Video and Transcript: Exercises to Alleviate Arch Pain in Your Feet

Hi, everyone! Dr. Orit Hickman here from Pain Science Physical Therapy.

This video is going to address one of the most common symptoms that we’ll see in patients who are experiencing foot pain, and that is that they’re having arch pain. So, arch pain can have a variety of different causes. 

A lot of times, patients will come in and say, “I have plantar fasciitis.” That is a very specific type of arch pain that is occurring because the plantar fascia has gotten irritated and inflamed. It is not the only cause of arch pain, but it is one of the most common tissue causes of arch pan. 

Sometimes, arch pain is caused by irritation of the sciatic nerve. Patients usually experience, or expect, to have pain from the low back, down the back of the leg, down into the foot when the sciatic nerve is irritated. However, sciatic nerve irritation can occur with just arch pain. So, a lot of times patients will respond really to nerve glides for the sciatic nerve. And so, if you try some of the videos that I have on sciatic nerve gliding and that helps your arch pain, then you know that your arch pain is coming from your sciatic nerve being irritated. 

Another very common reason for the arch to get irritated is when the foot does what we call overpronation or where the arch kind of flattens as you are walking. This can happen because shoes that you’re wearing are allowing the foot to slide around too much or maybe you’ve done a lot of walking on uneven surfaces, and the foot is not strong enough for that activity. Sometimes, it’s just generalized weakness of the muscles on the underside of the foot.

Something to know about the foot is that a lot of the muscles that we have in the hand are very similar to the muscles that we have in the foot. So, you can cup your hand, and the muscles on the underside of the foot should also [be able to] cup and support that arched position. 

So, strengthening those muscles is a great way to build-to decrease arch pain, but also to develop better balance and better control when you’re on uneven surfaces. So, the way to do this, and I’m going to take off my foot, so-take off my sock, so I’m just going to forewarn you guys. And, I’m going to put my foot up here so that you can see what I’m doing. With my foot resting on the floor, what I would do is I would try to think about separating my toes as much as possible and actually trying to lift my arch up. So, the problem with arch pain is that the foot is dropping. The arch is dropping in. And, again, this can occur for a lot of different reasons. We’re going to just address foot strength today, but, sometimes, the underlying reason is due to weakness in the hips. But, today we’re just addressing foot strength. 

So, the exercise that I’m going to teach you is called a tripod or a short arch strengthening exercise, or short foot. It’s called a lot of different things. So, in this position, what you do is you try to separate your toes as much as possible. You try to lift the arch a little bit. And so, you're actually rolling the foot out and building strength in the middle of the arch by contracting those muscles. I’m going to show you what this looks like on the floor too. But, the first place to start this is seated on the ground without putting any weight through the foot. You just practice holding the arch up. And, it’s called an isometric contraction of the muscles under the foot. 

Once you get good at this, then, you can’t see, so I’m turned my foot-I brought my foot to the ground so you can just see what it’s going to look like. I’m going to try and hold it this way. This might help. So, again, if an arch is dropping in, that’s called pronation. And, that can stretch out the muscles under the arch and cause pain. 

So, the first exercise I showed you is just trying to lift that arch a little bit. And, again, doing this is a non-weight-bearing position, so I don’t have load through the foot. The next is to try to hold that position while you put weight through the foot. Right? So, now I’m standing, and my foot wants to drop, and I have to work really hard to roll that foot out and hold that arched position. 

Once that feels pretty good, and, again, this is going to take a few days to a few weeks, then what you do is you try to lift your other foot while maintaining that arch. And, you can see now my foot really wants to rock and it really wants to drop in, so I have to work really hard to hold that position, not fall over, and not lose it. So, that’s how-that’s one of the like-one of the most complicated but also wonderful exercises that you can do to build strength in your foot to help address arch pain if the arch pain is occurring because you’re overstretching the muscles. 

So, you start with no weight on the foot. Right? So, I’m just sitting, and I’m practicing pulling that foot up into that arched position. Then, [I’m] getting some weight through the foot and then full weight through the foot. I’m practicing this over several days, if not several weeks. It takes a long time for muscle strength to occur. So, typically, I would tell patients [to] give it a good four to six weeks to build strength in these muscles. This, again, was one of many exercises that we might give patients who are having arch pain.

I hope that this was helpful. If it wa , I would love any comments below and a thumbs-up. That would be great. And, please feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel to get more videos like this one. Have a great day!