Physio Steve

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

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.

Version 1

Version 2

Version 3

 

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.