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Heel pain, especially plantar fasciitis, can be frustrating and persistent. Many people come to Ripple Podiatry looking for a quick fix—often asking if orthotics alone will solve their problem. While orthotics can help, they are not a cure on their own.

In our latest video, Kate from Ripple Podiatry explains why heel pain requires a multifaceted approach and how to break the cycle of irritation for long-term relief.

👉 Watch the full video here: Will Orthotics Fix My Heel Pain? A Podiatrist Explains

Can Orthotics Fix Plantar Fasciitis?

The short answer: No, orthotics alone won’t fix heel pain—but they can be a useful tool.

Many people assume that simply wearing orthotics will immediately relieve pain, but heel pain often builds up over months or years. To truly fix plantar fasciitis, we need to address the underlying causes that led to the pain in the first place.

How Orthotics Help Heel Pain

Orthotics don’t “fix” plantar fasciitis, but they help manage the load on your foot while your body heals.

✅ Redistribute pressure – If your plantar fascia is overloaded, orthotics can offload some strain.
✅ Reduce tension in tight or weak muscles – If certain muscles are overworking, orthotics can give them a break.
✅ Support natural movement – By adjusting foot mechanics, orthotics help prevent further irritation.

However, if you rely solely on orthotics without addressing the root causes, the pain is likely to return.

The Real Cause of Your Heel Pain

Plantar fasciitis isn’t just about your feet—it’s often linked to how your whole body moves. If your walking mechanics are off, your feet absorb too much impact, leading to chronic irritation.

💡 Key factors contributing to heel pain:

• Overuse & poor movement patterns – Are you using your toes for balance instead of your hips?
• Lack of muscle recruitment – Are your big muscles (hips, glutes, and core) supporting your movement?
• Daily trauma & stress – Each day, new irritation is added to the area, making healing harder.

How to Truly Fix Heel Pain

To break the cycle of plantar fasciitis, we need a comprehensive treatment plan that includes:

✔️ Orthotics – As a short-term tool to offload pressure.
✔️ Shockwave therapy & massage – To break down fibrous tissue thickening.
✔️ Gait & movement training – To prevent overuse of small foot muscles.
✔️ Compression & strengthening – To support proper muscle recruitment.
✔️ Consistency with exercises – Healing requires daily effort to correct movement patterns.

The goal is to help your body heal itself, so you move with confidence and without pain.

Break the Cycle of Heel Pain for Good

Heel pain isn’t just about fixing what hurts today—it’s about preventing it from coming back. The more effort you put into a multifaceted treatment plan, the faster your recovery.

👉 Watch our full video for expert insights: Will Orthotics Fix My Heel Pain? A Podiatrist Explains

Struggling with heel pain? Book an appointment with Ripple Podiatry today, and let’s get you back on your feet—pain-free!

Rolling your ankle is frustrating, painful, and can lead to long-term instability. If you find yourself constantly rolling one or both ankles, you might assume it’s due to weak ankles—but your ankles may not be the real problem.

In our latest Ripple Podiatry video, Kate explains why ankle rolling happens and how you can prevent it. Watch the full video here:
👉 Why Do I Keep Rolling My Ankles? Our Podiatrist Explains

Why Do You Keep Rolling Your Ankles?

Your body has built-in safety mechanisms to prevent ankle rolling. When you step onto an uneven surface, your ligaments and nerves should react instantly, engaging stabilising muscles to prevent injury.

If you repeatedly roll your ankles, it’s not just about weakness—it’s about:
✅ Delayed nerve response – Your muscles don’t react quickly enough to stop the roll.
✅ Lack of movement options – Your body isn’t using the right muscles to stabilise.
✅ Poor walking patterns – If your foot rolls inwards or rotates excessively, your stabilising muscles can’t work effectively.
✅ Hyper-mobility – If your joints are more flexible than normal, your stabilising muscles need extra training to prevent instability.

Why Strengthening Alone Won’t Stop Ankle Rolls

Many people assume they need to strengthen their ankles to prevent rolling. While strength is important, it’s not the full solution.

🧠 Ankle stability is a nerve response – If your brain isn’t activating stabilising muscles fast enough, even strong muscles won’t help.
🏋️‍♂️ Your body needs movement options – If one stabilising muscle doesn’t activate in time, your brain needs to recruit another.
🦵 Big muscles must do the work – Your hips and core play a major role in balance. If they don’t stabilise you first, your ankles take too much strain.

How to Prevent Rolling Your Ankles

✔️ Train your body to react faster – Focus on exercises that improve nerve-to-muscle communication and quick reflexes.
✔️ Improve movement patterns – Ensure you’re walking in a way that allows stabilizing muscles to engage properly.
✔️ Strengthen stabilizing muscles in the right order – Your hips and core must stabilize before your ankles can.
✔️ Increase adaptability – The more movement options your body has, the better it can adjust and prevent injury.

Don’t Just Strengthen—Train Your Body to Stay Stable

If you keep rolling your ankles, it’s time to retrain your body to move safely. At Ripple Podiatry, we look beyond the ankles to find the root cause—helping you move with confidence and avoid repeated injuries.

