Finding Foot Pain Relief

Foot pain. Mystifying, debilitating foot pain. It can creep up on you slowly over time or it can seemingly appear out of nowhere. Sometimes you know exactly what the problem is. Other times you haven’t got a clue, much less know what to do about it. What you do know is you want foot pain relief and fast!

It can be as obvious as a long day on your feet in poorly fitting shoes. Alternately it can be as complicated as fallen arches that will eventually require surgery. Sometimes simple lifestyle changes will do the trick but sometimes you need costly interventions like custom orthotics. But left unaddressed, the discomfort you are experiencing in your feet can become problematic for your whole body. It’ll put extra strain on knee joints and even throwing out the alignment of your spine. It’s important to accurately pin-point the cause of foot pain before starting any treatment and a good foot pain identifier may be helpful with this.

Pain In The Ball Of The Foot

The ball of your foot is the metatarsal area between your toes and your arch. The most common cause of pain at the ball of the foot is injury do to impact sports or wearing high heeled shoes. Remember, these are some of the tiniest bones in your whole body absorbing the greatest shock and impact. Resting and icing the area as well as stretches and massage to keep the muscles and tendons pliable can go a long way to avoiding injury, reducing long-term damage, and delivering pain relief for the ball of your foot.

If you are experiencing this type of pain, you can find out more about some simple steps you can take in our article Relief For That Pain In The Ball Of Your Foot.

Pain On The Side Of The Foot

When your foot pain is on the little toe side of your foot, it is referred to as lateral foot pain. When the pain is on the big toe side, it is medial foot pain. Foot pain on the side of the foot is usually caused by stress from overuse and/or footwear with inadequate support. It sounds simple, but left unaddressed it can lead to serious issues like stress fractures, tendonitis or plantar fasciitis.

You can find out more about this in our article Why Does the Side of My Foot Hurt?

Pain In The Heel: Plantar Fasciitis

Image by Daniel Max, used under CC 2.0 licence

Heel pain is perhaps the most common foot pain complaint that drives people to seek medical advice. The most common cause of this pain is plantar fasciitis. It can be debilitating but there are things you can do to relieve your discomfort and keep moving.

Walking With Plantar Fasciitis

Walking with plantar fasciitis can be challenging, whether you’re just trying to get around your house or walking five miles daily for fitness. Properly fitted shoes (they should hug snuggly to your heel and provide good cushioning) and targeted stretching before and after a walk will go a long way to preventing injury. Targeted self massage will help to relieve pain and keep the fascia along the bottom of your foot soft and pliable. You can learn more about this in our full article on Walking With Plantar Fasciitis.

Running With Plantar Fasciitis

If running is your thing, whether it’s training for a marathon or participating in sports, plantar fasciitis will be a little more challenging. But with proper footwear, stretching and massage therapy, it is possible to run again. Because of the extreme stress that running places on the fascia, it’s very important to rest and ice the affected area as well. You may need to adjust your workout schedule to ensure healing time for inflamed or injured fascia, but it is possible to run with plantar fasciitis. Always check with a medical professional if your pain is moderate to severe, in order to avoid doing any permanent damage.

For those runners dealing with plantar fasciitis, we recommend getting a more in depth look into this by reading our article Running With Plantar Fasciitis.

Massaging Plantar Fasciitis

It’s a good practice to stretch and massage your feet in the morning, before they hit the floor, to get the circulation going and to stretch the tight fascia; this will help with foot pain management. But to really stop the cycle of damage and inflammation, you will need a professional massage therapist who can accurately work those spots where crystallization is happening. This allows true healing to begin.

You can learn more about the benefits of massage by reading our article on Massage For Plantar Fasciitis.

Pain In The Arch Of The Foot

When your foot arch pain is not caused by plantar fasciitis, it’s usually due to structural issues within the arch itself. Anything from flat feet to high arches can cause problems and shoes that offer proper arch support are very important.

Read Relieving Pain in the Arch of Your Foot to find out more about this.

Massage for Foot Pain Relief

When it comes to managing foot pain naturally, there are massage techniques and stretches that you can do for yourself to get some relief. But for highly effective treatment, you’ll need a professional foot massage with a therapist who understands how to stretch and soften the many fascia, tendons, muscles and joints of the foot. Restoring proper circulation and flexibility will not only provide pain relief, but also help the body access it’s own innate healing abilities. This requires a degree of skill and training.

The therapists at Easy Cozy Wellness in Abbotsford, BC are trained and experienced in treating many forms of foot pain through reflexology massage techniques that have been carefully developed and perfected over time. Call or use our online calendar to book an appointment today and let us help you find the foot pain relief you’ve been searching for.