Jul 6th, 2016
Category: Thoughts & Motivation
Plantar Fasciitis Care with some extra goodies!
Hello Everyone and Happy Training!
Having been exposed to FITNESS since I was 16, and in the fitness industry for my whole adult life, I have been through every phase, every gadget, every gizmo, and seen more exercises than most people could ever envision or imagine. Let us not forget the flesh colored tights, with the thigh high, cut up to there leotards that Jane Fonda turned us onto and Jamie Lee. I have seen it all, wore it all, well, almost all……………………I had to draw the line at the flesh colored tights, but let’s just say I have great stories to tell. Ha!
One thing that is constant and always present is overtight bodies, pushing through workouts and getting injured. This is a constant. This is the one constant that is ever present.
Famous last words, “I don’t have time to stretch!”.
Once the body gets overtight and you keep pushing, it is not going to give! It cannot. It won’t. The body will protect itself, it will throw up the white flag and it will make you TAKE NOTICE and something will rip, tear, snap or pop. We are not invincible. Yes, you heard me. We are NOT.
You take your car in for an oil change to keep the engine healthy. Do the same for your tight muscles. Think of stretching as your mandatory oil change. A flexibility program is not a “weekend warrior mentality”. It is the “little train that could” mindset. Slow and steady but consistent.
Keep your body mobile and UNSTUCK. Move with freedom and full range of motion. Glide through your movements. Don’t allow your overtight muscles to become your roadblocks that limit your fitness endeavors.
Here are some helpful tips for a better you.
Always remember that when working with a tennis ball, never apply pain. Only apply pressure. Never press the ball on bone, always stay on soft tissue and though we are not addressing back release techniques…………..never, ever, roll a ball on the spine.
Enjoy! Cheers to a better you.
Plantar Fasciitis Care
Tools Needed: Tennis Ball
Guidelines: Apply pressure, never pain. Keep foot directly under hip. Align your leg as if a pillar supporting you.
Instruction:
Place ball under ball of foot / Keep heel down on the floor
Roll hard / back and forth
Smash / up and down (really put your weight on it and roll both ways)
Ankle Rolls
Then side of knee
Then Glute / side to side / knees bent
Roll circles (on rear) (hint: Saturn rings) 10 clockwise / 10 counter clockwise
Lift & Lower leg as you have ball placed under the rear end below sit bone.
Beyond Foam Rolling for Quads
Tools Needed: Foam Roller
Place foam roller under quad. Find midline and roll forward and back 10 times.
Gently shift your weight laterally and continue rolling forward and back 10 times.
With foam roller placed in the center of the quad, do leg curls forward and back, 10 times.
Holding leg curl, with a relaxed quad and foot, roll forward and back 10 times.
Hold leg curl with foam roller placed in the belly of the quad, tilt leg side to side.
Then lie on side and roll out piriformis.
Calf Care
Tennis ball under calf / roll side to side / foot is relaxed
Add weight by crossing legs if manageable. Can also push down with hands and roll from side to side.
Place ball in center of calf & do ankle rolls: 10 clockwise / 10 counter clockwise. Try to allow calf to melt into the ball.
Then Partner Drill:
With partner in a modified calf stretch stance, ask partner to bend at the knee, forward and back, emphasizing the movement at the end range….pressing back into the back body of the lower leg. The assisting partner holds the back heel down onto the floor. Repeat movement 10-15 times.
Working partner then holds the back leg with a bend at the knee and heel down.
Partner hold:
Run thumbs up calf beginning at the lower leg and up midline. Work your way out from midline, balanced laterally from midline, running the striations of the calf muscles, do as many passes as is tolerable by partner………..communicate with partner as to the pressure that is manageable.
Enjoy!
In Health,
Kirsten Buchanan
