One thing that we get a lot of in clinic, and there’s been very many people out there, and maybe you’re one of them, is complaints about plantar fasciitis. It’s a big thing. What we want to do in our next series is try to shed a little light on them – what can be a cause of it and then, more importantly, what can you do about it.
Watch the video with this blog where I explain what is going on to cause it. It starts when you’ve got a nice arch and your foot is straight, this means your foot is also in a position of being stable. We need the foot to be stable. So when you’re walking, your heel hits the ground it’s in a stable position, maintaining a nice arch there. Then as you flatten as your foot comes down, it becomes unstable, so it can conform to the ground. Now when it does that, it helps load the muscles so then as you toe off, your heel comes up, As you toe off, then that’s supposed to re-stabilize itself, so to get the arch back you can push off on that stable foot.
If that foot does not become stable, it stays broken down. If you’re constantly walking on a pad, you don’t get the stability you need, so you can’t get a good push off. Now, the consequence of that is the plantar fascia is a real tough band.
When that foot is stable, that band is taut, keeping everything lined up how it’s supposed to, and it allows that foot to be stable to get your push off. When it becomes unstable, the problem of why it breaks down is a person’s foot isn’t able to re-stabilize itself, so it stays in that flattened position, and when it’s flattened like that, it’s stretching that band tighter. So continued walking on that flattened foot, which is not becoming stable, puts pressure on that, and you start getting little micro tears in that plantar fascia.
People that get plantar fasciitis, their foot is not re-stabilizing so it’s staying in that softened position. And they keep over-stressing that, and then they got plantar fasciitis. In our next group of videos, we’re going to give you three different exercises that you can work on to help with that. Make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel to see these exercises.
If you have further questions, contact us at FitnessForLifePT.com.