybe you'll find one certain angle that is
just a little bit more challenging at that point, try
to throw more repetitions in and whatever you do on one
side, always switch to the other to keep them both in
balance. If the exercises help, support the channel by giving
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any comments or questions, please leave them below. I'll
get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for watching.