In this video, I'm going to show you how to relieve plantar
fasciitis at home, for instant pain relief. Stay tuned!
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in Saint
Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
easy, effective exercises that can give quick relief for the
bottom of the foot, over the arch, and for plantar fasciitis
and you can do them all in the comfort of your own home. This
will be broken down into a very easy step-by-step guide. Go
through all parts and take what is most effective for you. As a
note, again, all of these exercises can be done at home,
they will not require any special equipment and may give
quick plantar fasciitis pain relief, even in as little as 30
seconds! So let's get started and relieve that pain right now.
In this part, we're going to focus on quick plantar
fasciitis relief with a nice self massage into the bottom of
the foot. This, I like a little bit better than using golf
balls or tennis balls because it's much more precise and
you'll probably get a better result. It's known as gua sha or
muscle scraping and it might end up becoming your new
favorite therapy. We need two things. The first being a large
metal spoon. I like one with a little bit thickness to it,
you'll get better results. The next, a form of lubrication.
I'm going to be using coconut oil but you can use any massage
lotions or over-the-counter pain creams such as Biofreeze
or Icy Hot. Let's start off by coating the whole foot. Bottom,
sides, top, also go over the shin right here over the ankle and
the Achilles because we're going to target all of that, and when it
comes to lubrication, a little bit more is always better. With
the spoon, it doesn't matter what part you use. You can use
the handle, you can use the rounded portion right here. I
like to use the handle but I'd experiment with it. Take what
works best for you. We're going to start at the top right here
at the toes and we're going to take the spoon, put it roughly
at about thirty to forty-five degrees. Press into the skin
where there's enough pressure but it's not causing
discomfort. I'm going to then go with a very slow controlled
stroke from the top all the way down to the bottom to the heel
right here. It should take you about five to 10 seconds to do
a one complete stroke. As a note, only do soft tissue,
muscle, and skin. Stay off if you have a bunion right here,
you don't want to cause any irritation by going over bone
but you want to do this for about three to five complete
repetitions. From there, you just move over and then repeat
to the point where you do pretty much from the inside of
the foot all the way to the outside. When you do this also,
really make note of going into the arch around the angles. You
want to really just make sure to dig in there and explore
that area. You might notice that in the arch right here
that there are gritty almost like sandpaper. Make note of
that. You want to dig in there because that's a spot of
adhesion that might be causing some plantar fasciitis and
also, I don't know if you can see it on the video right here
but red pockets will start to form on the top of the skin.
That's a good thing. That is blood flow coming into the area
which will help promote healing. So, once we've done
the whole bottom of the foot right here, what I'll do is
then use different parts of the spoon and I'll also attack it
at different angles. So, instead of going and go at 45°
and see if that gives me a little bit more results with
this but let's do the whole bottom of the foot. We're going
to switch, do the top of the foot, go around the ankle right
here, make sure to pay attention to the heel, go over
the Achilles, and then I would also target into the calves and
the top of the foot right here avoiding any bony spots and any
spot feels like it needs more tension, dig in there, get that
tightness out. From there, I'd like to do a little bit more
dynamic movement in to really target the bottom of the foot a
little bit differently and just try to get more relief. So,
I'll start with what is known as a toe spreader. I'm going to
spread my toes, take my fingers, place them in between
the toes. I'm going to bring my foot back like this until I
have a very good stretch on the bottom of the foot right here.
And then I just repeat this process. Noting any spots that
need it just a little bit differently. So, go up and down
with it. Take it at different angles. Use different parts of
the spoon. You can also focus on different ankle motions so
you can turn the foot in like this, repeat. You can also turn
it out like this and then repeat. Again, take what works
best for you. I then like to go pretty much and just focus on
the whole part of the foot doing the same thing. So, I'll
lift the ankle up, hit the Achilles, I'll take it down
like this, do the same thing. Any muscle feels tight and
achy, targeted, and hopefully, that will give you very quick
plantar fasciitis relief and when you're done on one side,
always switch to the other to keep both in balance. So,
another cause of plantar fasciitis is due to a
misalignment of a metatarsal or a long bone of the foot. It
really affects the bottom of the foot, the arch, and you can
get a lot of pain right here at the ball of the foot. So, let's
focus on dropped metatarsals and raised metatarsals and
correct them with a very easy self mobilization or reset.
Let's start by just finding our contact point. I'm going to
take my big toe and I'm going to move it up and down just
like this. There's a knuckle right up here and then there's
a bottom knuckle right here. Pinch off to the side and feel
for that joint motion into that knuckle. Let's go just a little
bit below that. If you notice now, if you pinch, you'll feel
a very long bone that runs from the top all the way down to the
bottom. That's that metatarsal. So, we want to grab right at
the top right through there. I'm going to take my hands,
take my fingers, place them on the backside right here for
stabilization. I'm then going to take my thumbs and start
right at the top of that metatarsal. The movement, I'm
pressing from the bottom and pushing it upwards with just
enough pressure where we're Getting that metatarsal to move
but not causing discomfort. Let's hold this for a couple of
seconds, relax, move down just a little bit and then repeat.
You're going to trace from the top all the way down to the
bottom. It is quite common to get a sudden click, pop, or
clunk with this exercise because at that point, it's
helping to reset that metatarsal but do this for
about three to five complete repetitions. From there, I'm
going to move over to the next toe and then just simply
repeat. When you get into the middle too, you can also bend
the foot like this kinda like an accordion to get a little
bit of a deeper stretch but just repeat this one from the
big toe, work your way down to the small or the pinky toe.
