plantar fasciitis pain Archives - Health Tips From The Professor

Relief From Plantar Fasciitis Pain

December 13, 2022 by Dr. Steve Chaney

What Causes Plantar Fasciitis Pain?

Author: Julie Donnelly, LMT –The Pain Relief Expert

Editor: Dr. Steve Chaney

Merry Christmas

I love the Christmas season. The colors, the smells, the sounds of music. I’m a vegan so turkey isn’t happening for me, but the array of deliciously prepared vegetables, and the variety of desserts always make me excited for this month to get underway!

We give so much to others, especially during this season, that I want to remind you to take care of yourself too. Like they say on the airplane, ”Put on your own oxygen mask first!” One of the best gifts you can give to those you love, is a healthy and happy you!

Eliminate the aches and pains that can make you feel grumpy, and if you have someone who could benefit from eliminating pain, please feel free to send them my way. That includes people who don’t live near me. I will give you information on how to set up Zoom consultations below. I’ll be happy to help you.

I hope you have a wonderful, blessed Christmas!

What Causes Plantar Fasciitis Pain?

It has been a beautiful time for being outdoors the past couple of months, whether you live here in Florida, or any of the northern states. With the cooler, dryer weather, runners are back out on the road, which can lead to our topic of the month. Plantar fasciitis is a condition that is felt in the arch of the foot and can hamper, or even stop, runners from enjoying their sport.

The good news is I’ve found that there are four muscles that are key to releasing the pain in your arch. And they are easy to self-treat with just a little direction. These muscles are:

The calf muscles:

Gastrocenmius & Soleus. These muscles both merge into your Achilles tendon and pull up on your heel bone so you can stand on your toes.

The Tibialis Anterior Muscle:

This muscle is on the outside of your shin bone. It inserts into the inside of your arch and rolls your foot out toward your little toe.

The Peroneal Muscles:

Actually TWO muscles that are on top of each other with both of them going along the outside of your shin bone,and behind your ankle. One inserts into the long bone on the outside of your foot, and the other goes across your arch, inserting into the long bone on the inside of your arch.

That may sound a little confusing, but if it does, take a look at the muscle by doing an internet search and it will be clear.

Together these insertion points pull the outside of your foot UP so your roll in toward your arch.

Relief From Plantar Fasciitis Pain

The important point to consider is that all four of these muscles insert into the bones that form your arch.

When your calf muscles are tight they are pulling back on your heel bone, but since your arch muscles originate on your heel bone, they are being stretched backward.

When the Tibialis Anterior muscle is pulling on the long bone on the inside of your arch, it’s causing pain on that bone so you feel pain in your arch.

When the Peroneals are pulling toward the outside of your foot, you again feel pain along that bone.

This all sounds confusing but just think about your arch being pulled in three different directions: to the outside, to the inside, and back toward your heel. Of course you’re going to have pain in your arch!

It would take the length of a long article to go into the details of how to treat each of these muscles so I’m only going to show pictures of how to treat the muscles on the front of, and next to your shin.

Use either the Perfect Ball that I sell on my website: www.flexibleathlete.com, or a used tennis ball.

Kneel on the floor as shown in the picture to the left and place the ball to the outside of your shin bone.

Move your leg forward so the ball rolls down toward your ankle. If you start to feel a cramp in your arch, just curl your toes as shown in this picture.

You’ll find a tender spot about midway down the muscle. This is the muscle spasm that is putting pressure on the inside of your arch.

Repeat until it no longer hurts.

To treat your Peroneals, sit as shown in the picture on the right. Place the ball as shown in the picture and put your hand so it presses your leg directly into the ball.

Move your leg so the ball rolls down the outside of your leg toward your ankle.

Be sure to always move your hand so it stays on top of the ball.

You’ll find a tender spot about midway down your leg. Stay on the point for about 15 seconds and continue to roll down your leg.

Repeat until the muscle no longer hurts.

Next month I’ll be talking about Achille’s Tendonitis. The treatment for the calf muscles is the same as you would use for Plantar Fasciitis, so stay tuned…

Zoom Consultations

This past month I worked with two people via Zoom. Both were successful at getting a total resolution to their issue. I’ll tell you about them next month, but in one case it was a sudden attach of severe back pain at prevented the man from even getting out of bed. In the other case, it was a young woman who is a sub-elite runner who had been in pain for three years, preventing her from running.

I’m happy to say in both cases the individual was able to be up and about in one case instantly, and in the other case it took 3 days for a complete reversal of the painful problem.

If you know anyone, anywhere in the world, who is in pain, please let them know that they can find a solution that isn’t offered by traditional pain-relief practitioners. They can read more about it by going to www.FlexibleAthlete.com and searching on the shopping cart for Zoom Consultations.

