Patients with milder symptoms of plantar fasciitis can perform self-care based on the functional exercises described below. The full rehabilitation process is ensured to be painless, slow and tolerable. Apply ice packs appropriately after training. For severe symptoms, please seek medical attention promptly to avoid delays.
In the whole stretching and muscle strength training, just pulling the plantar fascia is often not enough, but a complete set of stretching training should be designed for the whole anterior and posterior calf muscle groups (including calf gastrocnemius, tibialis anterior muscle, etc.) to achieve better results. During the rehabilitation period and for some time afterwards, stretching exercises should be continued every day for better recovery and relapse prevention.
Please refer to the rehabilitation program for plantar fasciitis according to the actual injury, and choose the methods described below for training.
Stretching]
Do stretching exercises without pain. Stretching and pulling muscles and fascia training is moderate, if the symptoms are 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. The difficulty of the training can be enhanced 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, keep 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 during the process. 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 per 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 does not leave the ground at all times. 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 bend the knee to a lower position to make the training more difficult and achieve better results. 3-5 sets of 3 reps per day.