Thanks for the write up. I have had some weird issues with my legs/feet in the past few months. The weirdest was losing sensitivity in my big toe. My sister (physiotherapist) notices that my calf is super tight. I always thought that is how it is supposed to be... I had to stop running a few months back because I used to get crazy knee pain from just half an hour. Something that never happened to me in the past 10 years of running. I have only been doing using the foam roller here and there. Maybe it’s time to do it more dedicated. Do you do these stretches every day or only a after running/workout?
Currently every day. I'm still doing injury recovery, but I suspect my PT will tell me to keep doing these every day. She made it very clear that I was to do these every day and twice a day if I wanted. "You'll do these tonight and every day. Every single day," was the exact statement, and I've followed her direction. My next appointment is next Friday. When my pain got bad it was after only a half hour or so if running, coming from routine, pain free two hour runs only a week or two prior. For me it wasn't in my knee but instead in my calf immediately below my knee. It was extremely painful to move my lower leg forward. I could hold it straight and put weight on it, I could bend it back, but swinging my leg forward was almost excruciating. My PT suggested hamstring issues (it has been sore) with my calf then overworked to compensate. I kind of thought my tight muscles were a sign of being very fit. Now I'm not sure that's true.
If you have a good PT she'll tell you to keep doing them. After a while you likely won't need to do them daily. I still stretch every single day regardless of exercising, and do exercises similar to what you have listed, and ankle ones, a minimum of two times a week. It works!
What ankle ones do you do? I've been thinking about adding some ankle flexibility/strengthening.
I do resisted ankle inversions/eversions/dorsiflexions, single leg balance exercises, and have found a way of stretching our muscles/tendons down around my ankle/achilles. The last 4 exercises on this link! https://myhealth.alberta.ca/Health/aftercareinformation/pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=ad1464
Thanks! I haven't tried balancing on a pillow, and it looks like it'll be really good. My ankles don't hurt but they often feel stiff in the morning.