Here’s To Your Health

There is a tremendous amount of information on two of my websites: www.FlexibleAthlete.com and www.JulstroMethod.com. I believe you’ll find a lot of answers by going through those sites, and by looking at the books and video programs that I’ve developed over the years.

There is a saying “God helps those who help themselves.” These websites and my books are the tools you can use to help yourself to Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living.

Wishing you well,

Julie Donnelly

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Treatment For Plantar Fasciitis Pain

June 15, 2021 by Dr. Steve Chaney

What Causes Plantar Fasciitis Pain?

Author: Julie Donnelly, LMT –The Pain Relief Expert

Editor: Dr. Steve Chaney

June, Glorious June

Florida is heating up and mid-day is pretty hot, but the rest of the USA is just entering the best time of year (if you love warm weather). And I think the best part is that the days are longer so we can get out and enjoy life more.

Last month was the beginning of me trying to get in shape to do the El Camino de Santiago. This 500-mile trek was beautifully shown in a 2011 movie titled “The Way,” starring Martin Sheen. It’s something I had wanted to do to celebrate my 70^th birthday, but then I broke both bones of my left ankle in half (OUCH) and had lots of complications. Now I’m determined to try again for my 80^th birthday which is several years away. As a result, I have a lot of time to get in shape. I’ll keep you updated as the months go past. Let me know if you have ever done this trip, I’d love to hear your experiences.

As the beginning of my training, I did a 5K race on May 1st – walking, not running. I was shocked when I came in 2^nd place for my age group. Of course, at my age the competition is limited, but I still have a trophy here in my office to applaud my efforts.

It seems like a perfect time to talk about foot pain that can prevent you from walking around your house, never mind a 500-mile cross-country journey. Let’s look into plantar fasciitis – pain in the arch of the foot.

What Causes Plantar Fasciitis Pain?

If you have arch pain, don’t rub your foot! There is a good chance the pain is actually coming from your lower leg. You will understand as we discuss the logic of the body and how lower muscles cause the pain. By the way, this treatment is also great for healing a sprained ankle, so it is doubly helpful!

The Muscles Involved In Plantar Fasciitis

The muscles of your lower leg, specifically the Tibialis Anterior, Peroneus, Gastrocnemius and Soleus, all insert into your foot.

The tibialis anterior inserts into your arch and pulls your foot so you can lean on the outside of your foot.

The peroneus tendon inserts into the bone at the outside of your foot and pulls up on the bone so your foot rolls in toward your arch. Your two calf muscles insert into your heel bone (talus) and can be pulling it backward, so you can lift your heel up from the floor.

The culmination of these movements is your arch is being pulled to the left, the right, and backward. Your arch hurts and too many people are addressing their arch, but not the muscles that are causing the strain.

Treatment For Plantar Fasciitis Pain

In my books, Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living and The Pain-Free Athlete, I show you how to treat all the muscles of your leg. If you are suffering with plantar fasciitis, or if you’ve had a sprained ankle, you would benefit by getting one of these books.

Meanwhile, I would like to share one self-treatment that will help.

Treating Your Tibialis Anterior Muscle

Using the Perfect Ball, place the ball as shown in the picture to the left. The ball is just to the outside of your shin bone, and just below your knee joint.

Press down on the ball and move your leg do the ball rolls down your leg. If you feel like your arch will cramp, curl your toes as shown.

Go all the way down your leg to just above your ankle.

About midway down your shin, you will find an exceptionally tender area. That is the knot (spasm) that is putting pressure on the inside of your arch. Just stay still on the spasm until it releases. Sometimes it can be so painful that you need to lift your weight up off the ball for a little bit while you collect your breath.

Keep doing the pressure-release until the pain in your tibialis anterior muscle is gone.

If you have one of my books, I suggest you do all the treatments shown in the chapter about the lower leg, including each of the techniques for the back of your ankle.

Wishing you well,

Julie Donnelly

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Relief From Plantar Fasciitis Pain

February 18, 2020 by Dr. Steve Chaney

Get Rid Of Foot Pain And Enjoy Running Again

Sometimes I like to start my blog with ideas I think you may find helpful. This year, I’m not only writing goals, I’m doing something that was suggested by Pegine Echevarria. I’m looking back on last year and writing down as many of my successes as I can remember. Goals are the roadmap for the future, but remembering past successes lifts our confidence that we’ll be able to achieve the goals we have set.

In fact, this year I’m going to look at each day and write down a success that I’ve had that day. How wonderful it will be on New Year’s Eve to look back and read 365 successes for 2020!

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful start to 2020. Here’s to a year of adventure, joy, health, prosperity, and fulfillment of all your dreams!

