I ordered this strengthening device for my father. He suffers from planter fasciitis. He was amazed at the difference it made. He says he can now get up in the morning and walk without pain in his arch. He would recommend this product to anyone with the same problem.
The same exercise could be achieved by scrunching a towel with your toes, but I like the gadget. It is well designed and sturdy. I feel I get a stronger pull when I place the big toe of the other foot under the heel of the exercising foot. The lift seems to make it more efficient.
No one thing will cure plantar fasciitis--I use it along with orthotics, daily stretches and a night splint. This is not a quick fix, but I have seen a slight improvement in the relief of my PF. Best of luck to you.
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Like others have said, this machine is basically a big toe only version of towel crunches (an exercise in which you put your foot on a towel and curl your toes repeatedly, which pleats the towel). The advantage over towel crunches is a little more range of motion is allowed in the toe flexion direction. Unfortunately, most people have adequate big toe flexion, it is big toe extension that is lacking and necessary for walking and other activities.
The primary muscles this machine exercises are your extrinsic big toe flexor muscles (the ones in the calf), which actually do not contribute that much to arch support and would have little impact on plantar fasciitis. Exercising your extrinsic big toe flexor muscles will do little for heel spurs (bony protrusions in the heel) as well.
The muscles of the arch that you primarily want to focus on are the intrinsic muscles (the ones in the foot itself). These include the lumbricals and the interossei.
In order to strengthen these muscles, it is helpful to know a little anatomy. The arch of the foot can be thought of as having three points: one at the heel, one at the base of the big toe and one at the base of the little toe. When these three points spread out, your arch collapses. When they are brought together, your arch rises.
A better exercise for strengthening the arch is to stand so that those three points of your foot are in solid contact with the ground and then try to bring the points closer together and hold it for about 15-20 seconds, then relax. Repeat until your arches feel fatigued. Visualizing can help a lot here.
Don't strain too hard in raising your arch. If you strain to hard, you will begin to recruit the extrinsic muscles of your foot in addition to the intrinsic muscles. A good way to tell if the level of effort you are giving appropriate is if the near segment of your big toe is pressed flat to the ground but the far segment has not started to curl under or make the knuckle of the big toe rise. (The far segment of your big toe is controlled by extrinsic muscles while the near segment is controlled by intrinsic muscles.)
I hope that was understandable and that it helps some of you.
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I bought an Archexerciser a few months ago when I developed a case of plantar fasciitis. I used it daily for several weeks, diligently following the included instructions, but found it to be no help whatsoever in treating my PF symptoms. The exercises may seem like a good idea in theory, but in practice they are nearly irrelevant to treating plantar fasciitis.
The flaws with the device are twofold: 1.) the spring is extremely weak and provides only minimal resistance, so doing 10-20 (or even 100) contractions with the toes feels like no exercise at all. 2.) Even if the resistance were high enough, the movement only activates the toe flexors (which are actually located under the large muscles of the calves) and not the small stabilizing muscles in the arch of the foot itself. These muscles are better strengthened by doing 'foot doming' exercises:
If you want do exercise your toe flexors for other reasons, a much cheaper solution is simply scrunching a towel on the floor. You can add some weight on top of the towel to increase the resistance if necessary.
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I like running and I have completed a few marathons in the past few years. Recently I have had pain in the ball of my feet. I got this device and a few other items and I do believe the pain is vanished after about 2 months of use (for now anyway).
these are perfect when you don't want to waste a whole rubber glove. i've used them for caulking and putting transdermal medicine in my cats ears. when i order again, i will order a medium size. unless you're a tiny 5' person, the small is a better fit for my pinky finger rather than my index finger (from a woman's standpoint-a man would need larger)
