Are you looking for easy ways and remedies to help relieve the pain of plantar fascia? This article explores several relief methods and remedies on how to relieve plantar fascia pain.
The plantar fascia is the ligament that spreads from your heel to your toes. Plantar fascia pain is referred to as plantar fasciitis. Fasciitis means an inflammation of the fascia of a muscle, while plantar refers to the sole.
Therefore, Plantar fasciitis means the inflammation of the muscle that lies at the back of the feet. One of the most common causes of pain in the heel is Plantar Fasciitis. The push off your feet in a repeated motion may injure the tissues in your heel, and it can be very painful.
The plantar fascia itself assists the arch of your foot by absorbing pressure as It carries your whole weight. Just imagine having to walk around with a bruise or a strong ache in your heel or the whole of your feet.
Imagine the shooting/stabbing pain that hits your body every time your feet get in contact with the ground.
When the tissues in the feet are inflamed or torn, pain is inevitable. Now imagine there is a way to make that pain go away or disappear, won’t you be happy and eager to know how? This article brings to you 14 different ways to relieve plantar fascia pain.
Easy Remedies to Help You Relieve Plantar Fascia Pain
Surviving the discomfort that comes as a result of chronic plantar fasciitis can be exhausting, it’s often not easy to make time for regular pain relief. Luckily, there are several simple, yet effective remedies and treatments that can be done anywhere and at any time to provide instant relief for your plantar fasciitis pain.
Compiled here are 10 quick and effective methods that will relieve your heels and arches of any pain in no time. All you need is to spare 15minutes of your time to do them. Something as easy as a few simple calves stretches rapidly relieves the pain and steadily improves the symptoms over time.
Try the exercises and treatments below to relieve plantar fasciitis pain.
1. Stretch Your Calf
The tightness of the muscles in the feet and calves can worsen the pain of plantar fasciitis. Stretching your calves will help to loosen the calf muscles and relieve the pain.
How to do it:
- Start by leaning both of your hands against a wall.
- Then straighten up the knee of the affected leg and bend the other knee forward.
- Place both foot flatly on the floor.
- While doing this, you should feel your heel and calf muscles stretch.
- Hold this position for about 15 seconds.
- Repeat the stretch two to three times.
2. Try to Do a Rolling Stretch
This method requires you to place a round object underneath your foot and roll your foot back and forth on the object. Doing this will help to loosen up your foot’s muscles. For this, you can make use of a golf ball, or specialized foam roller.
How to do it:
- Start by sitting tall on a chair.
- Roll the object around from under the arch of the foot.
- Keep rolling for about 2 minutes.
- You can do it twice or three times daily.
3. Stretch Your Plantar Fascia Muscles
Do this to relieve the muscle tightness in your plantar fascia.
How to do it:
- Sit on a chair, cross the affected foot over your other leg
- Use your opposite hand to hold the foot
- Now pull the toes toward the shin; this will help to create tension in the arch of the foot
- Place your other hand on the bottom of the foot, you should feel a tension in the plantar fascia
- Grasp and stretch the foot using a towel if it is difficult to hold
- Hold this position for about 10 seconds
- Repeat the process two to three times
SEE: Easy Remedies and Treatment to help you relieve heel pain
4. Foot Flexes
Try doing foot flex, this will help to boost blood flow to the affected foot to relieve the tension in your calves, which can help to relieve the pain as well. This exercise requires the use of an elastic stretch band.
How to do it:
- Sit on the floor and place your legs straight out in front of you
- Use the elastic band to wrap your foot while holding the ends in your hands
- Push your toes away from the body gently
- Now, slowly return to starting position
- Repeat this process 10 times
5. Towel Curls
Using your toes to curl a face cloth or towel will help to stretch the foot and calf muscles. Do this stretch before walking or doing any physical activity in the morning.
How to do it:
- Place a small towel on the floor
- Sit on a chair with your feet behind the towel
- Use your toes to grab the center of the towel
- Swirl the towel towards you
- Unclench your foot now
- Repeat this five times
6. Marble Pickups
Doing this will also help to flex and stretch the foot muscles.
How to do it:
- Sit on a chair with your feet flat on the floor
- Ensure that your leg remains flat, now bend your knees
- Place a bowl and about 20 marbles by your feet
- Use your toes to pick up one marble at a time by clenching your toes on it
- Drop all the marbles you pick with your toes into the bowl
- Pick up all 20 marble
SEE: Best Essential Oils For Your Aromatherapy Uses
7. Massage Your Feet
A golf ball or tennis ball can serve as an effective massage tool for this pain reliever technique.
How to do it:
- Sit on a chair.
- Roll the ball underneath your foot while applying steady pressure to provide comfort and relief to your pain.
- Apply continuous pressure when you reach a tender area.
- Avoid applying too much pressure that may result in intense or sharp pains.
- Do this for several seconds before you continue rolling the ball.
