Our feet are our first contact point to the world around us. Therefore, foot pain can be debilitating for the 77% of Americans who experience it! Foot pain relief is an important reason to visit a physical therapist to help you solve the reason behind your pain.
What Is Causing Foot Pain?
The foot consists of 26 bones, 30 joints, and over 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments. With all of those structures, you can imagine that there are many potential sources of pain in the foot. Some of these pain sources include injury, overuse, inflammation, and peripheral neuropathy. People sustain foot fractures and ligament tearing from falls or accidents. In addition, tendinopathy can create local inflammation and pain within the muscle attachments to bones in the foot. Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the area around the tight band of tissue called the fascia at the bottom of the foot; often there is worse pain in the morning and with prolonged activity. Achilles tendinopathy results in heel pain or pain slightly above the heel and is a result of inflammation around the Achilles tendon. Peripheral neuropathy is the degeneration of nerves within the feet commonly associated with diabetes and creates numbness, tingling, and burning pain. Arthritis, which is 100% normal with age, can lead to changes within the joint structure of the foot. Research is unclear as to whether that is a source of pain and if it is, to what degree. Another common cause of foot pain is bunions, which form at the beginning of the big toe resulting in pain and stiffness, and sometimes requires surgery!
No matter the cause, physical therapy for foot pain can help tremendously.
Find Out If Physical Therapy Is Right For You
Schedule an appointment with a licensed physical therapist to help recover from your chronic pain through hands-on manual therapy.
Exercises to Treat Foot Pain
There are many exercises that will optimize how the bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscles of your feet work together. Important areas to exercise include the bottom of the foot (the plantar surface), the muscles that cross the ankle, and the mobility of the joints in the foot.
Toe curls, calf raises, and towel scrunches help to strengthen the bottom of the foot and the calf, which connects the foot to the knee.
Exercises such as toe extensions, tennis ball rolling, and calf stretching can alleviate foot and ankle stiffness, plantar fasciitis, and Achilles tendinopathy.
After an evaluation by your physical therapist, they will guide you on how many times to perform exercises, which specific exercises will help your condition, and how to progress exercises to continue to challenge you and see improvements.
Don’t be surprised when you work on the strength and mobility of your low back, knees, and hips in physical therapy because they can all contribute to foot pain as well.
How A Physical Therapist Can Help You Find Relief
If you are looking for foot physical therapy near me, you will find many qualified professionals who can help find the cause of your foot pain and design an exercise program to conquer it for good. Your physical therapist will perform joint mobility and soft tissue mobilization to improve the efficiency of your recovery. This will include things like moving the joints of your foot and massaging areas like around your heel and the bottom of your foot to help inflammation leave your foot.
Your physical therapist will create a program specifically for you based on your goals and your healing progress. They will also guide you on healing techniques such as heat, ice, and avoiding certain activities. Rest assured, your physical therapist will team up with you to solve the reason you had foot pain in the first place and work together on strategies to prevent it in the future.
