If you experience foot pain before you ever even get out of bed, there is a good chance you need to incorporate this “Morning Foot Care” routine into your daily doings. Morning foot pain can be caused by many conditions from tight ligaments/muscles to severe plantar fasciitis or even simply just plain old inflammation.
Standing up right away causes sudden stretching and pulling of your ligaments, and this can start the pain cascade. In addition to hurting, foot pain can severely impact your day-to-day routine and may prevent you from staying active.
We believe that It is important to “warm-up” and “stretch” the foot before you even get out of bed. Here is our recommended “Morning Foot Care” routine to set you and your feet up for success for the entire day. Of course if pain does not improve or subside, please don’t hesitate to make an appointment at one of our offices for a consultation http://www.davincifootandankle.com
Morning Routine
1) Stretch Your Arch
While laying on your back, lift your leg up and wrap a towel around the front of your foot. Then, with both hands pull on the towel and stretch the ball of the foot and ankle. Your toes should be lightly pulled towards your nose. This directly stretches the plantar fascia and the calf muscles. A tight calf muscle can contribute to pain in the feet as well.
2) Draw an Air Alphabet With Your Toes
This is a great exercise to “wake up” the deep muscles within the foot. Using your big toe as a pointer, trace the alphabet as if you were writing in the sand. Repeat on the other foot and do this once or twice each morning. If you’re really brave, awake your brain as well and trace the alphabet backwards!
3) Toe Crunches
Another exercise that specifically strengthens the muscles directly beneath the plantar fascia ligament is the toe crunch. Simply curl your toes downwards hard as you can and hold the crunch for 3 seconds. Release and then repeat. Perform this for 2 minutes straight. As a result of contracting and releasing, muscles, bones and ligaments are falling back into their proper place.
3) Mini-Massage
In addition to the above stretches, we suggest you pamper your feet with a mini massage (1 minute per foot). Apply deep pressure to the ball of your foot, your arch, your heel and even your toes. When massaging your arch, use both thumbs in an upward motion from the heel towards your big toe. A mini massage will help loosen tight muscles and also increase blood circulation in your feet which will help with everything else as well.
We hope this simple routine will help alleviate some of your foot pain in the morning. Should you find great results with this routine personally, please share them with us on our Facebook page or leave a comment below…
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Lake Oconee, GA 706-999-9994
