What Is Plantar Fasciitis Massage?

“Massage is basically just a way to bring blood flow to the area. So it's a great, ancillary [supplementary] thing to do,” says Ravi Kamble, a doctor of podiatric medicine in private practice in Staten Island, New York.

The modalities used tend to depend on how the massage therapist is trained, says Beret Loncar, a licensed massage therapist and the owner of Body Mechanics Orthopedic Massage in New York City. She uses more rehabilitative-type practices, or those that involve some movement and active participation — like pointing and flexing the feet — from the client themselves.

“Passive [treatments] like rubbing feel good, and they help you relax, but they don't involve the brain or involve muscle pumping,” she says. “We want that really nice healthy flushing of blood through that area to help encourage things to move along their way.”

Across techniques, here are some benefits of massage for plantar fasciitis.

• Reduced Pain Massage is typically used in combination with other techniques to manage plantar fasciitis, so it doesn’t necessarily have the same rigorous research as, say, a drug would to show its effectiveness alone, Loncar says. But smaller studies and anecdotal evidence certainly demonstrate its benefits. Lydia Juchli, a registered massage therapist in Edmonton, Alberta, published a case study that found that five massage therapy sessions involving trigger point release in the calf; long, smooth strokes to the hamstrings, glutes, back, and foot; and at-home strategies like stretching eliminated one woman’s plantar fasciitis pain completely.

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   “If you think of fascia as a long web interconnected throughout the entire body, you begin to understand how tension and stress in one area can have a knock-on effect elsewhere; the pulling on the fascia further up the leg can lead to pain in the heel,” Juchli says.
• Increased Function Juchli’s case study also showed that, after the five weekly sessions, the woman’s functioning — namely, walking to work without pain or discomfort — returned to near-normal.

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  Loncar concurs that increased functioning is a common outcome of many modalities of plantar fasciitis massage. “We want reduced pain and increased range of motion in the calf, Achilles, and the bottom of the foot — that is our goal,” she says.
• Improved Range of Motion One study showed that cross friction massage of the plantar fascia (a deep-tissue technique) and calf-muscle stretching led to significant improvements in ankle range of motion over the course of six treatments in three weeks.

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If you’re intrigued by the idea of massage for helping with plantar fasciitis symptoms, consider the following.

By Itself, Massage Might Not Reverse or Stop Symptoms

Like all strategies to combat plantar fasciitis, massage alone isn’t a surefire solution for everyone. It’s usually just one part of an overall strategy to ease pain and improve function and range of motion, Loncar says.

“Typically, when we're talking about these kinds of issues — maladaptive changes — you might need to change your footwear. You also might need some physical therapy, and you might need some massage therapies for pain management to help you keep moving,” Loncar says. If there was a specific behavior or other change that triggered the plantar fasciitis in the first place (such as a change of shoes or sudden increase in activity or training), reversing symptoms might also require addressing that issue.

Find a Professional With the Right Training

If you want to give professional massage therapy a try as part of a comprehensive plan, Juchli recommends looking for a massage therapist with continued education in facial release and or active release. “Not all registered massage therapists come with the same amount of training, so read bios and look at the number of hours their programs required,” she suggests.

Sometimes, physicians will refer to massage therapists, Loncar says, but often massage therapy — and other noninvasive treatments like stretching and using orthotics — is one of the first stops for people with foot and heel pain. So you might need to ask your doctor about it if it’s a modality you’re interested in.

The benefit of seeing a massage therapist, as opposed to rubbing down your own legs and feet, is that professionals will have anatomy and physiology knowledge that most of their clients don’t, Juchli says. “A good therapist should be able to name what structure they are working on and suggest what could be going on,” Juchli says.

A massage therapist can also teach you individualized techniques that you can then replicate at home, Loncar says. But self-massage can be effective, too, particularly if symptoms are in early stages, Juchli says.

Experiment a bit to find the types of self-massage that work best for you, Loncar says. In general, she adds: “Anything that loosens that whole posterior chain, which is all the muscles on the back of the leg, is going to be really helpful.”

Here are some different massage techniques to try.

1. Frozen Water Bottle Massage

Perhaps the most-recommended tool for plantar fasciitis is also among the cheapest: Freeze a plastic bottle of water, and then roll your foot back and forth over the makeshift device. Do it while you’re reading a book or watching TV, Dr. Kamble says. “That helps a lot for everybody because it does two things: It ices the area and helps stretch the area.”

2. Tennis Ball Rolling

3. Wooden Roller Massage

You can also try a tool, like a wooden roller, to achieve the same aim. Melissa Prestipino, DPT, a physical therapist who owns Maize & Blue Rehab in Sparta, New Jersey and treats athletes and other people with plantar fasciitis, says wooden foot rollers, as well as vibrating plastic rollers, can help release the plantar fascia. As with the water bottle and tennis ball, she recommends using these sorts of tools while seated. “Standing and rolling out the foot can potentially aggravate the injury more, especially if a heel spur is present,” she says.

4. Massage Kit–Assisted Massage

Prestipino says she’s a fan of massage kits that include a roller, a ball without spikes, and a ball with spikes. Experiment with rolling your foot gently over the various tools. “The ball with spikes can be a little bit too abrasive for people to use,” she says. “The kit allows people to use the device that feels the most comfortable.”

• Massage is a helpful intervention for plantar fasciitis because it promotes blood flow to the area and helps stretch the tightened tissue.
• Professional massage therapy that focuses on areas beyond just the foot and heel, like parts of the calf, seem to be particularly effective.
• At-home techniques, like rolling your foot over a frozen water bottle, are cheap, virtually risk free, and can ease pain and promote healing.