Tip: Put the ball in the freezer for a while before use; for soothing cold therapy as well. Doing this will proved extra and faster relief.
SEE: Home Remedies and Treatment to Help Rid Heel Spur
8. Slip on an Ice Pack
Icing is another good way to instantly reduce pain from plantar fasciitis. For this, you can use affordable ice pack slippers. You can store these ice pack slippers in a freezer at home.
However, if you do not have ice pack slippers, you can easily make a homemade ice pack. Simply place a bag of frozen peas or corn in a plastic bag. You can also make use of frozen vegetables for this purpose.
9. Dry Cupping
You must be wondering what dry cupping means. Dry cupping involves the positioning of a cup on the skin to create an emptiness around the area to apply negative pressure on it. This will help to increase blood flow to the area, doing that will reduce the pain and break up frictions to the plantar fascia.
Dry cupping is an effective method of relieving the pain from plantar fasciitis. You can do this anytime, it requires nothing more than 10 minutes. Although it sometimes leaves red, bruise-like circles on your feet, there is nothing to worry about. The marks are never painful and will disappear after a few days.
10. Stretch Your Feet With a Book
A thick book can serve as a fantastic tool for treating plantar fasciitis. This book stretch gives quick pain relief for plantar fasciitis, and it also helps to maintain the ligaments and muscles in your feet.
How to do it:
- Place down the book about two feet away from a wall
- Now, stand on top with your heels.
- Gradually lean slowly forward with your hands in front of you. Do this until your weight rests solely against the wall in front of you.
- Hold this position for about 15 seconds.
- Now straighten your back, then lift your feet up and down using the balls of your feet.
- You can now do this stretch with one foot and then switch to the other foot.
11. The Ice Wrap Method
You can also use this method to reduce inflammation of your calf muscles.
How to do it:
- First, you need to rest the painful area for a few days.
- Massage the painful area with ice for about 20 minutes, this will help to relieve inflammation.
- Squeeze the area by wrapping it up softly, this will help to reduce swelling.
- Place the foot on a few pillows to help elevate the affected area.
- Elevating the foot will be especially helpful to relieve pain when you are sleeping.
12. Anti-inflammatory Medication
The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID), such as ibuprofen will help to lessen pain and inflammation in the foot. You can take this medication as directed on the pack or as prescribed by a doctor.
13. Shoe Inserts
Shoe inserts are known to provide the arch of the foot with additional support. Use shoe fillers and inserts to limit stress on the plantar fascia. This is particularly helpful for people who spend most of the day standing on their feet.
14. Ice Massage
Massaging your affected foot with ice helps to numb the pain in the affected area. This is a very effective temporary pain reliever. When at it, focus more on massaging the arch of the foot around the affected area.
If other foot muscles have become tense because of the pain, you can as well massage them with ice too. You can achieve this by massaging the arch of the foot with an ice bottle.
SEE: Helpful Tips on How to Prevent Heel Blisters
Causes of Plantar Fascia
The main cause of inflammation of the calf tissues or muscle is the pressure from carrying the weight of the body and causes the muscles to stretch. However, you’re more likely to get an inflamed plantar fascia if you:
- Your feet are either flat or high-arched.
- Wear shoes that do not support your feet especially when you are standing on a hard surface for a long time.
- You’re overweight or struggling with obesity. (Almost 71% of patients with plantar fasciitis are obese.)
- Are an athlete, especially a runner or jumper.
- Walk or exercise mostly on hard surfaces.
- Workout without stretching your calf muscles.
- Have a condition called pes cavus; which makes the arch of the foot hollow when standing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main cause of plantar fasciitis?
The main cause of inflammation of the calf tissues or muscle is the pressure from carrying the weight of the body and causes the muscles to stretch.
Activities such as long-distance running, ballet dancing, and aerobic dance place a lot of stress on your heel and the muscles surrounding it.
Can just one foot be affected by plantar fasciitis?
Yes. Plantar Fasciitis often affects just one foot, however, it can affect both of your feet.
Should I use heat or ice to relieve plantar fascia pain?
You can use ice on your heel to relieve the pain because ice helps to reduce inflammation. Using heat may worsen the symptoms and pain.
Conclusion
When you feel pain in the bottom of your heel or the arch of your foot, you are probably suffering from plantar fasciitis. The pain can be described as feeling like a bruise or an ache in the arch of the foot.
However, plantar fasciitis tends to resolve itself as time goes on without treatment.
You can speed up the recovery process and also relieve pain by doing exercises to help stretch your calf muscles. You can also relieve plantar fascia pain by using the remedies recommended in this article.
However, Plantar fasciitis can become a chronic condition when symptoms improve and then appear again over time. This pain may be consistent for a year or longer. Those who have had this condition are more likely to have it again.
To avoid the risk of chronic pain, you should see a doctor once you start getting symptoms.
Thanks for reading.
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