The Answer
Stretch your gastrocnemius muscles. This is the plantar flexion muscle in your calf.
The Exercise
Stand facing the wall with one foot in front of the other. Bend your front knee while keeping your back knee straight. Keep yout back foot flat on the floor, with your toes and foot pointing straight forward. Now lift the big toe on your back foot.
The Burn / The Stretch
You should feel the stretch in the top of your calf towards the back of your knee.
The Duration
Hold for 30 seconds.
The Repetitions
Repeat 3 times on each leg, alternating each time.
But… Why?
This exercise is particularly important for people who do a lot of walking or running, have strong calf muscles, people who wear flat shoes and people who wear high-heeled shoes.
The Area
Doing this simple exercise everyday will improve the flexibility in your calf muscles.
The Relief
This exercise will relieve pain in your heel, pain in your forefoot and pain in the back of your knee.
The Injuries
The injuries which would be helped by this stretch include:
The Relaxation
All of the exercises in this program are designed to facilitate stress relief, relaxation and meditation if desired. Take this you-time to allow yourself to unwind while taking long, slow deep breaths throughout the exercise.
The Program
This exercise is part of my daily thirty minute Flexibility & Posture program. Its a balanced, light program which I have designed on the back of successfully prescribing exercises for thousands of patients so far.
You will be able to access the full program here on November 25th 2019.
Sean Flynn Physiotherapy 