In case you deal with consistent pain in the ball area of your feet, you suffer from metatarsalgia. Whenever you feel pain in the feet, you cannot give your best in sports activities, your work, your family responsibilities or any other activity embedded in the lifestyle. Positively, you may try for metatarsal pads and metatarsal arch support to relieve your pain temporarily or avoid your discomfort feelings, you should look for easy but effective stretching exercises related to your toes and feet. However, before we should discuss about exercises in detail, we should discuss about the condition and its effects.
Metatarsalgia indicates a forefoot or ball area of the foot pain condition i.e., the area that remains present between the toes and arch.[1] Five different metatarsal bones transect your foot’s middle section and connect the ankle bone with toes.[2] Most of the health experts call it a stone bruise or ball area pain, the area present beneath the toes forms a prime source of causing pain, as it gives support to your body weight while you run, walk or stand.
Exercises for Metatarsalgia
Stretching Exercises For Metatarsalgia
Foot and toe stretching exercises performed on a daily basis are the excellent ways to relieve your pain, promote the healing procedure and prevent metatarsalgia or its related symptoms to come back again in the near future. For this, you should perform the following important exercises regularly-
Ankle Cross Exercise For Metatarsalgia
- For metatarsalgia problem, you have sit with the feet on the exercise floor and place one ankle across your opposite thigh, while flex your feet slightly.
- Next, you should pull the toes in backward direction i.e. towards the shin in a firm but gentle way by using your hand at the same side. You have to do this until and unless you experience stretch across the arch.
- You have to hold your stretch for about 10seconds to 20seconds, while release it for about 10seconds. Furthermore, you should repeat the step for about 5times to 10times in one day, while repeat the same activity with your other foot.
- Finally, you have to make sure about appropriate stretch position of your body. For this, you have to run the opposite fingers gently across the foot’s sole. In this case, fascia ligament should get a feeling as similar to a firm strong across the arch, while make sure about proper stretch in case of plantar fasciitis.[3]
Foot Roll Exercise For Metatarsalgia
- For metatarsalgia problem, Place your hands loosely on the knees by sitting on your feet over the floor. Alternatively, you may opt to sit forward with the back straight in a chair and place your feet close to it. Even you may opt to do it in standing position in case you find it relatively more comfortable.
- Roll a tennis ball forth and back below your foot’s arch for about 2 to 5 minutes, while rest for a while. You have to switch your side and repeat the same procedure with the other foot.
- You may even do foot roll exercise by using a frozen water bottle. For this, you have to place a towel beneath a bottle for catching condensation. Cold thus helped you to relieve your metatarsalgia related inflammation and pain feelings.
Range of Motion Exercise For Metatarsalgia
- To perform the range of motion exercise, you have to sit down in such a way that your feet never touch the floor.
- Next, use the big toe for tracing alphabetic letters in air. In this case, you should block script or print based on your own choice and later on, should switch the feet.
- You have to make small movement i.e. by using only your ankle and foot instead of using your whole leg.
Conclude
There are wide range of feet, toe and leg stretching exercises available to manage your symptoms, especially inflammation and pain associated with your metatarsalgia problem. Only, you have to do the aforementioned exercises regularly or as instructed by your health expert. Along with this, you have to maintain the proper body posture to make the most from your stretching exercises.
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