This is arguably the most common injuries amongst athletes certainly amongst the ones I see who are mostly endurance athletes.

The part of the foot that is affected by Plantar Fasciitis is the bottom of the foot are the plantar fascia. This is commonly attributed to the fascia being traumatized to a point of becoming swollen and tight or inflamed. The treatment is usually anti-inflammatories, ice, massage and stretching.

But there are muscle who’s responsability is to hold this part of the foot together and prevent it from being stretched out too far so as not to traumatize the plantor fascia.

What happens if these muscles aren’t working? The skeletal foot will become longer/larger when it is applied to the ground. This will in turn apply more stresses to all of the connective tissues of the foot. Do you think this could be a reason for the plantar fascia becoming swollen and inflammed, needing such treatment as mentioned above?

Every time I have someone come to me with Plantar Fasciitis I find many of these muscles of the foot not working. Very often if not most of the time I also find extended problems as high up as into the back. These are generally muscles who have become traumatized from trying to compensate for this lack of foundation support. Most often many of these problems are related to rotational movement of the leg from the foot up to the hip. As a matter of fact I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a case where someone had Plantar Fasciitis and didn’t have some rotational muscle failure further up the chain! If you have had Plantar Fasciitis you might try lying on your back and lowly rotating you feet one at a time to see if one or the other is less able to rotate inward or outward than the other. If so this problem is snowballing and is going to cause you bigger problems if it hasn’t already.

Let’s discuss!