If you perform ineffective exercises you may face a progression of expensive, painful and invasive treatments and a long recovery!

Many of the traditional foot and leg exercises are incorrect, incomplete, inappropriate and therefore ineffective.

The following are some of the traditional rehabilitation exercises that we do not recommend and the reasons why we believe they are incorrect.

The Toe Towel Curl Exercise

If you are symptomatic, the traditional toe towel curl exercise is incorrect because it promotes repetitively shortening and tightening flexor muscles that are already short and tight. This exercise will place excessive traction on the inflamed tendons that attach to your heel bones. This exercise is the opposite of what you should be doing!

The Towel or Rope Stretch

In a sitting position you loop a towel or rope around your toes and pull on the towel. This is incorrect because again, it promotes shortening and tightening your short/tight toe flexor muscles. This exercise is the opposite of what you should be doing!

All weight bearing plantar fasciits exercises are incorrect!

The Standing Wall Calf Stretch

The standing wall calf stretch is physiologically incorrect because your posterior calf muscles will be automatically contracted prior to and during the stretch which will place excessive traction on your achilles tendon. It is not possible to relax weight bearing muscles when you are in a weight bearing position. Muscles (especially injured muscles) should always be relaxed prior to performing any exercise/stretch.

The Heel Drop Exercise

A potentially dangerous exercise is dropping your heels off a step because you are weight bearing while performing it and you can drop down below your normal range of motion.

This can promote chronic tearing and damage to the knee, gastronemius, flexor digitorum brevis and the flexor halcius brevis muscles and inflammation to the achilles tendon and the plantar fascia. Even in healthy people this can cause problems. Anyone who has a foot or leg injury and performs this exercise will likely make their problem worse!

Toe Raises

Where you stand in a weight bearing position and then rock back on your heels so that your toes come off the ground.

Foot dorsiflexion

Where you stand and place one foot against a wall and then move your foot up so your toes are off the ground.

Heel Raises

Where you stand on both feet behind a chair and then rise up on your toes so that your heels come off the ground.

Stretching Terminology Errors

It is incorrect terminology if you perform an exercise designed to stretch your achilles tendon or plantar fascia. Nobody can safely stretch a tendon or a ligament. Tendons and ligaments are composed of very inelastic collagen fibers that cannot elongate more than 3% without rupturing.

You do not want to stretch a tendon you want to reduce the tension being forced on it. The only way only natural way to reduce the tension on a tendon is to improve the strength and flexibility of its related and opposing muscles.