Simple heel pain exercises to do at home

Heel pain is a result of too much stress exerted on the plantar fascia ligament when it's stretched irregularly, causing small tears as well as inflammation. Generally, podiatrists recommend a variety of a strengthening and stretching exercises to help improve the flexibility of the ligament, consequently alleviating ligament stress and tension. When combined with other instructions such as rest, putting on shoe inserts and icing, heel pain exercises will likely alleviate heel pain. If you're suffering from heel pain, consider trying out the following two exercises and notice a remarkable shift in recovery.

The water bottle stretch

Take a seat in a comfy chair or bench. Position a tennis ball or a water bottle on the floor underneath your foot. Slowly move the sole of your foot on top of the water bottle or tennis ball starting from the ball to the heel of your foot. Maintain this exercise for about 5 minutes. If both your heels experience this pain, you can use both feet to perform this stretch.

Its importance

The above-mentioned exercise gently stretches the fascia ligament affording it greater flexibility. Furthermore, you can also choose to freeze the water can before starting this heel pain exercise so that you can ice the bottom of your feet during the exercise to reduce the inflammation that's associated with heel pain.

The pebble exercise

Take a seat in a comfy chair or bench. Position a mug or a container just in front of you on the ground. Distribute about fifteen marbles or pebbles in front of you, within the reach of your feet.

Try to pick up every marble or pebble using your toes and deposit it inside the mug. Use both your feet to perform this exercise. The exercise should last about ten minutes. It should be done at least thrice a week. As you gain the skills and your feet improve in terms of strength, you can increase the frequency as well as the duration of the exercise.

Its importance

By using your toes to clutch onto pebbles or marbles, both the ligaments and muscles at the bottom of your feet are stretched and strengthened over time, and heel pain is reduced considerably.

The beauty with these heel pain exercises is that they can be performed at the comfort of your home with little or no cost. When used in conjunction with rest, icing and a shoe insert, these exercises contribute to faster recovery from heel pain. If you have more questions, contact a podiatrist at a place like Dapto Podiatry Clinic.

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