From there, let's focus a little bit more on the top of
the foot with a raised metatarsal. I'm going to take
my hand. I'm going to grab off to the side of the pinky toe
just like this. I'm going to cup it and then I'm going to
use this meaty portion of the palm to start right at the of
that metatarsal. This movement, I'm going to press down with my
palm and you'll notice that this offers just a little bit
deeper of a stretch and it hits it just a little bit
differently. So again, press down for a couple seconds,
release it, work your way down, trace the whole metatarsal.
From there, three to five repetitions and then you're
going to move over to the next toe. Repeating all the way down
to the pinky toe. Again, if you get a self release, that is
quite common but afterwards, feel for the joint motion and
hopefully that gives you quite a bit of plantar fasciitis
relief. Without a doubt, if we want to lessen future instances
of plantar fasciitis and hopefully get rid of it for
good, we have to strengthen everything in the foot. Here
are some great exercises that you can progress into. This
first one is known as toe yoga. Very easy. You just pull your
foot flat so you can put your foot on the floor and do this
in a chair. I'm gonna take two fingers and just place them
over my big toe like this and I'm going to drive it downwards
almost like creating a stable anchor point and then I'm going
to simply lift the other four toes upwards as much as we can.
When you do this, you're going to feel a very good activation
across the bottom of the foot into the arch. Really focus on
feeling that. You want to hold this for about five seconds.
From there, you just relax and then repeat this for five
times. With each repetition, challenge yourself to lift
these toes up as much as you can. From there, we're going to
then press into these four toes and then only lift the big toe
up. You'll again notice that the bottom of the foot gets
activated but this time just a little bit differently.
Five-second holds, you're just going to relax and then repeat
this for five times. Challenging yourself to lift
this toe up as much as you can with each repetition. Let's
take this one to the next level by doing an isometric exercise.
I'm gonna take two fingers again, press down into my toe,
but this time around, what I'm going to focus on is trying to
lift my big toe up into my finger but I'm going to resist
against it with my fingers. So, my big toe really isn't moving
but again, you'll feel those muscles into the bottom of the
foot really start to fire. Hold this for five seconds. You're
just going to relax and then repeat this for five times. And
then you're going to repeat on the other four toes like this.
Just try to drive them up into your fingers but resisting
against it. Great way to really strengthen the foot and
hopefully lead to less plantar fasciitis. So, here is a great
foot strengthening exercise that's really going to help for
plantar fasciitis. It's known as a heel lift ball squeeze.
I'm gonna be using an everyday a tennis ball. If you do not
have a tennis ball, you can also use a rolled up sock or
towel to place in between your heels. Let's start next to a
door or a wall. Our feet flat and nice and comfortable. I
space my feet away from the door just very slightly. That
way I can lean into it and just stabilize my body with my
hands. Let's start off by squeezing into the tennis ball
and then from there, placing our body weight into the balls
of the feet and also into the toes. Slowly lift the heels up
until you feel an activation into the bottom of the foot.
Once you feel that, stop right there. Don't go too far up with
it because at that point, it becomes more of a calf
exercise. So, really just go up til you really feel it into the
bottom of the foot. Let's hold this for five seconds. From
there, you're just going to come slowly back down and then
you're going to repeat this ten to fifteen times. How you can
take this one to the next level is going all the way up but
then slowly lowering the heels down towards the floor. You'll
notice that this hits the muscles into the foot just a
little bit differently. So, experiment with going very
slowly up with it until you feel it and then experiment by
going very slowly down with it. Just a very easy way to really
activate the bottom of the foot and hopefully get rid of
plantar fasciitis pain. So, here is a great exercise that
puts a lot of dynamic movement into the foot to help
strengthen it but it's also a little bit fun. I'm gonna be
using an everyday tennis ball for this. If you don't have a
tennis ball, you can do this exercise by just twirling your
like this. Do it for about ten to fifteen seconds. Relax and
repeat up to three to five times. I'm gonna start off by
just balancing on one foot. During this exercise, we want
the ball of the foot from the inside to the outside flat and
also the heel. That is known as a three-point contact. When you
do this exercise, you're really going to feel the muscles into
the foot and also the arch really struggle to maintain
this balance. So, that's one of the reasons why this is such a
great exercise. How we take this one to the next level?
Let's balance, keep the foot flat, take our tennis ball, and
start to bounce it on the outside of the foot. Just do
this for a couple times and you can already see right now that
I'm trying to struggle to balance. From there, I move the
tennis ball a little bit over, repeat, and then I start to
focus on trying to bring the tennis ball right directly in
front of me. And then I just go into an arc towards the inside.
So, I'm pretty much going from the inside all the way towards
the outside and I'm going to repeat this about three to five
times. If any of the spots feel very weak you might want to
make note of that like right here I'm really struggling at
this angle and I throw more repetitions in really address
any weaknesses and focus on strengthening that again this
will work a lot only into the calves but all throughout the
foot and when you're done on one side always switch to the
other to keep them both in balance that's an important
last step I would recommend placing ice on the bottom of
the foot to control any irritation or inflammation
after doing these exercises I find that using a frozen water
bottle is the best because you can use it as an ice massage
tool but you can also use frozen golf balls. Experiment
with them. See what works best for you but just simply roll
the bottle up and down your foot from the toes to the heel
for about three to five minutes. From there, explore
different areas. Go on the outside of the foot and also go
on the inside of the foot, hit over the arch. If any spot
feels like it needs a little bit more tension like let's say
right here over the heel, throw some more repetitions in there,
spend time over areas that need it the most. If the video
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any comments or questions, please leave them below. I'll
get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you for watching!