Understanding Plantar Fasciitis & Finding Relief

Hello everyone,

My name is Pedro and in this video I want to talk about plantar fasciitis.

You can probably relate to this,

That sharp pain in your first steps in the morning.

Right on your heel.

That's likely to be plantar fasciitis.

So let's talk about why it happens and what can you do about it.

But before we get into that,

Let's understand what is fascia,

Okay?

When you buy a piece of steak,

Rump steak,

There's that layer of fat right on top,

Yeah?

If you pull that layer of fat from the muscle or from the meat,

There's that transparent layer,

That's fascia,

Yeah?

And we have the same.

Fascia is what binds us together as human beings,

Is what binds muscles to bones,

To tendons,

To ligaments.

That's how we work.

That's how we stay put together.

Make sense?

Okay,

Now.

Plantar fascia,

It's a thick band that runs along your heel to the middle of your foot,

Okay?

When that band gets irritated or overstimulated,

Guess what happens?

Pain.

That's the sharp pain that you feel.

And it's worse in the morning.

Do you know why?

Because you're cold,

Because you haven't moved in a while.

That band is not really warm.

That's why you feel that sharp pain.

Make sense?

So what are some of the common causes?

Maybe you just started running,

Maybe you've been walking more,

But what is likely happening with you is you probably have very tight calves,

Which is the reality of 90% of people.

Not only calves,

But your ankles probably have poor mobility due to have an imbalance above the structure.

Make sense?

If your calf can't function as it should,

Your ankle won't function as it should.

And as a byproduct,

The fascia won't work as it should.

It will get irritated.

And you know what happened.

But you might be wondering,

What can I do to help?

Well,

Especially in the morning,

You're probably scared of making that first step because it hurts.

So what can you do?

Warm up your calf.

Try to do some stretches on the calf,

Even like doing ankle movement or mobility like this or circles,

Pulling your foot like this and then pressing against your hand to create resistance,

Okay?

See,

It's pretty engaged.

The more engagement you give to your calf in the morning,

The more blood is rushing through the area,

The warmer the whole structure gets,

The less likely you are to get pain.

Make sense?

So this is something that you can do to address the pain early in the morning.

Now,

If this goes on throughout the day,

You have to address the muscular imbalance on your calf and the tibialis.

Tibialis is this muscle running right here on the front side of your shin.

These two,

They talk to each other,

Your calf and your tibialis.

If one is not working properly,

The other,

It won't.

Okay,

So think about it.

My biceps and my triceps.

If I want to bring my hand towards my shoulder,

My bicep contracts,

My triceps extends.

So they work in conjunction.

This is the same thing.

If I put my foot up like this,

I'm stretching my calf and I'm contracting my tibialis.

So you've got to address both.

Okay.

You've got to build strength on your calf and tibialis,

And you have to improve the mobility of your ankle.

This is the best way to get through it.

Another one,

You can use one of the balls like a tennis ball and just massage the bottom of your foot.

You can do that in the morning after you've done the stretches.

Just do that very nicely,

Very easy before you take that first step.

Unfortunately,

If you don't want to feel the pain,

This is something that you have to do.

Okay.

Now,

If the pain is lingering for weeks or months,

Go to the doctor,

Get it checked,

Get an MRI,

Try to understand what is actually happening to it.

Don't keep on guessing,

Yeah?

If you want,

Sure,

Follow along.

Early in the morning mobility.

Exercises or in the evenings,

You can just let me know in the comments below and I'll do it for you.

So I hope this helps and I'll see you in the next video.