Typical symptoms of metatarsal tendinitis are plantar pain in the morning or when just walking in a sitting position, which is relieved by activity. Patients with milder symptoms can exercise according to the functional exercises described below. The whole procedure is guaranteed to be painless, slow and tolerable. Apply ice packs appropriately after training. For severe symptoms, please seek medical attention promptly to avoid delay.
In the whole stretching and muscle strength training, just pulling the plantar fascia is often not enough. A complete set of stretching exercises should be designed for the whole anterior and posterior calf muscle groups (including calf gastrocnemius, tibialis anterior, etc.) in order to achieve better results. During the rehabilitation period and for a period of time afterwards, we hope to perform a little stretching training consistently every day for better recovery and relapse prevention. Choose the method of training described below.
Stretching]
Stretching exercises are done without pain. Stretching and pulling muscles and fascia training is about moderation, if the symptoms are more serious, improper stretching may add additional damage to the injury.
1, plantar fascia stretching training.
The training for plantar fascia stretching, both in the injury period and after rehabilitation are necessary, can be done as a long-term training. Training method: stretching, sitting on the ground or chair, grab the toes with your hands and pull backward until you feel comfortable with the plantar pull, maintain the posture for about 15-30 seconds, and then relax. Repeat the action 5 times as a group, 3 sets of training per day.
2.Rolling cans training
Use a hard can or a thick stick as an aid. Practice barefoot on the can with a mild curve, back and forth rolling, slow movements, so that the plantar fully stretched. Each time 3-5 minutes. You can enhance the difficulty of the training by increasing the force of stepping down. If you use the bottle of ice, or frozen cans can also play the role of ice, the effect is even better. Get up in the morning to do the training is particularly effective.
3, passive stretching training (towel pulling training).
Sit on the ground and stretch the affected leg to the front. Put a towel (can also use elastic training belt) on your foot, pull the toes in the direction of the body, keeping the knee straight, can feel the pulling sensation behind the calf, the whole sole of the foot is fully drawn. Hold the movement for 15-30 seconds, then relax. Repeat 3 times. The whole pulling process should be gentle and slow to avoid pain. If you find that towel stretching can be done more easily, you can start standing gastrocnemius extension training.
4, standing gastrocnemius extension training.
Stand facing the wall, extend the affected leg backwards as far as possible, hold the wall with your arms forward to shoulder level. The front leg knee slightly bent, the body leaned forward. Keep the back leg straight and keep the heel as far from the ground as possible. When you feel a pulling sensation behind the calf, maintain it for 20-30 seconds. When there is no tension pulling feeling, you can increase the degree of forward leaning until the posterior calf tension appears. Every 3-5 groups, 3 times each group.
5. Step extension training.
If the recovery is better, you can further use step-assisted training to achieve better pulling effect. This training can replace the previous standing gastrocnemius extension training, just do one of them.
Training method: Stand with your feet on the edge of the step with your heels off. Both sides of the step should be protected by handrail supports. Press the heel down until there is a pulling sensation at the back of the calf. Hold for 15-20 seconds, 3-5 sets of 3 reps per day.
The whole process slowly and gently, if the feeling is not obvious, you can try to put the heel a little lower until there is tension, but do not overdo it.
6, standing position flounder muscle extension training.
Training method: stand facing the wall, so that the affected leg in the back, hands forward at shoulder level to hold the wall. Bend both knees to the squatting position, the heels do not leave the ground. The person leans forward, body weight is applied to the feet, but the heel never leaves the ground. Hold for 20-30 seconds after there is pulling tension in the back leg.
If you can do it easily and without significant tension, you can lean forward more or flex the knee to a lower position to increase the difficulty of the training and achieve better results. 3-5 sets per day, 3 times per set.
[Plyometric training].
Perform both stretching and plyometric training while keeping your muscles pain-free. Start with simple movements. When it can be done easily without any difficulty, you can gradually increase the difficulty. Step by step, not required to complete all training at once.
1, grab the towel (marbles) training.
Put a towel on the ground (can also be changed to grab marbles), the affected foot flat on the towel, heel on the ground, with the toes constantly grab the towel, and then release. Each group of 10-20 times.
2, lifting training.
Training method: stand on the ground or the edge of the steps, legs straight, heel lift off the ground, then slowly lower the heel until it is lower than the step plane, then lift again on tiptoe. It is better to train on steps, but make sure there is a support around you that you can hold on to for protection. When you first start training, without any discomfort, do 2 sets of 10 reps per day. Later, gradually increase to 3 sets per day, 20 times per set. Practice a few days, can easily complete without any discomfort, you can increase the weight on the affected leg (you can use sandbags).
3, side straight leg lift training.
Training method: healthy side lying, body straight, raise the affected leg upwards. Raise the height to feel no discomfort, generally at least 20cm or so. Each time to maintain a high lifting state for 5 seconds; then relax to the starting position, a short rest. Perform 3 sets of 10 reps each time. When you can easily and completely without any discomfort, you can increase the training to 20 times per group.
4.Tiptoe walking training.
Training method: stand on tiptoe and walk slowly forward. Before taking the next step, control your body balance. At the beginning, each time about 10-15 steps, and then gradually increase the walking distance and time.