Hello everyone! Tutu Mora here with the Y bringing you tools to feel well in
your body, mind, and spirit. So, today we're going to be talking about plantar
fasciitis, which is a very uncomfortable sensation that can develop on the bottom
of your foot. And what it means is really that the fascia on the bottom of your
foot is not, it's sort of caught. It's in little knots and so what we're gonna do
in these gentle exercises is just to massage some of those knots out, so that
tenderness, that painful sensation that you experienced, probably, usually in your
heel can dissipate a little bit. And it's helpful if you are experiencing plantar
fasciitis that you probably do these exercises, you know, maybe every day, every
other day for a week and see how you feel, but it is a condition that it is
easy to manage at home. So, we're gonna incorporate some props today. Now, if you
don't have all these props that's okay. So, you can pick and choose based on the
items that you have access to. The first thing that we're going to use is going
to be a foam roller. So, if you don't have a foam roller at home, we only need to be
short, so the length doesn't matter. If you don't have a foam roller at home you
can use a can of soup, a can of dog food, just a can - anything that's cylindrical
that is going to be able to support your weight. The next item that we're going to
be using is a yoga block. If you don't have a yoga block that's also okay. We'll
use the floor instead, but the yoga block can just offer a little bit of extra
support. The third item that you will need, if you
have access to it, is a mini ball. So, it's a squishy little ball and if you have
something like this you can absolutely see if that works for you. But, I would
just call your attention to the size and the fact that it is squishy so it's not
hard. And again, this is just going to be a tool to massage out the fascia on the
bottom of your foot. Okay. So, let's start with the first exercise
here. I'm gonna have you grab your foam roller or your can of soup. And what
we're gonna do - I'm going to set this camera up on the floor here so you can
see my feet. And so, you can sit down on a chair. Bringing the foam roller like so
and so one of your feet is just going to be flat on the floor and the other foot
is gonna be on top of the roller here. So, we're going to take a second with
your foot over the roller to allow your toes to relax over the side. Heel to
relax over the side here. And so, you can either be sitting or if you'd like you
can be standing, however it's probably a little bit easier for your balance for
you to sit. And so, here you can support yourself and the roller here, but what
we're going to do is we're just let that roller massage towards the
front of the foot. Allowing your foot to spread over the roller here. So, you want
to feel like you maybe are widening out the sides of your feet. As if that feet
were gonna turn into a little flipper. So, keeping that foot wide as you roll
that roller towards the heel. All the way to the back of the heel here. And then
back forward. Again letting this space widen. Letting both sides of the foot be
heavy on the roller - so we want that equal inside/outside pressure here.
Taking that all the way to the back let your hands help you if you need to. And
so, this is something that you can do for a little while, perhaps when you're
watching a television program, just letting yourself give a little foot massage.
Massage out that fascia. So, knowing that you can repeat this as many times as you
need to, let's just take this over to the other foot. Perhaps while you're sitting
here, feeling the difference of your feet on the floor and this foot might feel a
little bit more relaxed already. So, let's take that over to the other
side. First, allowing your foot to feel as though it's spreading over the roller
here, as you begin to roll that foot out. Again keeping that, as you're able,
equal inside/outside pressure of your foot on the roller. And so, many of us are
kind of biased towards riding the outsides of our feet or riding the
insides of our feet so keeping your foot equally pressured on the roller here
might be a good stretch in and of itself. And so, once again knowing that you can
take this stretch, repeating it as many times as you need to, and it might feel
good just to again watch a TV program as you roll out your feet. And again, this
is where you could be using your can of soup. So, we'll take that one more time
here, again remembering to spread that foot wide. You can support
that roller with your hands.
