Plantar Fasciitis Isn't What You Think – The Truth About Heel Pain

Does sharp pain in the heel feel immediately at the morning or when you get up? Or does the taking the steps hurt when you have been still for a moment? If you feel strong pain in the sole area, then you might suffer from plantar fasciitis. And what in earth is that?

In this video I'm going to tell you what is this painful situation and how to get rid of this problem. Interesting in this problem is that two-thirds are due to absolutely terrible stiff ankles. One-third is just due really mobile structures. And if you absolutely want to know how professionals test calf tightness at the reception when clarifying causes and issues of this problem, then you are seriously for the good treat.

But first, little anatomy to the background so that the causes and factors might relate to the issue are understood. Plantar fasciitis means the pain in the sole of the foot, especially in the heel area. Where does this diagnosis come from? It is usually because all of the -itis is inflammations.

And before this usually is the structures where the inflammation itself is located to. So in the sole area, there is strong tendon sheath. It longs from the heel to the toes. And there is the plantar fascia.

And the diagnosis refers to it being in inflammation. However, if we take a look the literature according to this topic, the opinion is more that it's more about strain and load management than actually about the inflammation itself. In the sole of the foot, there is this membrane structures. And it's like leaf spring back at the heavy vehicles.

They use the similar structures in there. It arc supports the sole that there is no fractures occurring when due to the strain. And it provides flexibility. However, if the too much load occurs, then the amount of the load may exceed the structure's tolerance.

So if you have been a bit more physically inactive as a result of illness or some other factors, or the intensity of the workout suddenly increases, then you might be in trouble. Stop the video for a moment and think why your foot become overloaded. And put it down to the comments below. All sorts of myths are associated with the topic.

And now we are going to chew on them. For example, can the heel spur be the cause of these symptoms? Those spurs may accumulate from the front surface of the heel bone, but anatomical effect are very unlikely. However, if the calf muscles tighten terribly, then constant pull comes to the heel area.

In these cases, the spur may press the membrane structures under the sole, but typically by relieving the stiffness of the calf, things settle down. Well, can the plantar fascia can be massaged to soften up? Like membrane structures in the body otherwise, achilles tendon, semimembranetendon of the outside of the thigh or plantar fascia, it's really dense tissue. And massage does not affect at all to the structures.

It can bring relief for a short moment. For example, when you are massaging the structures with the water bottle or ball, but it's not long-term solution. If we think about the recurrence from the symptoms, it can be thought of the scale or seesaw. In one end are loading factors and the other end has the foot tolerance factors.

When the both are at the same amount, then the scale or seesaw stays balanced and the symptoms stay away. But if the load and recovery factors are completely off, then you will going to have some sort of issues with these structures. How we should tackle these loading factors? First, let's start by modifying those.

The running sessions are too long, then shorten them. In standing work or if you do physically demanding work, then the feet are under the constant load. It's an absolutely incredibly good thing, but if it's too much, then it's too much. And then also let the feet to relax in between and sit down.

If you need to stand still in one place, use the standing mattress or good insole if you move a lot. Even get an app on your mobile phone what tracks your daily activities and steps taken through this. It's easy to highlight those days when there has been large deviation in the load. Night pain is the king.

If the day's activity causes resting pain and intensifies it to the evening or for the night, or if starting to move the next day is absolutely terrible, then modify the day's load. As a tip, the food's load-bearing capacity should be developed so that it copes better with everyday activities and hobbies. Sometimes the load may be temporarily reduced by arcsupport or heelcap, but these factors are only offering short-term temporary solutions. When one has seen and examined clients with several suits alignment in reception work, an interesting thing emerges.

In sum, the plantar fascia structures are in trouble because their calves are terribly tightened. So indeed, strong pull comes either from the superficial calf muscle, gastrocnemius, or from the broad soleus muscle. How can these structures be examined? That is a very good question and I will now instruct you how it should be checked.

Here is a beautiful client's foot and the ankle joint. There is the upper ankle joint. Under that comes the talus. The talus and our external and internal malleus provides our foot with the down and upwards bending.

We want to get the talus to the position where it's neutral. So bend the foot inwards and outwards. And when the foot is at the neutral position, then straighten the leg. Place the ankle to the 90-degree angle.

And start bending foot upwards. In normal mortals, the upward bend should be about 20-30 degrees, but if you have absolutely terrible tightness present in the calves, already near at the 90-degree angle, then this factor can be seriously messing up the picture in the sole area. When we know that the superficial calf muscle attached to the femur, it can be tested with the knee straight. Similarly, if we consider the muscle work of the superficial calf muscle, gastrocnemius, it lifts our heel bone in the air when the knee is straight.

Now the superficial muscle has been tested and how we can test the movement of the deeper muscle body. Then we bend the knee and test if the upward movement in the foot continues briskly when the tension of the superficial calf muscles eases. Usually this muscle body stretches quite nicely. Another handy way to test this muscle in the body is to stand in front of the wall.

Put your hand to the fist between the wall and your big toe. Then keep your knee, ankle and hip at the same direction upwards. From here start pressing your knee against the wall. If your knee comfortably hits the wall, then the movement in the soleus muscle is good.

This structure can also be tested in the deep squat. So if there is a difference between the sides in the foot symptoms, then do a deep squat and do a light weight transfer from side to side. If the symptomatic side strength pulls and the calf is terribly tight, then it's felt in the sole area, then yes, these structures need to be relieved. How the structures under the sole can be tested then.

Here you can put the leg over the other, place the ankle to the 90 degree angle, grab the toes with a wide grip and start lifting them upwards. If you can bend your toes upwards comfortably about 30 degrees, then there is not that much excessive tightness in the structures of the sole area. If there is absolutely crazy tightness present when lifting the toes upwards, then these structures should be stretched. If you want to have the best stretching, recovery and exercise tips for this issue, click here.