I wanted to highlight and ensure that you avoid these 4 Common Mistakes when performing the Golf Ball Stretch for Plantar Fasciitis or Foot Pain. I was recently on the Exercises for Injuries Secret Group page. This is where people who have bought one of my products go to ask my friends or me in the health and fitness world questions that will help them with their fitness, injury, or health problems.
One of the questions on the Secret Group page was about the Golf Ball Stretch.
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If you search the internet or talk with your friends about foot pain or plantar fasciitis, they might say, “Oh, you should take this golf ball and rub it along the bottom of your foot.”
Golf Ball Stretch
This is an excellent exercise, but there are four things that many people do wrong regarding the golf ball stretch.
1. Avoiding painful areas when performing golf ball
When doing this exercise, people tend to avoid painful areas. Rather, you should go into those aching parts and work around the painful area when stretching.
2. Not putting enough force into the plantar fascia and the golf ball
Many people just take the golf ball and rub their foot along it, but you have to remember that the plantar fascia is an incredibly strong tissue. We run, jump and walk on it daily, so that it can take a lot of stress and force.
When self-massaging, you need to put some force into it. Standing and rubbing the fascia lightly into the ball will not do the trick.
If you sit and rub the ball to your fascia, you do not get as much force into it as you need unless you lean on it when stretching.
Golf Ball Stretch Sitting Position
Make sure you are using enough force to get some benefits from that golf ball stretch.
3. Not working the heel when performing the golf ball stretches
A lot of people focus just on the arch area. It is important to focus and work on the heel area and ensure that you put enough force into the golf ball. You have to work on the heel and not just the arch.
Golf Ball Stretch focuses on the Heel
4. Ignoring the toes
If you look at the fascia using your hand, the middle is the arch, and the heel of the hand is the heel of your foot, and that fascia moves off into the toes. Many people just focus on the arch, not dealing with the heel and the toes, which is a mistake when performing golf ball stretches.
Golf Ball Stretch moving into the Toes.
Move into the toes when working on your fascia, not just the arch.
There you go! If you are using that golf ball stretch to help with foot pain or plantar fasciitis, make sure you don’t make these four mistakes.
- Avoiding painful areas. It will be uncomfortable, but you must go through those areas cautiously.
- Make sure you apply enough force when doing the golf ball stretch to massage the plantar fascia effectively.
- Work on the heel area.
- Work on the toes.
To get more benefits when doing the golf ball stretch, place the golf ball in a freezer and use it to massage the bottom of your foot once frozen. This will help reduce inflammation and ease tension.
One other question I commonly get is, “does the brand of golf ball matter when it comes to golf ball stretch?” — No. It doesn’t matter what golf ball you use to do the golf ball stretch. It is more important to do the golf ball stretch and even more important that you do the golf ball stretch properly.
Make sure to swing
Make sure to swing by ExercisesForInjuries.com. There is a good chance I have a video, an interview, or a blog post on your injury or pain. Enter your injury or pain into the search bar on the top right of the screen. There is a good chance I have something for you that will help you.
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Take care!
Rick Kaselj, MS
For your guide to eliminating your plantar fasciitis pain, check out Plantar Fasciitis Relief in 7 days!
