Waking up in the morning is hard enough. It becomes even harder when you have pain with putting your feet down. Morning pain or first step pain is usually an indicator of plantar fasciitis. I am going to briefly describe why we get it and what we can do to relieve it.
When we sleep at night our foot and ankle are in a plantar flexed position. This means our foot is bending forwards as well as our ankle. Positioning like this creates soft tissue relaxation. Specifically our Achilles tendon and plantar fascia have decreased tension on them. This allows tightening of our tissues and as we sleep the inflammation from the previous day settles in. Then as we place our foot on the ground to step out of bed we stretch and place load on the plantar fascia and the Achilles tendon. This causes pain and discomfort immediately and leads to a cycle of inflammation. There are a few tricks you can do to help this.
Morning pain can be alleviated and here are a few ideas to help;
1. Before you get out of bed, write the alphabet with your toes. This will help loosen up your tissue and stimulate blood supply and lubrication of those tendons and fascia.
2. Stretch, start with stretching in bed work on your posterior chain. It can be quite helpful to stretch your Achilles and your fascia.
I do think it is important to seek a physician before starting any of these options. It is essential to get a proper diagnosis and treatment plan. If you are having heel pain I can help. If you are experiencing foot or ankle pain, give us a call at 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online today.
Sincerely,
