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Read our most recent posts on foot mechanics, the novabow system, and foot strengthening.    

Recently, we were approached by Alan, an experienced physical fitness trainer with over 22 years’ experience. He was suffering from a condition known as plantar fasciitis and it had gotten so bad that at times he walked with a limp.

   

We gave him a novabow™ system to try and astonishingly all pain had resolved inside just 48 hours. And it has not returned.

 

Here is what Alan had to say about his experience:

 

"My name is Alan Johnstone, and I am a qualified fitness instructor with 22 years’ experience.



About 6 months ago I developed heel pain in one of my feet which got so bad that I could hardly walk.

The pain was diagnosed as plantar fasciitis, a condition which I was aware of, and I tried many of the techniques which are meant to help this condition, but nothing worked.

     

My job in the gym involves a lot of standing and I was really struggling so when I heard about the novabow system I had a chat with Gerry and he gave me one to take home and try.

Incredibly, within 2 days, I went from shooting, stabbing pain to no heel pain at all!

 

I can only think that it was the deep stretch that I got from using the novabow that worked for me since 2 days is not really enough time for the strengthening aspect to kick in.

 

I went from hobbling around on “one and a half feet” to jogging and five aside football in less than a week.

I couldn’t believe it.

 

I will continue to use the novabow and the strengthening aspect should help fix any strength imbalances that the plantar fasciitis might have caused in my feet over the six months I suffered from it.    

    Alan Johnstone "


Further details

Heel pain  can have a number of different causes and up to 20% of cases diagnosed as plantar fasciitis may actually be due to Baxter's nerve impingement.

However, in Alan's case, the diagnosis was made by an experienced medical practitioner and the pain was much worse with the 1st few steps in the morning, something that would lead towards a diagnosis of plantar fasciitis.


Alan did try a number of remedies for his debilitating heel pain before trying the novabow. Over a period of 6 months he used exercises, supportive shoes and he even tried a cortisone injection prescribed and injected by his GP. This worked for only a day or so before the pain returned.


So how does the novabow stretch work? Well, it looks likely that stretching the ball of the foot allowed proper movement of the met heads relative to each other during toe off and this stiffened the foot taking stress away from the plantar fascia.




What is plantar fasciitis?

 

Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common causes of  heel pain and involves inflammation of the plantar fascia where it attaches to the heel bone (calcaneus).

 

Inflammation can be caused by a number of factors including increased physical activity, sudden weight gain, and footwear changes.

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Plantar Fasciitis Diagnosis

 

In the case discussed above, Alan was given a diagnosis of plantar fasciitis by a GP, but it should be recognized that other conditions can cause heel pain such as nerve compression or a fractured heel bone, so it is always a good idea to have the pain checked out by a suitably qualified professional.

 

Treating plantar fasciitis

 

Treating plantar fasciitis can be tricky and may involve rest, activity modification, orthotics and even shockwave therapy. However, although many cases resolve within a few weeks to six months, many people are still suffering years later. Alan’s case is remarkable in that it had lasted six months and was getting worse but was resolved completely after just 48 hours using the novabow™  


 Using physical therapy to treat plantar fasciitis

 

Physical therapy has long been used to treat heel pain and can involve foot and calf stretching and foot strengthening, especially strengthening of the intrinsic foot muscles.

 

The plantar fascia stretch is often effective at reducing pain but can be difficult to perform especially for older people. The novabow™ makes stretching easy and it was this that Alan felt fixed his debilitating foot pain in just a couple of days.


foot stretch
sometimes difficult plantar fascia stretch

Plantar fascia stretch ;can be difficult and uncomfortable to do and is not always effective.

 

Plantar fasciitis is often associated with loss of intrinsic muscle strength and many believe that foot strengthening can help with prehab and rehab in plantar fasciitis cases.

The intrinsic foot muscles are crucial for foot function and help support the foot arch, assists balance and add to propulsion during running/walking . The novabow is a superb and proven foot strengthening tool .

 

We believe that novabow™  system can be of great benefit in delivering physiotherapy to people suffering from plantar fasciitis and it is so easy to use you can do a foot workout whilst watching the television.   

  

easy to do foot stretching
novabow plantar fascia and foot stretch

Above ; the easy to perform novabow stretch that seems to have made such a dramatic difference to Alan's foot pain. From severe pain lasting 6 months to no pain in just 48 hours.


Read about how you can get your novabow™ system at novabowsystem.com

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You might imagine that if you put on a pair of trainers and go out running your feet are going to get stronger over time. However, research suggests this is not the case with a study showed that recreation runners have the same amount of strength in their feet as sedentary individuals (1).