Foot Pain And Plantar Fasciitis

With the new year here, lots of people have decided to get into a routine of walking, or running, to improve their health. I’ve also spoken to so many people about pain in the arch of the foot, a condition called plantar fasciitis. Most people have been told to focus their attention on the foot.

However, the muscles of your lower leg are responsible for the movements of your foot, so ignoring them and focusing on your foot is useless.

That’s like pulling your hair and then putting your focus on the pain in your head…while you’re still pulling your hair. It doesn’t work! You’re looking in the wrong place!

The vast majority of pain in your arch isn’t coming from your foot, it’s coming from your lower leg.

Stick with me, this is going to be so logical that you’ll wonder why you haven’t already heard about treatment and stretches for the real source of plantar fasciitis.

Relief From Plantar Fasciitis Pain

Let’s take a look at the muscles that move your foot. There are many tiny, intrinsic muscles but we’re not talking about them today…we’re talking about the major movers of your foot.

In case you would like to find the muscles in an anatomy book or on the internet, they are:

· Gastrocnemius: A calf muscle that merges into the Achilles tendon.

· Soleus: Under the gastrocnemius, the soleus also merges into the Achilles tendon. These two muscles pull your heel up so you can stand on your toes. When they are tight, they are pulling up on your Achilles tendon and pulling the bone up, even when you want to keep your foot flat on the ground. This causes your arch muscle to be pulled backward, causing arch pain.

· Tibialis Anterior: Primary muscle causing plantar fasciitis because it inserts into your arch. The tibialis anterior muscle is along the outside of your shin bone and inserts into the long bone on the inside of your arch. When it contracts the foot rolls toward the outside of the foot. This muscle also causes shin splints. When it is tight it is pulling hard on the bone and you feel pain in your arch.

· Peroneals: A group of two muscles inserting into the outside of your foot and arch. The peroneals originate along the length of your lower leg bone (Fibula) and insert into the bones on the outside and the inside of your arch. When they are tight, they pull the bones toward the outside of your foot, and you have arch pain.

These four muscles are pulling your arch in three different directions at the same time. This creates arch pain, but the source is in your lower leg!

Before jumping into the stretches for plantar fasciitis, I recommend first doing the self-treatments to release the tension in these muscles.

3 Self-Treatments For Plantar Fasciitis Pain

To treat your tibialis anterior, place a ball just below your knee and on the outside of your shin. Then move your leg so the ball rolls down toward your ankle.

If your arch feels like it’s going to cramp, simply roll your toes as shown in this picture.

To treat your peroneals, place a ball as shown in the picture on the right. Put your hand on your leg so you can press the muscle down into the ball. Then move your leg so the ball rolls down toward your ankle

There are several ways to treat your calf but they all use the same principle. Put the center of your calf directly on your opposite kneecap. Press your leg down so your kneecap goes deeply into your calf muscle.

Don’t slide, just rock your leg up and down, along the length of the muscle.

You can also do this treatment while sitting in a chair.

3 Stretches For Plantar Fasciitis Pain

Note: It is most beneficial to release the spasms (muscle knots) in the muscles as shown above before doing the stretches for plantar fasciitis relief. This is the case for any muscle as it “unties the knot” that has shortened the muscle allowing you to stretch without injuring the muscle fibers.

The picture on the left shows a common, runners stretch for the gastrocnemius muscle.

In order to get a proper stretch, it is important to keep your heel on the ground as you tilt your body forward.

Notice that you don’t need to be leaning forward and holding on to anything. Stand up straight.

To stretch the deeper muscle, the soleus, slowly bring your bottom back while bending the knee of the leg you are stretching.

Keep your heel firmly on the floor.

This stretch is deeper and often overlooked by runners, yet it is a key muscle for calf pain, Achilles tendonitis, heel pain, and plantar fasciitis.

You can stretch both the tibialis anterior muscle and the peroneal muscles by just a slight rotation of your ankle.

Curl your toes so the top of your toes are on the ground.

If your foot is squared so the top of your toes are flat on the ground, this stretches the tibialis anterior.

If you move slightly (as shown), this stretches the peroneal muscles.

You will feel the lengthening along your entire lower leg as you are doing an excellent series of stretches for plantar fasciitis and shin splints.

As a bonus, this is also the treatment for a sprained ankle!

BTW, all the pictures in this newsletter were taken from The Pain-Free Athlete. You can easily learn how to self-treat all of the major muscles in your body by using The Pain-Free Athlete or Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living. These books show you how to self-treat muscles from your head to your feet, but maybe you would like to have me help you.

Just because you aren’t in Sarasota, Florida, we can still work together very successfully via the computer. I’ve worked with people all over the world, and the results are excellent! To request a consult, click here.