plantar fasciitis release

5 Trigger Points You Must Release to Eliminate Plantar Fasciitis

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For some odd reason, the practices of trigger point therapy, myofascial release, or deep massage (whichever you prefer) are all typically overlooked to resolve plantar fasciitis (PF). Maybe its because the experts we look to rarely recommend it because it’s too “woo-woo” for them.

But the point is, people seem to want the answer to be these ridiculous exercises like toe touches or foot crunches which are repetitive, boring, and not productive.

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it, the pain you feel in your arch or heel is the result of a problem elsewhere. It’s just a symptom. There are several possible causes of PF but to put it bluntly, you don’t have heel pain because you have a bad heel.

You have it because your foot pronates too much. Your foot might overpronate for a couple different reasons. But it’s important to look around the point of pain to identify parts that are too tight or misaligned or both.

In this post, I’m going to give you 5 muscles that when massaged or released, will guaranteed improve your condition or maybe even solve it altogether. A few of these have been crucial to my recovery, specifically loosening up muscles so I would stop pronating so much and be in less pain.

For these trigger point releases, you are going to need good tools to apply specific pressure to your muscle tissue and fascia. A standard foam roller will do for the larger muscles (don’t worry about it having ridges, it’s more effective to use something smaller to focus the pressure accurately on smaller spaces). For the smaller to medium-sized muscles, I would recommend a firm massage ball. For general pain relief and a rewarding way to end a release session, a foot massage roller is really nice to have.

The first 3 muscles all reside in similar areas of the leg and they all have or contribute to about the same functions as one another so I’m going to summarize their functions in this paragraph and talk more specifically about their location below.

The soleus, posterior tibialis, and gastrocnemius muscles are three of the biggest muscles in the lower leg and they control the ankle. When we are looking to mobilize our ankles and feet, it’s important to look at the mobility of the main drivers of these areas.

If these 3 muscles do not have full range of motion (aka are too tight), you cannot possibly have full range of motion in your ankles either, which is a huge problem when you’re dealing with PF.

These muscles also are what give your feet arch support. So again, when they become too tight, your ankles and feet will suffer as we tend to operate with an open-foot position, leading to the ankles collapsing in.

For the sake of simplicity, work your way through all the calf muscle you have by seeking out those tenders spots that hurt when you are rolling them out or releasing them.

Start in specific regions like the soleus (below the gastrocnemius and all around the achilles tendon) and then move into areas like along the shinbone or on the outside of the bigger calf muscles. These are all areas where I found a lot of success and was able to release some significant tension.

Image result for posterior lower leg muscles

                                                                                                                            Source: mountainpeakfitness.com

Soleus

This is a muscle in the back of the lower leg that runs from just below the knee to the heel. For the purposes of releasing this area, we’ll be focusing on the lower part of it (just above the visible achilles tendon but below the big calf muscle).

Posterior Tibialis

This muscle runs down through the inside of the foot and has a huge job in being the key stabilizing muscle of the lower leg.

Gastrocnemius

This is your big calf muscle that makes up the ball shape of your calf.

Hamstring

For the hamstring release, I’ve included a video made by Elisha from mobilitymastery.com. She put together a very simple and easy to follow release technique video that explains everything you need to know but if you’d like to read her full article, click here.

 

Plantar Fascia

The final and most obvious place to release, especially considering the fact that there’s probably a lot of inflammation here. Beware that this area could be very tender and may not take well at first to targeted releasing.

I put this one last for a reason; try the other areas before your work your way to the bottom of your foot. Loosening up the other spots should ease some tension down there anyway and prime it for its own releasing.


Comments

6 responses to “5 Trigger Points You Must Release to Eliminate Plantar Fasciitis”

  1. Tiffany Avatar
    Tiffany

    Thank you! I have MS and my left calf has spasms all the time and my ankle and plantar fascia and tendons are always swollen and sore and my ankle in now rolling inward from it. No doctor has been able to help. I’m definitely going to try trigger point release because I feel a big knot in my calf muscles.

    1. No problem Tiffany! While I’m not very familiar with the ins and outs of MS, it sounds like the right idea for your ankles and feet.

      If your ankles are collapsing inward, it most likely means you don’t have full range of motion in your ankles. Also, it makes sense that feel knots in your calves, because your gastrocnemius (the big, round calf muscle) controls your ankle. So if the calves are tight, the ankles are tight.

      You should feel some instant pain relief from this. Let me know if you have any questions or updates!

  2. Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your post seem to be running off the screen in Ie. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The layout look great though! Hope you get the problem solved soon. Many thanks

    1. Jammie,

      Thanks for the heads up! I will take a look at it and see what needs to be fixed.

  3. Wow, incredible blog structure! How lengthy have you ever been running a blog for?
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  4. […] When you spend years of your life in shoes like this, your achilles tendon and subsequently the rest of your lower leg muscles, like the calf muscles, shorten (aka tighten). This includes large and crucially important muscles like the gastrocnemius and soleus, which you may remember from one of my older articles. […]

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