Bringing it back. Okay. So, that is one exercise. I'm going to
keep the camera pointed towards my feet and we're going to bring in the yoga block
here. Let's scoot this down just a little bit. Okay. So, what we're going to do - one
foot is going to be on the yoga block, but of course if you don't have a yoga
block you can do this on the floor, this is just going to offer a little bit more
support. The surface will be a little bit softer as well. So, what we want to do is
take a moment to allow each toe knuckle to sink and find contact into the block
here. And so, letting this space again be wide, letting those toe knuckles find contact
into the block we're gonna slowly lift the heel, letting the movement come from
that Achilles tendon. So, letting yourself remain contacted through all those
knuckle points and then slowly let that foot come back down. And again, taking
up,
letting this space shorten and lengthen. As you're here, perhaps letting that heel
sink, lengthening through that Achilles tendon before bringing that back up. And
down. Again, this is something that you maybe want to take a few times so
letting this, again, just be like a little massage a different way to massage and
create space within that bottom of your foot because that plantar fasciitis is
basically the fascia knotting itself up a little bit. So, we're just easing some of
that tension. So, knowing this is something, again, you can repeat let's
take this a couple times to the other side and then we'll go into the third
exercise. So, it'll feel different from side to side to find that contact into
the block. So, let's go ahead and find that contact here, letting this space
spread wide as if you're turning your foot into a flipper and we'll go ahead
and just slowly raise that heel up, letting that Achilles tendon be what's
working. So, you want to keep those toes soft. Letting that space come down maybe
that heel reaches towards the ground while those toe points stay connected.
Raising that back up.
So, we'll do this a few more times but, again, this is something that you can
repeat. Repeat throughout of a nice 20 minute TV program and then get up and
walk around and just notice how it feels different.
Okay. So,
let's take it to the third exercise. So, what you're going to need is your little
mini ball. And, again, I'm gonna have the camera pointed at my feet here. And what
we're gonna do, is we're gonna let the ball rest underneath the foot. We're
gonna go along the line of the outside of the foot, along the middle of
the foot here, and then on the outside of the foot.
So, feet parallel. We're going to start with that mini ball at the top part of
the outside of the foot. So, it's right about here. And you're going to sink your
weight into that and that might already feel like a knot. So, you're going to be
finding these little knots where the fascia has, you know, knotted itself up a
little bit. So, if you find one of those knots, just gently putting pressure there.
Taking it off. Putting pressure there. Taking it off. Leaning your weight into
that foot and then taking it off. And then we're going to walk that forward
just a degree. Just a degree. And then maybe walking it forward until you find
another place that feels like "Ooo, that's a spot, that's a tight spot" that
feels maybe is even a little painful. And so, sometimes that will happen at the
heel. So, once you find the spot, we'll pause, put your weight into that foot.
Take it off. Weight into that foot. Take it off.
And then, we'll take it all the way back to the very back of the heel. And then,
we'll take it to the middle line of the foot. So, now the ball is going to go down
that mid line of a foot. So, we're going to do exactly what we did before. Feet
are parallel and we're just going to walk it forward scooting that ball along
that middle line of the foot until we find one of those little knots. One of
those little tender spaces. And you may only find them on the outside or the
inside of the foot. Maybe it's just the heel. So, I'm not feeling any of the
middle up here and so I'm going to go immediately now to the outside of the
foot so that last line here. We're just going to walk it forward until we feel
a little knot. Oh there's one, there. So, I'm going to pause here just press my
weight and take it off.
As many times as you need to. Again, you can let this be a passive thing that you
can multitask with. Perhaps when you're listening to an audiobook, watching TV.
Let's continue walking that forward until we feel another little knot.
Letting yourself go all the way to the back of the heel. So, let's pause here.
just sinking your weight in. Taking it off.
And then you can step off the ball. Take a couple steps around feeling that
difference between your feet. And perhaps the one that you just worked on feels a
little bit more relaxed. Feels a little bit more spread on the floor. And so, then
you're going to do the exact same thing on the other side. So, first placing that
ball, starting with that inside line of the foot, middle, and outside. So, we're not
going to take that second foot here in the video. But, I hope that you found
these stretches useful and I hope that, you know, with repetition and a little
bit of intention taking these stretches, perhaps, every day for a week - you'll
notice that those symptoms of plantar fasciitis begin to subside because pain
can, you know, limit our ability to take walks, to take hikes, to take long runs.
And those are the things that can keep us well physically and mentally. So,
hopefully if this is a barrier towards movement for you, that's been
softened a little bit and you have another tool in your toolkit to help you
move past this and continue on with your day. So, I'll see you back here next time
on the Y's YouTube channel and I hope you take care. Thanks so much for joining!