An interesting article was just published in Runner’s World magazine highlighting that stronger feet can make us better runners but also that running in minimal shoes will not strengthen the feet but that specific foot exercises will: https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/health/injury/a39472681/foot-strengthening-exercises


Until now, most of the dialogue around building stronger feet has centred on injury prevention. A new study, however, suggests stronger feet might make you quicker too. Specifically, the researchers concluded that ‘strengthening of the short foot muscles may improve lactate threshold velocity’. In simpler terms, strong feet improve running economy. In the study, recreational runners were divided into two groups. One did daily foot-strengthening exercises; the other did no exercises but ran in Vibram FiveFingers shoes. At the end of the study, the Vibram group showed very minimal improvements in lactate threshold, while the foot-strengthening group enjoyed significant improvement.  “


Generally, it is accepted that foot strengthening exercises like the short foot exercise are difficult to learn, but the revolutionary Novabow™ system looks set to change the entire landscape around foot strengthening, providing an easy to use tool for performance enhancement, injury prevention, and rehab from foot injuries, surgery and other foot problems.

But foot strengthening doesn’t just help protect your feet from injury.

Foot strengthening has also been shown to improve balance, reduce knee pain, and improve ankle instability.

 

Importance of foot flexibility


Foot flexibility also has a huge role to play in keeping our entire bodies healthy. A study has demonstrated that our feet flatten as we put weight on them during walking, but then recoil back into a less flattened, more arched, configuration as we push off our standing foot for the next step. This “re-arching” is crucial for keeping the tibia /fibula in a more upright position during toe off and affects the way our whole body moves.

The Novabow™ system allows users to perform simple toe and arch stretching exercises whilst seated watching TV or at the office.

  

The Novabow system can be purchased here at

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Why do we need strong intrinsic foot muscles in our feet and why do most people have a weak "foot core".

The muscles that start and finish within our feet are called the intrinsic foot muscles and they are crucial for everyday living .

They have a large number of functions including -

1 Support for the arches of the foot

2 A fundamental role in propulsion

3 The foot muscles are key to our ability to balance and stay upright and have a direct link to the vestibular apparatus ( balance system of the inner ear)

4 The intrinsic foot muscles play an important role in proprioception ,that is to say our awareness of our body position relative to our surroundings.

5 Each foot plays an importance role in moving blood around our body as we move and may be viewed as a small but powerful heart. A single step can move a column of blood all the way from the foot to the heart itself. The foot muscles play a very important part in this pumping mechanism.

6 The foot muscles are an integral part of the foot and weakness can lead to foot deformities like bunions, hammer toes and claw toes. It is vital that the intrinsic foot muscles are kept strong and healthy especially as we age.



 

So if you put on a pair of running shoes and go out for a jog on a regular basis your feet are going to get stronger, right ? Well actually, no.


A piece of research was published some time ago that looked into shin pain in Japanese professional marathon runners and this showed that the pain was associated with weak foot musculature. Addressing this weakness with foot exercises saw the pain clear up.(Senda et al 1999 ). Senda also found that the feet of aged matched nurses were stronger than those of the professional runners. So the feet of professional distance runners was found to be less than that of people involved in no sporting activity.

In another study ( Curtis et al 2021) a research team found that wearing minimal shoes for everyday activities produced a strengthening effect of 57% in 6 months, demonstrating again that modern footwear changes how our feet are used and can lead to foot weakness.


What problems can foot weakness cause ?

Foot weakness has been linked to a whole range of foot and lower limb problems including shin splints, plantar fasciitis ( heel pain ) , knee pain, foot deformity, chronic ankle instability, and poorer balance which can lead to falls. Thankfully, research has shown that reversing foot weakness can improve many of these problems with foot doming/short foot exercise being amongst the most effective exercises .




What the novabow™ system does is allow doming against progressively increasing resistance and we know that progressive resistance training is a highly effective way of increasing muscle strength. It also allows the muscles of the foot to be strengthened in a raised ( dorsiflexed )position where we know they are more activated.


Finally ,research shows us that if you strengthen the intrinsic foot muscles this can lead to a reduced range of motion in the toes . The novabow uses a new piece of technology, shown in the figure below, to stretch the toes and maintain foot mobility .



buy via our site novabowsystem.com



References

1.      Measurement of the muscle power of the toes in female marathon runners using a toe dynamometer

Affiliations Expand

·         PMID: 10488406

·         DOI: 10.18926/AMO/31617

2 Daily activity in minimal footwear increases foot strength

·         Rory Curtis,

·         Catherine Willems,

·         Paolo Paoletti &

·         Kristiaan D’Août 

 

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