Ball Roll Feet Massage

A common tennis ball can serve as a useful tool for strengthening and rehabilitating your feet. Whether you have an injury, high arches, flat feet, bunions or calluses, tennis ball exercises for feet provide an easy, inexpensive self-maintenance tool for healthy feet.

Rolling the foot with a tennis ball provides a self-controlled massage and stretch for the bottom of the foot and plantar fascia. Start by sitting on a chair and placing the tennis ball under your foot. Gently apply as much pressure as you can tolerate to push the ball into the floor, rolling the ball back and forth from your toes to your heel. Roll the ball for 30 seconds and switch to the other foot. Perform the rolling massage tennis ball exercise two to four days per week to prevent foot-related injuries.

If you are using the exercise to address issues like plantar fasciitis, which is the swelling or inflammation of the ligament that runs along the sole of our feet, you should focus more on the sensation of the foot than your posture. Many people choose to use a frozen item to roll with, as the cold can help alleviate the pain associated with plantar fasciitis, as well as prevent further inflammation. Frozen golf balls or bottles of water are great choices for this. However, it is hugely important to note that if you decide to use a frozen item, you must stretch the ligament first, or you risk exacerbating the problem.

If you are using this technique to deal with pain in the bottom of the foot, remember that you are essentially massaging the foot. You want to encourage bloodflow and reduce tightness. If you come across an area that is particularly tender, you should push down firmly on that area for 15-20 seconds. Your natural instinct throughout the exercise, and particularly when pushing down on a tender area, will be to hold your breath. Be conscious of your breathing and avoid holding your breath at all, as you want as much oxygen moving around the foot as possible.

Foot rolling can be used to treat a sore bunion, but be sure that you don’t press down on any spots, warts, verrucas, or boils. Once you have covered all the tender areas and rolled your item to the back of your heel, spend a few minutes rolling it back and forth, trying to cover as much of the sole as possible. Before finishing up, you should press down on each of the tender areas for another 15-20 seconds.

This exercise should be repeated several times a day, and you should begin to notice an improvement relatively quickly in most cases. Depending on why you are doing this exercise, you should use it in conjunction with other techniques. For example, smart supplementation such as magnesium + zinc + B6 boost muscle recovery. You also need to track water and food intake to make sure you don’t have macro nutrition deficiencies. Starting a recovery programme of functional exercise will show quick result. 

Need help with your Plantar fasciitis? Get in touch to start your recovery programme today !