Do you suffer from constant foot pain? You’re not alone. Foot pain is a common issue for many people and has many causes. While getting a proper diagnosis is important, there are ways you can manage and treat your pain effectively in the meantime.
1) Icing with a Frozen Bottle of Water
You don’t need fancy exercise techniques or physiotherapy equipment to do some high quality foot stretches at home. Put a bottle of water in the freezer and, when it’s completely frozen, take it out. Sit down on a chair, put the frozen bottle of water under your foot, and gently roll it back and forth. This helps to gently stretch your muscles and tendons, while the ice provides cooling relief for your pain.
Icing for your foot pain is not just a great at-home remedy, it’s also proven to reduce inflammation and pain. It is often recommended by doctors for foot pain. Icing is a great method for treating any kind of foot pain, especially those involving inflammation and swelling. You can do so using a frozen bottle of water (as we’ve suggested above), an ice pack, or a frozen towel. You can even find a specially-made ice pack for your feet.
2) Your Morning Warm-Up
Many pain syndromes are at their worst during the first few steps out of bed in the morning. For example, plantar fasciitis or achilles injuries can often flare up at this time of day. It’s important to gently warm those structures up before placing any weight on them. One of the easiest ways to warm your feet up is to write the alphabet in the air with each foot. If you want to go further, rolling your foot on a golf ball or tennis ball gently is a good way to get things moving as well.
3) Get Stretching
Getting your foot moving – albeit gently – is another excellent way to manage foot pain. You can do some gentle, basic stretches while you’re sitting down that can help to ease the pain in your muscles and tendons. Try some calf stretches by wrapping a towel under the ball of your foot, gripping the ends in each hand, and pulling towards yourself. You can also use other exercises, such as gripping a marble or other small object with your toes and transferring them into a basket repeatedly.
4) Take the Water Footprint Test
Your footprint will tell a lot about you. The type of foot that you have can relate to the type of pain that you’re experiencing. Use this simple test to identify your kind of foot: when you get out of the shower, examine the footprint that you leave with the water on the floor.
If your footprint looks big and flat, it’s likely you have a flat foot. This often leads to arch pain, medial ankle pain, or big toe joint pain. If your footprint is skinnier in the middle and C-shaped — or you can only see the heel, ball of the foot and toes — you have a high arch. You may be experiencing back pain, pain on the outside of your leg or ankle, achilles tendon pain, or pain under the ball of your foot.
5) Get Fitted for Orthotics
One of the best ways to soothe and treat foot pain is to get fitted for orthotics. At Walking Mobility Clinics, we can help you to identify the source of your foot pain and get you fitted with the right orthotics for your lifestyle. We can also recommend specific exercises and other solutions for you to better manage your foot pain.
Contact Walking Mobility Clinics in Ontario today for more information or to book your orthotic assessment.