Can massage techniques help with Plantar Fasciitis?  I’ve heard several personal stories where the answer is a resounding “yes”.

A basic synopsis is the idea that tight muscles and tight tissue on the back of the leg pull the tissue tight across the bottom (plantar surface) of the foot, setting the foot up for irritation and eventually pain in that sole of the foot.  Success stories I’ve heard incorporated targeted calf (posterior leg/lower leg) massage to aid the daily regimen of rolling the foot on a tennis ball, etc.

But, sometimes it can be easier to support the case for this approach with results from traditional clinical studies.

Clinical Study: In one study, plantar fasciitis symptoms improved statistically and clinically significantly from a 1) targeted stretching regimen and 2) deep tissue massage techniques in the calf region.  This article from Massage Today describes a study originally published in Manual Therapy (Sep 2013).  The article nicely describes the original study, its short-comings, and its findings in what I think is a reasonable way.

Worth taking a look in any case.  Likely worth trying the techniques too if you’re experiencing these symptoms.  Here then is at least one more vote of support for manual therapies combined with “doing the homework” (like stretching 3x per day) as a viable route for successful healing.

Perhaps the most important point here is that getting a name slapped on a series of symptoms (like the name for the pain on the plantar surface of the foot) is not a terminal sentence here, but simply a name for a collection of symptoms that have arisen from either acute injury or gradual tissue patterns, damage, restrictions, etc.

And, therefore, it is something that is reversible, with careful attention to daily body habits, some basic discipline with therapeutic routines, and the assistance of skilled practitioner to help the body in its healing process.

For further reading, search for information on the pain cycle, i.e. a “positive feedback cycle” that can continually aggravate tissue conditions – but a cycle that can also be interrupted for healing.  Search for information about how chronic daily posture or movement habits can contribute to the body getting stuck in debilitating patters and aggravate soft tissue, among other things.  And most importantly, how this can be reversed.