In terms of tools you can use to treat your own pain through massage, not all things are created equal. Having worked in this field a long time, I've been lucky enough to find some of the ones that work best. Here's my top favorites:

Classic design, rebranded and sold by a lot of different companies - a wooden back roller is one the best things you can do for you back. One of the original designs - The MA Roller - has a great "how to" guide. And our friend, colleague, and esteemed practitioner Robert Gardner has some incredible tutorials on using it as well. Highly recommend grabbing this baby if you're struggling with any type of back pain. The one linked in the picture above is especially good because the rubber on the ends helps prevent it from sliding around on you.

Ok, with literally dozens of options and many more much cheaper, why this one you ask? Well quite frankly it's got the heft that some of the other ones lack. It doesn't give when you put a fair amount of weight on it, but it's solid structure also means that it tends to last longer and not start to fall apart on ya when you're running it through the ringer so to speak. Plus the grooves offer some good trigger point options if you're into that. 

This thing is incredible! It works wonders, especially when trying to roll around tendons and ligaments in weird areas like the knee. It's also great for the neck, hamstrings, and lower legs. This is the one that works best on the shin if you're struggling with shin splints. Basically if you've ever used a lacrosse ball and loved, this is one on steroids and you'll love it!

Stay healthy, friends!
​~The Red Raven

I didn't ever expect to specialize in foot pain and plantar fasciitis, but in hindsight it's been a long time coming. As a dancer and former martial artist, I was on my feet a lot, and punished them pretty constantly. I ended up with my own plantar fasciitis and this blog post is based on my experience. I was able to get rid of the pain and get back to doing the things I love, so have hope dear reader!  Over the years I've been lucky enough to have more than a few people come in with foot pain, and my personal journey with it has helped me become pretty good at treating it. They sent me more people with foot pain, and through all the experience I was able to figure out some of the best ways to treat foot pain fast! So without further ado, here are my experiences boiled down into my top seven ways to treat foot pain and plantar fasciitis with holistic and Chinese medicine:

• Diagnosis - The first step in treating your foot pain is to find out if it's really plantar fasciitis  or something else like a fracture, sprain, or even Morton's neuroma. Usually this is done through the location of pain. Plantar Fasciitis is often based in the heel, and coincides with tightness and/or pain in the calves and hamstrings. Pain in the ball of the foot is more related to a Morton's neuroma, and pain on the sides of the feet are more related to issues with the tendons and ligaments. X-rays can rule out fractures, and MRIs can, to an extent, confirm plantar fasciitis. Other ways to confirm plantar fasciitis include the following symptoms - worse in the morning, or after resting, and gets a little better throughout the day. In my experience, plantar fasciitis is related to reduced or "stagnated" blood flow to the feet due to tight muscles.  Movement increases the flow and helps reduce the pain. If this sounds like you, then let's keep going!
• Stretching the Calves - So we know it's plantar fasciitis and not something else, good. Then we need to start loosening up the entire chain of muscles on the back of the legs - collectively called "the posterior chain". You might be familiar with this term as many weightlifting exercises are great for strengthening it - deadlifts, good mornings, squats. But our focus is going to be to stretch it out rather than strengthen it. With that in mind let's look at some good stretches specifically for calves:​
  1. Eccentric calf raises - stand on a step and raise your toes up and down - letting the calves dip below the step and feel the stretch along the back of the leg.
  2. Toes on wall - lifting the toes up, placing them against the wall, then keeping the leg straight and brining your chest close to the wall.

• Stretching the Hamstrings - Then next thing you need to do is get further up the posterior chain and the best way to do that is with the plow pose from yoga:

If you are particularly tight and struggle with a pose like this, you can simply try to walk your legs up the wall and bring your tailbone as close to wall as possible while extending the legs straight up. You will definitely feel the stretch in the hamstrings, only go as far as you can while being able to take nice long, deep breathes. It should feel good if you take it slow. Listen to your body, move lightly but intentionally. 

