Plantar Fasciitis Exercises & Stretches to Relieve Pain

10 Plantar Fasciitis Exercises:

You shouldn’t perform these strengthening exercises if you’re in pain due to your plantar fasciitis acting up. To avoid compromising your feet, you should start these exercises again once the inflammation in your plantar fascia has gone down and the pain has subsided.

1. Towel Curls

While sitting down, place your foot at one end of the towel. Now use your toes to pull the other end of the towel towards you. Next, use your toes again to push the towel away. You can put a weighted objected, like a book or soup can, at the other end of the towel to increase the intensity of the exercise.

2. Arch Raise

You can do this exercise while seated or standing by placing your feet flat on the ground and relaxing them. The goal of this exercise is to raise the arch of your foot, the area between your big toe and the heel while keeping the foot flat on the ground. Standing increases the intensity of the exercise, and it should be repeated 10-15 times.

3. Marble Pickups

This is a simple exercise where you place 3-4 marbles next to a cup. Next, you use the toes of the affected to pick up the marbles one by one and place them in the cup.

4. Heel Raises

While standing barefoot with your feet flat on the ground, raise your heels as if you are trying to stand on your toes, using the balls of your feet as support. Hold this position for a couple of seconds before lowering your heels back down slowly. To make it more challenging, you can try performing the heel raises on some steps.

5. Balance and Reach Exercise

This exercise is a bit tricky, so place a chair next to you in the direction you will be reaching to act as a support in case you need it. Stand on the affected foot and bend your knee a little bit. Now, raise the arch of your foot without raising the big toes and maintain this position throughout the exercise. Then bend your waist and reach out in front of you (reach further to increase the intensity of this exercise). Repeat this exercise 10-15 times.

6. Walk Barefoot in the Sand

Just remove your shoes and walk barefoot on the beach or any surface with sand to perform this exercise.

7. Point and Flex

Sit down in a chair, extend the affected foot and point the toes forward, as far as you can, while keeping your ankle straight. Then flex your toes back up. Do this about 10 times.

8. Ankle Circles

This is another simple but effective exercise where you sit in a chair, lift your foot and try to draw circles using the big toe. Be sure to change directions back and forth (clockwise then anticlockwise). Since this is a low impact exercise, you need to do it as many times as possible for it to be effective.

9. Prone Hip Extension

Lie face down on the floor with your legs extended at the back. With your arms folded, rest your head on them. Tighten the muscles on your abdomen and then raise the affected leg off the ground. Hold this position for 5 seconds, then lower the leg down slowly. Do this 10-15 times.

10. Side-Lying Leg Lift

This is another exercise that you perform while lying down. The only difference is that this time you lie on your side with the affected foot above and the unaffected foot below. Now, raise the affected foot slowly, remembering to keep it straight, and then lower it back down slowly. Do this 10-15 times.