Watch: Best Foot Forward

Our top sports doc explains how to keep your ankles, heels, and arches strong and healthy.


Our top sports doc explains how to keep your ankles, heels, and arches strong and healthy. - By Dr. Jordan Metzl |

Our top sports doc explains how to keep your ankles, heels, and arches strong and healthy. – By Dr. Jordan Metzl

Stress Fracture

Pain in your forefoot or heel—that’s most pronounced during running and worsens over time—may indicate a stress fracture. This develops over time when the demand on the bone exceeds the bone’s ability to withstand the force.

How to treat it:

See a sports doc.
Immediate diagnosis (and rest) reduces recovery time.
Cross-train.

How to prevent it:

Gradually up mileage.
If you overpronate, try arch supports.
Get enough calcium and vitamin D.
Strengthen your core and hips.

Plantar Fasciitis

Pain along the bottom of your heel—that is particularly bad first thing in the morning as you get out of bed—is most likely plantar fasciitis. Excess tension or pulling on the plantar fascia, which runs along the bottom of your foot, causes painful inflammation.

How to treat it:

Cross-train.
Take an anti-inflammatory.
Roll your foot over a frozen water bottle.
Pump your ankle up and down 10 times before getting out of bed.
Wear shoes with arch support.
Stretch your calf.
Consider a night splint.

How to prevent it:

Stretch, strengthen, foam roll your calves.
Shorten your stride: Aim for 180 foot strikes per minute.

Morton’s Neuroma

A burning pain in the ball of your foot that radiates toward your toes signals Morton’s Neuroma. You may also feel tingling or numbness between your second and third toes. When your forefoot is constricted (by high heels or other pointy shoes), the plantar digital nerve gets squeezed, causing inflammation and pain.

How to treat it:

Stop running if the pain changes your stride.
Wear running and everyday shoes with a wider toebox.
If pain persists, see a sports doc, who may recommend a cortisone shot.

How to prevent it:

Choose shoes that allow wiggle room.

Ankle Tendinitis

Pain on the outside of your ankle beneath the bone and toward the back of the joint, which may start out mild but worsens over time with repeated running, signals tendinitis. A big bump in mileage can stress the two tendons that run along the outside of your ankle, causing them to become inflamed.

How to treat it:

Cross-train.
Apply ice for 15 minutes, five times a day.
Stretch and foam roll your calves.
If discomfort lasts, see a sports doc, who may recommend a brace.

How to prevent it:

Do foot eversions and calf raises and foam roll your calves.

Stretch and Strengthen

The following six stretches will help you prevent these injuries.

Straight-Leg Calf Stretch
1

Stand with your arms in front of you and your hands against a wall. Keep your left leg forward, and extend your right leg straight back. Don’t bend your back knee. Lean into the wall until you feel the stretch in the calf of the straight leg. Hold for 30 seconds and switch sides. Do three sets.

Bent-Leg Calf Stretch

2

Stand with your arms in front of you, hands against a wall. Move your right leg back until your right foot’s toes are close to your left heel. Keeping both heels flat on the floor, bend both knees for a comfortable stretch. Hold for 30 seconds and switch sides. Do three sets.

Calf Rolling

3

Place a foam roller under your left ankle. Cross your right leg over your left. With hands flat on the floor, roll your body forward until the roller reaches the back of your left knee. Roll back and forth from knee to ankle 15 times. Repeat with the right leg. Too difficult? Roll with both legs.

Foot Eversions

4

Anchor a resistance band to a sturdy structure, like the leg of a sofa. Sit on the floor and place the other end of the band around your foot so it is taut against the outside of that foot; then straighten your leg and push your foot outward against the band. Repeat 10 to 20 times and switch sides.

Eccentric Calf Raises

5

Stand on a step with your heels off the edge. (Hold onto something for support.) Push yourself up. Then slowly—to the count of 10—drop your heels below the level of your feet. Push back up and repeat. Do three sets of 15.

Jump Squats

6

Stand with your feet a bit more than shoulder-width apart. Put your arms straight out. Squat down, pushing your butt back while keeping your upper body tall. Now explode up as high as you can and land softly. Do three sets of 15.

* * *

Adapted from Running Strong: The Sports Doctor’s Complete Guide to Injury-Free Running for Life, by Jordan Metzl, M.D. (Rodale).

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