Relieve Foot Pain With Simple Exercises

Did you know that pain in the ball of the foot maycompensations disrupt the normal biomechanics of
be due to an inability to fully bend your ankle joint?walking. When the biomechanics is disrupted the
Did you also know that the type of shoes that youjoints are not loaded as they should, the muscles,
wear (i.e. high heels) may be at the root of thetendons and ligaments are strained. Strained muscles,
cause of the pain? Don't despair. There are sometendons and ligaments cause pain.
simple exercises that may help to relieve the pain inPeople with equinus deformity may experience pain in
the ball of the foot.the ball of the foot because they tend to toe walk
Pain-free walking requires the precise integration ofand overload the front of the foot. They may
numerous joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments. Onedevelop pain in the mid foot from compensating by
of the most critical and complex joints involved thisflattening out the foot and overstretching the plantar
process is the ankle joint. The ankle joint is requiredfascia, the may develop heel pain by the tight Achilles
to bend the foot downward, toward the floor,pulling the at its insertion point on the heel.
(plantar flexion), upward toward your headIn order to properly treat the pain associated with
(dorsiflexion), rotate inward (inversion) and outwardequinus it is first necessary to determine the cause.
(eversion). For this discussion we are going to focusObviously if the problem is due to a piece of
on problems caused by the limitation of ankle jointfractured bone blocking motion at the ankle joint or a
dorsiflexion during walking.congenitally short Achilles tendon, this would require
Inability to fully dorsiflex the foot results in aan evaluation by an orthopedist for possible surgery.
condition referred to as ankle equinus. It is calledHowever if the ankle equinus is caused by tightness
equinus from the term equine which refers to aof the calf muscles, which is often the case, this can
horse. I am not implying that a person with ankleusually be treated conservatively.
joint equinus has a hoof. However if you notice aThe goal of treatment for someone with tight calf
horse's hoof, the front of the foot points in amuscles is to first reduce the strain in the calf
downward direction; it appears to be plantar flexedmuscles and bring the floor up to meet the heel. This
(pointed down toward the floor). The person withis usually accomplished with a heel lift inside the shoe
ankle joint equinus may appear to have a plantarthat is used temporarily as the calf muscles are
flexed foot and may have a tendency to walk moreslowly being stretched thru exercises. The patient
on their toes.may also require a custom orthotic to support the
Rarely, ankle equine is caused by a piece of bonearch. The orthotic may incorporate what is called a
from an old fracture blocking the proper motion ofmetatarsal pad that fits just behind the heads of
the ankle or by a congenitally short Achilles tendonmetatarsal bones (long bones of the foot) to take
that prevents full dorsiflexion of the ankle. Ankle jointthe load off of the ball of the foot. The long term
equinus may also be caused by arthritis that results intreatment however involves stretching exercises and
deformity of the bones of the joint that interferesmaking sure the patient is placed into appropriate
with the full dorsiflexion of the joint. Most commonlyfootwear. In addition your doctor may prescribe
ankle joint equinus is caused by tight calf muscles. Ifwhat is called a dorsal night splint which holds the
the calf muscles are too tight the ankle is not able tofoot in a dorsiflexed position as you sleep to facilitate
fully dorsiflex the ankle.stretching of the calf muscles. Let me describe some
Spending too much of your day in high heels cansimple techniques that are used to stretch the two
result in tight calf muscles and subsequently anklemain calf muscles, the soleus (sole-ee-us) and the
joint equinus. The body adapts to the demands thatgastrocnemius (gas-trock-knee-me-us).
are placed upon it. If you wear high heels theTo stretch the gastrocnemius muscle you stand
distance between the heel and knee is decreasedfacing the wall with your feet about 12 inches from
and the calf muscles will contract in order tothe wall. Step back about 6 inches with one leg. Then
compensate for this shorter distance. Then whenwhile keeping your rear knee straight, your forward
you put on your flatter shoes and try to walk theknee slightly bent, your back straight and both heels
tight calf muscles interferes with the ability of theon the floor, lean into the wall. When you feel the
ankle joint to function as it should to providemuscle start to stretch hold the position for 10
pain-free walking.seconds. Do this stretch ten times in a row for each
The person with ankle equinus has a tendency tofoot and repeat 3 times per day.
walk on the ball off the foot. They have difficultyTo stretch the soleus muscle stand facing the wall as
keeping the heel on the ground as they walk anddescribed above for stretching the gastrocnemius
raise the heel off the ground early in the step cycle.with one foot further back. However this time squat
Ankle joint equinus causes the normal biomechanicsdown as if in a seated position while keeping your
of walking to get all screwed-up. When humans havehands on the wall for balance. When you start to feel
biomechanical problems that interfere with the normalthe muscle stretch as you lean toward the wall, hold
biomechanics of walking they compensate. Peoplethe position for 10 seconds. Do this stretch ten times
with equinus compensate by walking on their toes.in a row for each foot and repeat 3 times per day.
They may lift up their heel early in the step thatThese stretching exercises together with a
makes them appear as if they are bouncing along astemporary heel lift and possibly a dorsal night splint
they walk. They may compensate by flattening outwill reduce the pain in the ball of the foot as our
their arch in order to take some of the load off thebiomechanics improve. If however these measures
front of the foot. Sometimes they turn their feet todo not improve your symptoms you may want to
the outside as they walk and contact the groundconsider a custom foot orthotic.
with the inside part of the heel. All of these