Top Physio Exercises for Prevention and Treatment of calf and foot injuries

Jan 7

Written By Steven Procter

NOT COMPLICATED, BUT SUPER IMPORTANT.

HERE ARE THE HEAVY HITTERS IN KICKING FOOT & CALF PAIN

1. CALF STRETCHING

Goals: Reduce traction on sensitized tissue; provide force input for improved healing.
Dosage: 45 mins/day
Tips: 45 mins is a lot - try doing it whenever standing and rack up the culmulative minutes. Only do versions in which you feel the back of the calf/ankle, not the front of the ankle! Keeping this in mind, each of these can be modified by bending the knee forward/down to make the stretch descend towards the achilles tendon.

2. CALF RAISES

Goals: Improve loading capacity for better quality healing.
Dosage: x10, build to several times a day
Tips: Looking to modify sufficiently so that exercises is pain-free. When starting out, these be done on the ground versus on step as shown below

3. WALKING MECHANICS

Goals: Learning to load through the foot and ankle in a more optimal way
Dosage: As needed to feel like you're improving on the skill
Tips: Start nice and slow and eventually we can build up to functional speeds.

Standard disclaimer:

These resources are intended for Steven Procter's patients, and only as prescribed. It is important to be evaluated, diagnosed, and educated on which exercises are indicated or contraindicated for a particular condition before attempting them independently.

Steven Procter