Many foot and ankle conditions arise out of issues with a person’s calf muscles, and while some of these conditions can lead to surgery, Dr. James Amis said people can reduce this risk by regularly stretching their calf muscles.
Amis noted that a lot of foot and ankle issues can be traced back to equinus-tight calves, but one simple treatment has helped roughly 65 percent of his patients with a related condition avoid surgery over his 30-year surgical career: daily calf stretching.
“Evidence clearly indicates that 95 percent of plantar fasciitis cases can be resolved at the source of the problem,” said Amis. “And the source of the problem is that calves have contracted over the years. Calf contracture is destructive to the human foot and it does not have to be that way. I am telling a completely new and different story here. This is a critical concept.”
Amis said many doctors and surgeons typically focus on fixing the developed problem, but the best surgeons also strive to find the underlying cause and take steps to prevent problems from recurring.
“Tight calves are causing the problems and stretching the calves alleviates the problems,” said Amis “Few of the doctors who agree with my theory believe in calf stretching. They all too often choose to perform surgery to lengthen the calf or Achilles. I choose calf stretching.”
Physical therapy gets closer to addressing the root problem, but patients still spend too much time focusing on their foot condition instead of the root problem which is the calf.
“Physical therapy may do the right things, but patients typically stretch perhaps only 60 seconds a day, three times a week for six weeks. That is not nearly enough time to fully lengthen the calf muscle,” said Amis. “It’s no wonder patients undergoing physical therapy for these problems tend to fail.”
Calf Stretching Basics
Amis said that patients who want to focus on their foot health should make it a point to stretch their calves every day. He recommends stretching the calf muscles for three minutes a session, three times a day, so a total of nine minutes a day, each and every day for the rest of your life.
It may sound like a lot of time, but if you stretch your calves when you get up in the morning and before you go to bed at night, you really only need to carve out three more minutes at some point in your day.
Although Amis doesn’t have any hard evidence that up to 65 percent of foot and ankle problems can be linked to tight calves, previous research has found a correlation between tight calves and Achilles tendon tightness and plantar fasciitis. Calf stretching has benefits for patients with either of those conditions, so while you may not have those problems right now, you can keep those conditions at bay by stretching your calves for nine minutes a day!
“Patients come to me and say they have tried everything: physical therapy, orthotics, rest, immobilization, injections, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines—even acupuncture,” he says. “And they are right. But they have not tried the one thing most likely to help: calf stretching.