Plantar Fasciitis! - What is it? How do you know you have it? What do you do about it?

If you are reading this, I’ll bet you have, have had, or have a loved one who has plantar fasciitis. I know from personal experience how much it can hurt and I want to share some information that may help you!

So, what is it?

Plantar fasciitis is when the fascia that runs along the bottom of your foot becomes inflamed and causes pain when stretched (standing, walking, running, etc)

How do you know you have it?

The most significant note about plantar fasciitis is that it hurts the most after long periods of being off your feet (stepping out of bed in the morning, standing after a long car ride or time sitting). The pain primarily resides in the heel but can also be felt going up the arch of the foot.

Caveats!

True plantar fasciitis is a relatively constant pain. If you are experiencing:

• tingling/numbness

• quick pain with a ‘weird’ step that quickly resolves

• pain with flexing (scrunching) your toes

• pain with extending your toes

You may be dealing with things that resemble plantar fasciitis but aren’t. Such things include toe flexor tendonitis, poor foot mobility, poor toe range of motion, and even a pinched and irritated nerve. We can get into this another day!

What do you do about plantar fasciitis?

• Work toe mobility! Your toes (especially the big toe) should have close to 90 degrees of extension

  • Sit into passive toe extension by kneeling on your heels with toes tucked under

• Strengthen your feet

  • Practice foot doming to engage intrinsic foot muscles

• Mobilize your feet

  • Standing foot pronation and supination to create motion in the mid-foot

• Ankle mobility

  • Knee to wall to create dorsiflexion

• Glute and hip stability

  • Single leg stance while doming the foot

All of these exercises above are on my YouTube channel “Kiera Kenyon”. Try these exercises consistently for a few weeks and see you how feel afterward!