This is my favorite foam roller for stretching out the lower legs:

• OMG  SHOES!  For real though, getting the right shoes can make or break you on this. Well, that's not entirely true. I would say AVOIDING terrible shoes is the best way to prevent plantar fasciitis, but if you're here then it's probably already too late. If not though, another thing to make sure of is the fit of your athletic shoes. If you're a runner it is imperative that you have a good fit or you will end up with not just foot problems, but knee and hip too! Find a running coach, a gait consult, or make sure you go to a store that has a fitting process. My favorite place for this is Fleet Feet, because of the great fitting process that you can read about here. It's pretty comprehensive and impressive imo. Other than that, finding some good quality shoes to soothe your aching feet can be done online. TBH this one is gonna take a little bit of tech savvy for you to figure out without breaking the bank. If you google shoes and plantar fasciitis you are gonna find some crazy results that aren't necessarily backed up by reviews. I ended up with these asics back in the day when my plantar fasciitis was really bad. I found them by searching through amazon reviews. Did you know you can search specific reviews for keywords like "plantar fasciitis"?! Game. Changer! Don't overspend on specific inserts or shoes unless you are fairly certain they work, often times these specialty products are useless. Also, listen to your body. I absolutely cannot  wear chucks anymore as they will bring on massive plantar fasciitis for me. The more I danced, the muscles in my feet got bigger and stronger. Shoes like all Chucks are too small and all that pressure really makes for an uncomfortable day. Figure out what your triggers are with footwear, and avoid them like the plague! 
• Contrast Therapy and Foot Soaks - Contrast what now? Contrast therapy is when you alternate hot and cold therapies in the problem areas - for us its the feet. This is NOT icing. NEVER do just ice for a muscular/tendon injury - and here's why. With Contrast therapy we start and end with heat because this is what opens the blood vessels and increases blood flow, which heals the area as opposed to just numbing it like ice, which also decreases blood flow and extends the healing process. So 3-5 minutes in a hot soak, and 1-2 minutes in a cold soak, alternating for 20-30 minutes. Now, to make this even more effective, you can make the hot soak an herbal foot soak like Hai Tong Pi Tong, or just epsom salts if you have those lying around. They can both increase the effectiveness of the pain relief and the speed of recovery. Find a local acupuncturist to get some herbal foot soaks asap!

• Topical Herbal Liniments -Chinese herbal medicine has some amazing liniments for all sorts of conditions, but my absolute favorite - Zheng Xie Gu Shiu - Evil Bone Water. This incredible ancient topical formula is now being handmade in small batches by an incredible practitioner in Florida. Check out the link above to see how he makes it and learn more about his process. We carry at Red Raven Acupuncture, so come on in anytime and try it out. This joint and muscle relief formula comes from martial arts injuries, focusing on pain relief, circulation & tissue repair. Used for tendonitis, sprains and strains, muscle aches, post-surgical healing, bruises, insect bites, all types of sports injuries, and all types of arthritis.​ At Red Raven Acupuncture in San Antonio we frequently use this liniment in our treatments so you will be able to find out how effective it is when you come in for treatment. 
• Acupuncture & Cupping - Acupuncture, especially using needle techniques like moxibustion and e-stim, can have a dramatic effect on the local tissue and accelerate your recovery. Find an acupuncturist with orthopedic and sports medicine proficiency and background, as well as someone who is adept with needle techniques. Often times, putting in needles and letting them just sit can be effective for underlying constitutional problems. But when treating musculoskeletal issues it can much more effective when your practitioner uses techniques and manipulation of the needles. This is the same idea behind cupping. Your practitioner will probably want to cup your calves, and if you're having plantar fasciitis then they will probably be extremely tight so this may be a little uncomfortable. Don't worry, you're gonna feel so great afterwards that you won't mind a bit.  You may be familiar with it after seeing many of the olympic athletes having had it done. The marks may look intense, but they are not painful so don't worry - you'll look like a badass walking around the gym with your cupping marks!

So there you go, my top 7 ways to treat plantar fasciitis naturally at home and using acupuncture. Have some personal experience with it? Share your own tips for plantar fasciitis relief in the comments below!

Stay healthy, friends!
~The Red Raven