Which is better, running more or doing exercises that make you stronger like planks, push-ups, and burpees? Well, that is a great question and that is what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
When you have a plantar plate injury, it can be frustrating because you have got this tiny little ligament right at the base of the second toe that is getting irritated, stretched, and strained, and may even have some tiny little tears in it. And if you stretch it and strain it, it is going to slow down your recovery significantly. It is very difficult to keep all the pressure off of there because every time you step and you pull your heel off the ground, you are putting pressure, stress, and strain on the plantar plate ligament at the ball of the foot.
I had a runner who I was talking to recently who was asking me about other exercises because she had been told stop running, do other exercises to get stronger. I agree with that. I always say that if you are not running, you should be doing something. You should never be sitting on the couch waiting, moping, whining, complaining, waiting to get back to running while you are getting weaker. That is a bad strategy. So, she was told the right strategy.
Do stuff to get stronger. So, she signed up for a boot camp and she was doing lots of exercises that weren’t running but were potentially harmful to the plantar plate and slowing her down. She was doing burpees, she was doing planks, and she was doing push-ups.
First thing you have to understand is strength and stability make your foot injury resistant. That is for sure. The stronger you get, the more stable you are, the less likely you are to get an overtraining injury because you wobble and sway less and you fatigue slower so you can run longer before you are at risk of loading something so much that it gets injured.
It just makes sense that you want to get stronger and more stable. And things like CrossFit, exercise boot camps that have you doing all kinds of exercises you don’t normally do when you are training can help a lot. However, anything that stretches and strains the plantar plate by pulling your heel way up off the ground while the toes are on the ground can be risky. Anything that jams them upward.
Now, when you walk, you only get about 65 degrees dorsiflexion or upward motion at the big toe joint. So, when your heel comes off the ground, it is about 65 degrees. But when you do push-ups, think about that. You are cranking way up. When you do planks, you are holding that push-up position, and you are really cranking the toes way up. When you do lunges, you do the same thing, right? Your foot comes way up. It is way behind you. You get all this pressure, stress, and strain on the plantar plate ligament.
There are things that you can do to mitigate those forces like wearing shoes that are really stiff and protective like hiking boots or something like that. You could even put literally a steel plate in your shoe that makes it stiffer, so it doesn’t bend as much. You can put a carbon fiber plate in there. But it is still risky, and it makes me nervous. And that is why I don’t like it when I hear that runners are doing that because I think it is going to potentially increase the stress and strain to the plantar plate as you are trying to get stronger and more stable.
Remember, the key is to increase your strength and increase your running fitness while you keep the stress and strain on that injured piece of tissue low enough that it can continue to recover while you return to running. That is the key.
If you want to learn more about plantar plate sprains in runners and the exact strategies I use with runners who are trying to return to running as fast as possible, the exact same strategies I teach to physicians at medical conferences, you can get it for free in the Plantar Plate Masterclass. Just go to www.docontherun.com/plantarplatemasterclass and you can sign up there and I’ll see you in the training.
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