Heel Pain Exercises: How to Treat Plantar Fasciitis

"Getting out of bed and feeling like you’ve stepped on a LEGO… or worse, a cactus?"

If that’s your morning reality with every step, the culprit might be your plantar fascia – an often-overlooked but essential tissue on the underside of the foot. It hurts, restricts movement, and can make even the simplest trip to the coffee machine a painful ordeal. The good news? There are simple yet effective exercises that can help restore freedom to your foot (and no, you don’t have to tiptoe through your entire day).

What Causes Heel Pain

Heel pain is a common issue that can significantly limit daily mobility. According to a meta-analysis by Rasenack et al. (2021), around 4–7% of people experience heel pain at some point in their lives, with up to 80% of cases linked to plantar fasciitis.

Other frequent causes of heel pain – which need to be distinguished from plantar fasciitis – include various types of neuropathy (e.g., diabetic neuropathy, Baxter’s neuropathy, or nerve compression due to lumbar disc herniation), partial tearing of the plantar fascia due to sudden overload, calcaneal stress fractures, bursitis, heel contusions (periosteal inflammation), or degeneration and inflammation of the heel fat pad, which impairs shock absorption and may contribute to further complications.

How to Recognize Pain from Plantar Fasciitis: Symptoms and Localization

Plantar fasciitis typically presents as a sharp pain in the heel area, most intense during the first steps in the morning or after prolonged sitting. The pain is usually localized on the inner (medial) side of the heel. It may temporarily subside during movement but tends to flare up again after increased physical activity.

In addition to pain, patients often report other unpleasant sensations such as tightness, throbbing, burning, coldness, warmth, or a tingling "tickling" sensation on the sole of the foot.

From both a health and performance standpoint, it’s important to view the plantar fascia as part of a complex foot system. It plays a key role in stability, efficient force transfer, and shock absorption with every step. It’s not merely a passive structure—it is a dynamic, responsive component that continuously adapts to loading.

When the fascia is overloaded or when balance within related structures is disrupted, the impact can ripple through the entire kinetic chain—from the foot to the hip and lower back. That’s why addressing heel pain effectively means looking beyond the fascia itself and considering the broader context of functional movement and full-body biomechanics.

Plantar Fascia: Anatomy and Function

Anatomically, the plantar fascia is a strong band of connective tissue that links the heel bone (calcaneus) to the forefoot—specifically to the bases of the toes. Its primary role is to provide passive support for the longitudinal arch of the foot and to help distribute forces during weight-bearing. A key concept when discussing the plantar fascia is the Windlass Mechanism.

This mechanism is activated when the toes are dorsiflexed (extended) during push-off. As the fascia tightens, the arch elevates and the foot becomes more rigid, enabling efficient force transfer. This mechanism is essential for foot stability during walking and running.

When it doesn’t function properly, it can significantly contribute to the development of painful conditions.

What Happens When the Plantar Fascia Doesn’t Function Properly?

When the plantar fascia is unable to fulfill its role—due to factors such as overuse, stiffness, shortening, and/or poor foot and ankle biomechanics—it can gradually begin to break down, especially when combined with additional risk factors discussed later in this article.

This dysfunction may manifest not only as acute pain but also as degenerative changes. In response, the body often compensates by shifting load to other structures.

Prolonged overloading of the fascia can lead to secondary issues, including osteoarthritis in the small joints of the foot, overuse of the ankle joint, or the development of Achilles tendinopathy.

That’s why it’s essential to give the plantar fascia targeted attention—not only to relieve pain but also as part of a broader injury prevention strategy.

How to Get Rid of Heel Pain

Doctors often recommend rest, calf stretching, orthopedic insoles, and in some cases, pain-relieving medications. Sometimes corticosteroid injections or other pharmacological treatments are used as well.

Shockwave therapy—a treatment that bridges the gap between medical and physiotherapy approaches—has personally proven very effective for me, especially with elite athletes. It helps reduce pain while stimulating collagen production.

However, the fundamental approach should never be overlooked: addressing the root causes of the pain for long-lasting results. The first step I emphasize is to eliminate or at least reduce the most common contributing factors to this painful condition.

Shockwave for Plantar Fasciitis

Common Factors Contributing to Plantar Fasciitis

The factors contributing to plantar fasciitis include both internal and external influences. Internal factors include age, overweight, metabolic disorders (such as diabetes), foot shape, muscle imbalances, and limited mobility in key joints—whether in the foot, ankle, or hip. Overall body balance, especially within the lower limb, also plays an important role.

External factors involve overuse during sports, prolonged standing, walking on hard surfaces, inappropriate footwear, or sudden changes in physical activity without proper preparation.

It is often the combination of these factors that creates the ideal conditions for the onset and chronic recurrence of symptoms.

Exercises for Heel Pain

If we want our plantar fascia to stop causing problems, we need to give sufficient care to the feet that carry us for decades. In some cases, simply reducing load is enough to relieve heel pain. In others, massage of the plantar fascia helps, while in some situations, strengthening, improving mobility, or increasing stability is necessary. However, it’s impossible to generalize what is best—it depends on the specific cause and condition of each individual.

Exercises for heel pain can not only relieve pain but also improve foot function and reduce the risk of symptom recurrence. Below are several exercises that can serve as inspiration. I intentionally do not specify exact execution, frequency, or volume, as these parameters are highly individual. If you’re unsure, I recommend consulting a physiotherapist, preferably one with expertise in strength training.

Releasing the Plantar Fascia

One of the techniques in the Exercise Library isn’t a typical exercise but an effective massage that helps release tension in the foot.

Foot Strengthening Exercises

There are many exercises to strengthen the foot—in the Exercise Library, you’ll find a wide selection. As an example, here are two basic ones: the first focuses on activating the short toe flexors along with forward movement of the shin.

The second exercise, which can serve as inspiration, is an unconventional variation on the leg press that activates not only the short but also the long toe flexors.

Exercises for Toe and Ankle Mobility

Another group of exercises I’m including here as examples focuses on restoring, improving, and maintaining the range of motion between individual toes, foot bones, and the ankle. For example, this basic exercise helps mobilize the toes and supports their natural movement.

Another exercise could be this one, which is not directly focused on the foot but on the ankle. A mobile ankle is essential for the healthy functioning of the plantar fascia and the Windlass mechanism.

Exercises for Foot Stability and Calf Strengthening

The last group worth mentioning focuses on balance exercises. Imagine a tree—even if it has a strong trunk and thick branches, without firm roots anchoring it to the ground, it can easily be toppled. Similarly, our feet and plantar fascia need a solid foundation and stability to function properly and protect us from pain and injury.

Plantar fascia during gait and running

If you’re interested in this topic and would like to learn more, I’d be happy to invite you to my Herohero page, where you can find, among other things, a clear visualization of how the foot works. This will help you better understand why and when to incorporate specific exercises into rehabilitation. Whether you’re a physiotherapist, coach, or simply passionate about running, movement, or biomechanics, I’m confident you’ll enjoy my regular posts.

Heel Pain Exercises: Exercise Database

As you may have noticed from the videos on YouTube, the individual exercises are numbered. If you’d like access to all of them, I invite you to visit the Exercise Library, which I’m constantly working on and regularly expanding.

I’d be happy if you join this small community—each month, I’ll send you free updates about new additions to the Exercise Library.

If you found this article helpful or interesting, I’d really appreciate your comment below. Feel free to ask any questions as well—I’m happy to answer them here!