A Day in the Life of Rehab

As you know, I have been attempting to rehab my plantar fasciitis issues for the past 2 weeks now. First, I was doing it on my own, now I'm doing it with the guidance of a physical therapist. Surprisingly, the things I was doing were not far off from my prescribed exercises - its amazing what you can find by doing a little research on the Internet and knowing a little bit about your body.

Last year when I was recovering from my IT band injury, I would wake up and spend the first 20 minutes of my day doing knee strengthening exercises, icing, and stretching. Throughout the season, this became my schedule. It seemed to keep me healthy throughout the rest of the season. And throughout the first month and half of this season, I continued to do the same, with no knee issues. Then came along Mr. Foot and his problems, so that changed things a bit. However, I still use this time for strengthening exercises, icing, and stretching - just with my foot. Of course, I've now come to learn that these injuries have gone hand in hand, due to my slight difference in leg length. With my knee strengthened and able to absorb the shock from running, the next possible trouble spot was my foot. Well, we all know how that turned out.

Basically, my morning routine looks like this.

- Get out of bed (no snoozing!)

- Break out the evil foam roller

- Roll each quad for 1 minute

- Roll each hamstring for 1 minute

- Roll each IT band for 1 minute

- Roll each groin for 1 minute

- Roll each calf for 1 minute

- Break out the giant sized rubber band for 50 x push off foot extensions from each foot

- Lay towel down on floor and use toes to grab and pick up towel 20 times

- Ice/roll both feet for 2-3 minute per foot

- 3-5 minutes of stretching

In all, this takes about 25 minutes give or take. No really, it does! Its like a circuit training session and I move quickly from one station to another. After you get the routine down pat, it moves quickly.

So there you have it. Let's just hope it works!