The posterior tibialis is an extremely important muscle in your calf/foot that plays a huge role in SUPPORTING YOUR FOOT ARCH. The arch of your foot, simply put, is supported by PASSIVE and ACTIVE structures. The main active structure would be your posterior tibialis muscle. While the primary passive structure would be your plantar fascia. If one of these structures (eg the active posterior tibialis muscle) is weak or not functioning properly, the other structure (eg your plantar fascia) will take the brunt of the work in supporting your arch. And overtime, this can potentially lead to acute inflammation and microtearing within the plantar fascia that we commonly call plantar fasciitis! So how can we potentially avoid this situation and strengthen our posterior tibialis? Shown here is a great way to not only work on the posterior tibialis muscle but also other smaller foot intrinsic muscles that all together help to support our foot arch. While lifting your arch and exercising these muscles, it’s important NOT to lift the entire foot off the ground - JUST THE ARCH. I like to utilize a theraband under the balls of the toe to cue myself to keep the ball of my big toe down, because if I don't, the theraband will slip out! Clinicians - please understand we this is just a snippet of what makes up the pathophysiology of plantar fasciitis… we just want to shed some light on the value and importance of strengthening the posterior tibialis to support the foot arch! Stayed tuned for an upcoming series with @jfitboyd on plantar fasciitis! #plantarfasciitis #pronation #tibialisposterior
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