Heal Foot Pain
Foot pain sometimes feels like it just won’t go away. Physical Therapy can provide you the clarity, understanding, and activity you need to heal your feet and end foot pain. Some of the most common foot problems that we see in our office are plantar fasciitis, achilles tendinitis, and ankle sprains and fractures.
Each foot problem involves a specific area of the foot that will need to be focused upon and made stronger. Since Plantar Fasciitis is a common foot problem, in this article, I will discuss how physical therapy is applied.
Through a combination of strengthening, stretching, and therapeutic modalities such as ice, tens, and massage, physical therapists help patients alleviate the symptoms of a foot problem as well as the cause.
Some plantar fasciitis exercises include:
- Calf Stretches - One cause of plantar fasciitis is muscle tightness, particularly the calf muscle. We will show you the best calf stretches to apply including stretches that target the calf at the very base of the ankle, where most of the tightness may be centralized.
- Arch Pump Ups - Stand barefoot with your feet about a foot and half apart. Place a penny under the big toe joint of each foot and place a pen underneath the arch of your feet but not quite touching your arches. Then squeeze the penny with your big toe joint only pushing your big toe joint into the ground. Do not use any of the other toe joints. This will lift the arch upwards and feel the strengthening of the arch.
- Plantar Fascia Stretch - Simply and gently bend the toes backwards until your feel a stretch of the arch.
Plantar Fasciitis can develop into Plantar Fasciosis, which involves scar tissue and makes it harder to treat. This is why getting physical therapy as soon as possible is key to quickly getting rid of this problem.
In other foot problems, there are different muscles we target. For example, with an ankle sprain injury, the muscles surrounding the ankle are extremely weak making it very easily to twist or roll the ankle again and sustain another injury. To counter ankle weakness, we have our patients perform balancing exercises which helps the ankle balance the body under pressure. This way, if any little misstep occurs, the ankle can handle it.
Schedule Your Consultation Today!
Our trained physical therapists at Cross Bay Physical Therapy help patients everyday reduce pain and regain mobility and we look forward greatly to helping you do the same.
Call 718-835-0084 and schedule your evaluation today!
By Benjamin Bieber