If you are a runner, more than likely you are currently experiencing plantar fasciitis issues (why else would you have searched the terms on the Google machine?), but if you haven’t…your time is coming! It’s a super annoying injury, that can halt your training if you are not careful….. I know from personal experience, and I will share some of the things that helped me, along with the best plantar fasciitis treatment exercises for faster healing.
I first got plantar really bad back in 2014 when I was training for my first ever 100k race. Overall, by body felt great, I was starting to feel like I was in peak shape…and then the injury hit!
I developed plantar fasciitis in BOTH of my feet. It was miserable. Every morning I would wake up and I could barely walk. Things wold loose up eventually though, and I could manager a slow run…but it wasn’t fun.
Unfortunately CBD was not really a thing back then, but there were a few things that helped put me back on the road to recovery fast….and allowed me to complete my first 100k in a fairly respectable time.
The best exercises for plantar fasciitis
To get started I won’t bore you with the definition of plantar fasciitis, or even go into details about how to know if you have it…you are looking for exercises to heal your precious foot – chances are you did a great job at self diagnosing and you just want the fix….so here they are….the exercises that worked best for me, along with another “alternative” suggestion.
- Ball under foot: This one is simple, and kind of addictive. At least it was for me. Take a hard ball. Lacrosse balls work great for this. Place the ball on the floor and roll your foot over the ball in all directions, giving yourself a deep tissue massage. Massage the entire length of the foot, including the heel.
- Toe/Foot Stretches: Not 100% sure on the technical term for this stretch, but it’s super easy: From a seated position bring your injured foot on top of your opposing knee (you would have some mad talent if you could bring in on top of the same knee). Using the hand on the same side of your injured foot, grab your toes and the ball of your foot and pull it towards you. Hold for about 20-30 seconds and repeat a few times.Alternatively you can do this same stretch from a position seated on the floor using an elastic band or towel around your toes/foot. Place the band along your toes and ball of foot, then grab both ends of the band and pull towards you.
- Calf Stretches, and lots of them. Those calf muscles are all interconnected with the plantar fasciitis tissue. Heal drops are a great one to perform. You can do these by standing with the balls of your feet on a step, and then slowly dropping the injured foot downward. Hold for a few seconds, and then come back to standing, and repeat this several times.
And the ONE thing that I felt was sort of a magic bullet was going to an actual physical therapist.
He performed the magic art of dry needling on me…. For me, one treatment did the trick. I’m not positive it was that ONE thing that did it for me sense I had already been doing my exercises, but I have heard positive things from others as well.
Deep tissue massage is another thing you might consider, especially for more chronic longer lasting plantar fasciitis issues.
CBD and Plantar Fasciitis
Here we are in 2019 and CBD has been pretty mainstream for the past year, and on the market for at least the past five years. It’s best known for its anti-inflammatory properties, and can certainly help speed the recovery of a plantar fasciitis injury.
CBD is going to provide the most benefit for an acute injury by helping reduce the onset inflammation…but not completely eliminating it either, because inflammation is your bodies natural response and helps it to heal….but CBD will help speed up that process. Think of CBD is an ice pack. It simply serves a purpose to promote healing.
If you have been struggling with this pesky injury for a while now more than likely you are just fed up and ready to try anything. Well I’m here to tell you CBD just might be your savior. I’m not promising miracles, but they just might happen.
I’ve personally seen significant improvement in a chronic Achilles tendonitis injury, and I’m confident that it can help with plantar as well.
Dosing CBD for plantar fasciitis
If you are already taking CBD on a regular basis, simply increasing your dosage a bit to address the increase in inflammation will be all that is needed.
However, if you are new too CBD and looking to try it for the first time, remember the motto: Start Low and Go Slow.
Begin with a low dose, about 5mg per day taken at bedtime. After about a week increase it to 10mg. See how things go after another week, if you are not getting the results you are looking for increase it a bit more, but also know it can take up to 30 days for some people to really start seeing results.
You can also check out our post about how to dose CBD.
Closing Thoughts
There is a pretty good chance that CBD will help you recovery from your injury, but contrary to popular industry belief – CBD is not a magic bullet, and just like any medication it might not work for some people…but for may it’s doing amazing things.
CBD is worth making a regular part of your supplement regime if you are an athlete, and it’s especially worth trying if you have any sort of chronic issues you are looking to recover from.
It’s also important to note…CBD along won’t fix you. You still need to be discipline with physical therapy, backing off your normal efforts, and event reducing volume. Be smart about your recovery.
Oh, and here are a couple more articles much more well written, that have even more helpful exercises 🙂
7 Simple stretches and exercises that could eliminate your foot pain
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