In walking on the uneven terrain of my backyard in bare feet, I learned that the edges of rocks and tree roots massage the tender plantar fascia connective tissue. I have tried to use tennis balls and golf balls and even little balls from a special plantar fasciitis trigger point therapy kit I bought in a running store.
However, when my feet stumbled on the sharp edge of my uneven stone backyard, it found massage heaven. And when I watered my flowers and stepped on a giant tree root, my bare feet told me I had found something good.
This happened simultaneously with my having read a little suggestion on the chi running blog (Plantar Fasciitis Prevention and Cure) about massaging for plantar fasciitis by walking barefoot on gravel. I didn't have any gravel, but very soon after that I accidentally stepped on the "ledge" of a piece of sidewalk and found a similar effect.
Up until that point, I had been using the plantar fasciitis massage recommended in some books and demonstrated in this video here:
It required me to pull back on my toes and stretch the plantar fascia. It seemed to help, however, I felt also like it was pulling the fascia at the place where it was attached to the heel and maybe stressing that point too much.
Anyway, having my camera handy and this blog in mind, I took some video of me massaging my foot in this manner on various rocks and tree roots in my yard.
You can see the videos if you click here: Plantar Massage Videos
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