Top Physical Therapy Exercises for Plantar Fasciitis

There are many exercises and strategies to decreasing plantar fasciitis pain. It'll be important to not only improve ankle and big toe mobility, but also improve the strength of the foot and arch and general leg strengthening.

Banded Ankle Dorsiflexion Mobilization

This is a good one to address ankle joint stiffness that may be affecting the plantar fascia and weight bearing load.

Hallux (Big Toe) Stretching

This can be done either with your hands to pull the big toe back or while standing and leaning forward.

Heel Raises / Calf Raises

It's important to find a proper entry point for heel raises. For example, if standing heel raises are too difficult, seated can be done instead. If double leg heel raises are too easy, it can be progressed to single leg. If more ankle mobility is needed, standings can be done on the edge of a step to allow further ankle stretching at the bottom.

The plantar fascia and big toe can be biased further by having a rolled up towel under the toe.

Arch Strengthening

Can be started seated and then progressed to standing

Leg Strengthening

Often times, rehabing plantar fasciitis will also include leg strengthening in order to offload the excessive loading that the plantar fascia has received. You'll need some weight bearing exercises to strengthen the arch more. Include a combination of double and single limb strengthening in addition to some balance work.

Early stage: bridges, clamshells, sidelying leg raises, single leg balance

Mid-late: squats, side steps, lunges, SL RDL, captain morgans, step up/down variations

Late-stage: hops, squat jumps, lunge hops, split stance heel raises

Exercise Equipment Used