Foot Ligament Injury
How to cure Plantar Fasciitis in One Week?
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A common complaint that we hear from patients in our clinics is that their feet hurt after work, especially if they spend all day standing at work. The pain that they experience is normally the result of muscles fatiguing at the end of the day. Your feet are designed to absorb weight but the surrounding muscles need to build up a tolerance to use.
There are options to stop your feet from hurting after work such as changing footwear, regular stretching, insoles and strengthening exercises. We will provide recommendations for each of these in this article.
How to stop your feet from Hurting after work?
Cushioned Stability Trainers
When standing the Plantar Fascia on the underside of your foot is placed under stretch as it’s role is to provide structural stability to arch of the foot. Alongside this, the muscles of the foot contract to hold you upright.
By wearing a cushioned stability trainer the stretch on the Plantar Fascia is reduced and more support is offered to the surrounding muscles of the foot so they don’t have to work as hard to hold you upright, reducing fatigue and stopping your feet hurt after work.
Related Article: Symptoms and Treatment of Plantar Fasciitis
Move More
When we recommend this to patients they often say that they are too busy or time gets the better of them so they forget to move. However, when your remain static all day, the blood flow to your legs and feet reduce and this facilitates increased swelling and discomfort.
It is helpful to set a time every 20 minutes to remind yourself to move. This can be as simple as rocking back and forth on your toes, marching on the sport or if possible have a walk around the office. This simple strategy can really contribute to stopping your feet hurt after work.
Strengthening Exercises
When muscles fatigue, it leads to tightness and pain. If you are not as strong as you could be then the muscles are quicker to fatigue and therefore cause pain. Maintaining strength in your legs is often not the most exciting thing in the world and as a result, people often struggle to develop consistency with this.
We have provides our two favourite strengthening exercises below to help stop your feet from hurting after work.
Soleus Muscle Strengthening
- Stand upright with both knees bent
- Maintain the bend in your knees while lifting your heels off the floor
- Slowly return to your starting position to complete one repetition
- Repetitions: 25
- Sets: 3
Gastrocnemius Muscle Strengthening
- Stand upright with both knees straight
- Lift your heels off the floor as high as you can
- Slowly return to your starting position to complete one repetition
- Repetitions: 25
- Sets: 3
Stretch Regularly
When muscles are used, they fatigue and when they fatigue they become tight and increased tightness can cause pain. This is a constant cycle that we see in patients who are standing all day at work. Doing a yoga or stretching routine once daily can help to control your pain but it is less likely to stop it.
We recommmend short but frequent stretching. Just 2-3 stretches of your lower limbs but 3-5 times daily can play a significant role in increasing your flexibility and stopping your feet hurt after work.
Below are 3 exercises that we recommend to our patients whose feet hurt after work:
Gastrocnemius Stretch
- Standing upright, place one leg straight behind you and your other in front.
- Keep the heel of your hindfoot on the floor and lean against the wall.
- Once you feel a pull on the back of your leg, stay in this position
- Hold for 45 seconds
- Repeat 3-4 times daily
Soleus Stretch
- Stand upright with the affected leg behind you.
- Keep the knee straight on the leg behind with a slight bend on the knee in front.
- Move forward on the front leg while keeping both heels on the floor
- Stop moving forward once you feel a stretch on the back leg
- Hold for 45 seconds
- Repeat 3-4 times daily.
Plantar Fasciitis Stretch
- Standing upright, facing a step or a wall, place your toes against it.
- Bend your knee while keeping your heel on the floor
- Bring your knee as close to the wall as possible
- Hold for 45 seconds
- Repeat 3-4 times daily
Physiotherapy with James McCormack
This is not medical advice and we recommend a consultation with a medical professional such as James McCormack before trying any of these exercises. James offers Online Physiotherapy Appointments for £45.
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