Fix Your Plantar Fasciitis 9&10-Beginner and Intermediate Workouts

In these episodes we’ll go through a couple short, 10-minute workouts you can do at home to strengthen various connections to both improve plantar fasciitis and prevent it.

In the beginner workout, we start with some easy ways to strengthen the posterior fascial chain (read: your rear end and back side) as well as your lateral stabilizers (your balance muscles). We then take that into some coordinated movement that mimics some of the connections that need to happen when you walk. Lastly there’s a quad-strengthening exercise that also works your core. I love a good two-fer!

In the intermediate workout, we work some more esoteric connections related to plantar fasciitis. We get more into the mid-back as well as more global strength patterns in the hips and core. These connections are targeted at improving balance from the pelvis, not the ankles.

Work it!

Fix Your Plantar Fasciitis-Episode 8 How to Improve Your Gait

Over the years I’ve taken several workhops and read many books on how to fix your gait (how you walk/run) to correct several injuries I’ve had to my lower leg—including being hit by a car in a crosswalk.

This video highlights some of my favorite exercises I’ve learned that can be done from anywhere.

The first is from an Aston Patterning workshop that trains your body how to transfer weight from one leg up through the pelvis to the other leg. I always liken it to feeling like you have a slinky momentum as you walk. I’ve noticed that those with plantar fasciitis, tight feet, even bunions and Morten’s neuroma don’t fully roll through their midarch when they roll through their foot. It’s more of a heel-toe clomp. This simple exercise can help your body improve balance and change that pattern.

The next couple of exercises are from a workshop I took with James Earls who wrote a book called Born to Walk. They emphasize a fascial spring to walking and really hone in on the rotation aspect of walking. This is another plantar fasciitis thing—that gait pattern can often be more of a waddle instead of there being a subtle twist of the upper body on the lower body with each stride.

Lastly, we look to deepening the feeling of that twist with a connection to the diaphragm. This is a good, little balance challenge.

I recommend doing these on a longer walk or a run to let your tissues get into the flow and so that the new pattern can set into your tissues.

Fix Your Plantar Fasciitis-Episode 7

In this episode we dive into some of the emotional or energetic undercurrents for plantar fasciitis.

Over the years of doing this work, I’ve found that there’s usually a top down approach over a bottom up in which the person approaches life. So, rather than being connected to the feet and the ground, the person is a heavy thinker and rationalizer.

A way to try to shift this mindfully in your body is to visualize your feet having roots that grow into the ground. Another suggestion is to connect to a place you can feel in your body and create new veins so-to-speak down each leg and into each toe. Then check in and see if it is easier to have a sensation of your feet in the ground.

Yet another suggestion is to purchase an earthing mat. The concept here is that we have chronic inflammation issues because we walk in rubber-soled shoes and concrete and that our bodies are unable to discharge negative ions. I know it sounds like a load of you-know-what, but I actually did find great benefit from sleeping on one of these for several years. My general sleep improved and I felt less allergies/illness. You can find ones that you can just have your feet on it, there are yoga mats and you can have ones that fit the entire bed as well.

Check out the video for the rest of my explanation on the mental aspect of plantar fasciitis.

Fix Your Plantar Fasciitis-Episode 6 Release the Plantar Fascia

We’re finally at the plantar fasciia aspect of this plantar fasciitis course! I start with a couple of my favorite products you may want to invest in—one being a lovely foot massager. Imagine working on your plantar fasciitis by getting a foot massage with coffee or tea in hand!

We then go to some more esoteric ways of releasing your foot fascia in different directions to also loosen up the intrinsic muscles of the feet. Specifically, I have found that a lot of people don’t have proper bone alignment through the heel bones. The massage I show in this video is gentle and you can actually start to re-align those bones yourself. It will take time and your touch will sensitize so you’ll be able to feel those places better the more you try it.

After the self-massage, there’s several examples of how to fascially stretch your plantar fascia as well as the fascia of your toes!

Lastly, I suggest some ways to start engaging the deep muscles of your feet and arches. You may get some foot cramps initially, but I promise it gets better. Over the years I have found that those with plantar fasciitis leverage through tight skin to use their feet instead of tapping into the deeper muscles of the feet. This is extra important to work on, not just for pain relief, but because the feet muscles mirror the core muscles. Plus, strong feet and ankles mean you’re aging well and not shuffling your feet, which could lead to a fall. Who knew that feet could be the secret to a bathing suit body as well as keeping you from a falling-and-you-can’t-get-up situation?!

Fix Your Plantar Fasciitis-Episode 5 Stretch & Release Tight Calves

If your feet are tight and/or you’re having heel pain, you most definitely have some tight calves and ankles. This episode of the Fix Your Plantar Fasciitis course follows the same structure of the other episodes. We start with self-massage/foam rolling, follow that up with stretching and then proper reactivation of the target areas that are often under working in this pain pattern.

Specifically for this episode, we’ll go over how to foam roll your shins as well as your calves—fun fact, shin rolling=core work. We’ll then get into some fascial unwinding you can do on yourself in the form of soft tissue release (aka massage). Then I’ll show you some stretches you can do with a towel, or one of my two favorite purchases for plantar fasciitis sufferers, the DCT Proflex. I love that thing so much I keep one at the studio and have one at my house so I have no excuse to not stretch my calves frequently.

I’ve chosen ankle stretches that really focus on the fascial component as well. Feel free to spend more time in these positions, particularly the achilles/soleus stretch as that tendon wraps around the heel and could be part of a heel pain pattern.

We’ll end with how to activate the different aspects of your calves in a simple home exercise. Thanks for watching!