It’s interesting how something like foot pain can profoundly affect your life quality. If you’d list a spectrum of painful sprains and injuries, as long as it is hypothetical, you’d notice that most people take foot pain lightly, almost like a non-issue that can be easily remedied; that is until it happens, that is. This is why so many people shudder at the mention of plantar fasciitis.
What is plantar fasciitis?
You might find is unbelievable than to read that 8 in 10 people suffer from a form of relentless foot pain. Of course, injuries tend to pass and many of the cases are pretty benign, though others can indicate certain sinister and hereditary conditions. Plantar Fasciitis sounds like the one that belongs to the latter group, but there are actually worse afflictions.
The issue is named after the plantar fascia ligament which runs along your soles. It serves as a big sponge of strain, stress, and weight. In a way, you can call it one of the foundational parts of your body – because it holds your foundation firmly upright.
Naturally, too much strain can contribute to inflammatory processes with this foot. The tears in muscles happen every now and then – athletes are particularly familiar with this. However, when it happens in your plantar fascia ligament, moving about can become a terrible nuisance.
If you plan to remedy plantar fasciitis symptoms, you have to familiarize yourself with its limits and see to it that you proceed with your exercising accordingly. It never hurts to be extra careful.
Best exercises and remedies for plantar fasciitis
Exercises
Your body is a carefully balanced and interconnected mosaic of moving parts. This means that for your plantar fascia hurts, that it can cause tension and pain in the surrounding muscles. Thankfully, this interconnectedness is a double-edged sword, so you can partake in a range of exercises that will involve your body and help you ameliorate the Plantar Fasciitis.
Use your toes to your advantage. Place a rag or a towel beneath your bare feet and curl your toes and release as you try to grab the material again and again. The important step when you grasp the rag with your toes is to curl it towards you. Then relax your foot and repeat this five to ten times. A very similar exercise involves picking up marbles, and both variants will stretch your foot muscles and your calf.
Since we’ve mentioned calves, you might also want to include calf-stretching onto your list of exercises for plantar fasciitis. These are fairly easy to coordinate – you just need a wall to lean against, and then you stretch out the ailing leg behind you as you use the unaffected leg as support. Bend the knee of the unaffected leg, so you’d stretch the calf of another one. The important thing is to keep both soles stuck to the ground as you do this. Don’t hold it longer than 10 seconds.
Remedies
Naturally, you can use medication that is known to effectively lower inflammation as you do your exercises for plantar fasciitis. Doctors will recommend them as well. The most common types – like ibuprofen – will do, but don’t forget to purchase probiotic capsules or drink yogurt with your meals, because ibuprofen can negatively affect bacteria in your stomach.
Beyond that, massage will also do the trick, but it’s advisable to massage your own soles if you’re suffering from plantar fasciitis, simply because you’ll feel it out better. Somebody else simply cannot know what your pain-boundaries are at the moment.
If you’re having a hard time walking but cannot skip work, shoe inserts will pull you through for the time being. They offer invaluable support to the arch of your foot.
Conclusion
Any type of chronic pain is a major blow to the quality of life. It can be exceptionally frustrating if it refuses to go away, in spite of your best efforts. Plantar Fasciitis is especially tricky because it has a tendency to resolve itself as if it hasn’t been affected by treatment.
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