My Journey to Overcoming Plantar Fasciitis: A Personal Healing Story

In March 2020, the world came to a screeching halt - I was 37 weeks pregnant. After an emergency c-section, my physical abilities also came to a screeching halt. Within weeks I developed Plantar Fasciitis for the first time. Imagine your newborn wakes up screaming and every step you take towards her feels like something is shredding the soles of your feet. It was torture, to put it mildly.

So what IS plantar fasciitis anyway? It is the inflammation/irritation of the fascia (connective tissue) on the bottom of the foot that connects the heel to your toes. It can affect any (or all) aspects of this region - from the heel, arch of the foot, to the balls of your toes.

Plantar Fasciitis begins in the calf muscles of the Soleus and Gastrocnemius. These muscles connect through the calcaneus (aka achilles) tendon, which inserts itself at the base of the calcaneal (HEEL) bone. When these muscles fibers are short and condensed, they pull from their origin to their insertion point. The muscle is incapable of moving through its full range, unable to contract to use it's full power. The calcaneal bone absorbs shock from walking / running and is crucial for supporting our weight.

Think of it like a system of levers and pulleys. When one isn't pulling its weight, the rest of the chain suffers, and disfunction occurs.

I knew how to help clients with this issue, I'd done it before. It was time to take my own advice. It's been over 5 years (at the time of writing this) and my PF has not returned.

• Upon waking, do gentle stretches before standing - pointing and flexing the foot and ankle.

• Full range of motion ankle rotations in both directions.

• Taking slow and intentional steps.

• Incline walking with a longer stride (on a treadmill or a steep hill).

• Balancing with the balls of your foot on the bottom step, allow your heels to slowly descend towards the floor. Then lift up while keeping the balance between your big and little toes.

• Rolling a golf ball around the bottoms of the feet

• Legs up the Wall inversion stretching series

• Down Dog yoga pose

• Warrior I and II yoga poses

• While seated Point/Flex/Rotate with a rubber ball placed in center of calf muscles.

The trick to all of these stretches is in knowing which muscles you're targeting, what you should be feeling, and where you should be feeling it.

HOW I CAN HELP YOU

Your massage will focus on the muscles of the leg, calf, and foot. Active (client assisted) and passive (client surrender) stretches, gently warming up the muscle tissue and slowly moving through the layers of tissue beginning superficially (top layers) and ending with deep tissue work. We will work together to increase the muscular flexibility.

I'll lead you through the exercises listed above step by step, explain what you should be feeling, and where you should be feeling it. We will go over the difference between sensation and pain.

You will leave feeling better, with an arsenal of knowledge for home care between sessions.