Foot & Ankle Pain

Please remember the advice we give is general and not meant to be used as a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you want specific advice then please seek help from your doctor or local physio.

The purpose of this guide is to help you overcome any issues you have related to your foot or ankle.

Common causes of foot / ankle pain

Foot osteoarthritis
Achilles tendon pain (tendinopathy, tendonitis)
Plantar heel pain (plantar fasciopathy, plantar fasciitis)
Ankle sprain

What to do about foot / ankle pain

There can be lots of different causes of foot pain. However, the majority of cases do not require any specific diagnoses or specific treatment to overcome. Most musculoskeletal pain gets better with time.

Whatever the cause of your foot pain, it is important to find ways to keep being physically active. Continuing with the program is likely helpful. Rest assured that even with a painful foot, exercise is safe and beneficial.

In order to continue with the program, modify the exercises to make them tolerable. There is no right and wrong here, it will be personal for each individual.

How to make the program exercises tolerable

The goal is to modify the exercises in order to make the tolerable, so that you can continue. The use of the word tolerable here is intentional. This doesn't mean the exercises have to be completely pain-free. Some pain with exercise is ok. It just has to be tolerable for you.

There are 3 general rules to follow when modifying exercises:

Reduce the weight that you are using
Reduce the range of movement
Vary the movement or find a similar alternative

Often, the jumping type exercises are the most problematic when it comes to foot/ankle pain. So check out this article to to learn how to modify impact and jumping movements: How to modify impact and jumping movements

If none of these modifications are working for you, and you find certain exercises are just too painful, then it’s okay to just skip those exercises for a while. Keep going with all the other exercises in the workouts as best you can. Then try to gradually reintroduce the exercise that was previously too painful, starting with the easiest possible version and slowly progressing.

Specific exercises

In addition to general exercise (continuing with the program as best you can) it can sometimes be beneficial to include some extra foot/ankle exercises. So click one of the links below to learn a bit more about the condition, and follow the link to see some extra exercises that you can try adding to your usual routine.

Try out the exercises for a few weeks to see if they work for you, and if you find they are helping your symptoms, continue doing them.

Orthotics

When it comes to custom orthoses or special footwear for foot pain conditions, there isn't much evidence to guide us, and so we don't make general recommendations. For some people in some situations, they can help. So we would consider them as a potential, or secondary form of management.

If you already have orthotics or specific shoes, and they are helping you - great, keep using them.

If you don't have orthotics or special shoes, we would argue that you don't need them. However, if you have had foot pain for a long time, they are something you could potentially try as part of your management strategy. This is a conversation to have with a physiotherapist or podiatrist who has assessed you individually.

If you have plantar fasciopathy (plantar heel pain) a simple gel or silicone 'heel cup' or an 'arch support insole' can be helpful. But again, there isn't strong evidence that this needs to be fancy or customised, just an off-the-shelf item will do.

Can I exercise barefoot?

Yes, you can.

Some people with foot pain/issues may find that this is helpful, and that it lessens their symptoms. Other people will find that barefoot is worse, and increases their symptoms. There is no right or wrong, just try out both options and see what works for you.

If you spend a fair amount of time barefoot, then working out barefoot should be no problem. However, if you tend to wear shoes most of the time, then it's probably best to exercise with shoes on.

Barefoot exercise can be valuable, as it can strengthen then structures in your foot. But if your feet aren't conditioned to it (i.e. you don't do much barefoot) then it can put some strain on the muscles and joints in your feet, and they might not be prepared for that. If you want to build the strength and capacity of your feet, then start slowly exposing them to more activity. As always, start low and go slow. If you suddenly ask your feet to do a lot of work, they may respond with some soreness (as would any other body part). So if you want to try more barefoot training, just make sure to ease yourself into it gradually.

Conclusion

We hope you have found this guide helpful for overcoming your foot/ankle issues and giving you the confidence and know-how to continue with exercise.