🎥 Watch our full video for expert insights:
👉 Why Do I Keep Rolling My Ankles? Our Podiatrist Explains

Need help with ankle stability? Book an appointment today, and let’s get you back on steady ground!

My body feels tight, no matter how much I stretch? You’re not alone! Many people struggle with chronic muscle tightness—tight hamstrings, stiff calves, or an inability to touch their toes—even after massage or stretching. But what if we told you that tightness isn’t just about flexibility?

In our latest Ripple Podiatry video, Kate explains why your muscles feel tight and what you can do to fix it. Watch the full video here:
👉 Why Am I So Tight? It May Not Be What You Think

The Real Reason You Feel Tight

Muscle tightness is your body’s way of protecting itself. When your muscles feel unsafe or weak, they tighten up as a defense mechanism. This is your body saying, “I don’t feel strong enough to handle this movement.”

Here’s why this happens:
✅ Your muscles are overcompensating for weakness elsewhere. If your glutes are weak, your hamstrings or calves may tighten to take over.
✅ Your nervous system is on high alert. If your body isn’t confident in its movement, it creates tension to limit your range.
✅ You spend too much time in one position. Sitting all day keeps muscles in a flexed state, leading to tightness when you stand.

Why Stretching Alone Isn’t the Answer

You might feel looser after stretching, but if your tightness keeps coming back, stretching isn’t solving the root problem. Instead, you need to:

💪 Strengthen Weak Muscles – If your glutes aren’t activating properly, your hamstrings or lower back may overwork to compensate.
🏋️ Train Muscles to Work Together – Your body needs to move in sequence, using big muscle groups rather than relying on small, overworked ones.
🏃‍♂️ Improve Movement Patterns – Shortened strides, gripping with toes, and other poor habits put excess strain on your muscles.

What Happens If You Ignore Tightness?

Ignoring chronic muscle tightness increases your risk of injury.
🔸 Tight calf muscles → Stress on the Achilles, leading to Achilles tendinitis or plantar fasciitis.
🔸 Tight hamstrings → Limited mobility, affecting walking and running stride.
🔸 Tight lower back → Compensation patterns that create long-term pain and dysfunction.

Your goal should be to train your body to move safely, not just loosen muscles. When your body feels strong and supported, tightness disappears naturally.

How to Fix Muscle Tightness for Good

✔️ Strengthen your glutes, core, and major muscle groups.
✔️ Focus on full-body movement patterns instead of isolating single muscles.
✔️ Give your body options by moving through different positions daily.
✔️ Warm up properly before activity to train your body for safe movement.

Tightness is a sign that your body isn’t coping—but with the right approach, you can restore mobility, prevent injuries, and move with ease.

Want to learn more? Watch our full video here:
🎥 Why Am I So Tight? It May Not Be What You Think

If you’re struggling with chronic tightness, book an appointment with Ripple Podiatry today! We’ll help you find the root cause and get you moving pain-free.

Pain can feel like an unwelcome surprise, especially when it comes on suddenly without an obvious cause. But the truth is, pain is your body’s way of communicating distress. Even if it seems to appear out of nowhere, your body has likely been dealing with an underlying issue for weeks, months, or even years.

At Ripple Podiatry, we believe in understanding the full picture—your pain is often the final signal of a deeper problem. Let’s explore why non-injury-related pain happens and what you can do to prevent it.

Why Is My Body Suddenly in Pain?

Our bodies are highly adaptable. When something irritates or stresses the body, it makes subtle adjustments to compensate. This might mean shifting posture, altering movement patterns, or overusing certain muscles. These small compensations continue until the body reaches its limit—when it can no longer adapt, pain emerges.

In many cases, what feels like “sudden” pain is actually the result of a long-term buildup of stress or dysfunction. Your body has been coping quietly until it simply can’t anymore.

For example, foot pain may not originate from the foot itself—it could be linked to a hip misalignment or an issue in your biomechanics. This is why our approach at Ripple Podiatry involves looking beyond the site of pain to find the true root cause.

How to Prevent Sudden Pain

While we can’t always predict when pain will strike, there are key ways to support your body and reduce the risk of unexpected discomfort.

1. Prioritise Rest & Recovery

• Have you given your muscles time to recover after activity?
• If you’ve walked an uncharacteristic 10km on holiday, have you stretched or massaged your muscles afterward?
• Are you getting enough sleep for proper recovery, or are you pushing through fatigue?

Recovery allows your body to reset, repair, and prevent overuse-related pain.

2. Warm Up & Prepare Your Muscles

• Do you warm up before physical activity, or do you jump straight in?
• Are you engaging different muscle groups and movement patterns to avoid overworking the same areas?
• Is your body strong and flexible enough to handle your daily movements and lifestyle demands?

A well-prepared body is more resilient and less likely to send distress signals in the form of pain.

Heel pain, we’ve either experienced it or know of someone that has. It can be frustrating and have a significant effect on your day.

There are multiple causes of heel pain, however the most common cause is Plantar fasciitis.  The plantar facia is a thick connective tissue which originates from your heel and fans out to connect to all 5 toes. The Plantar fascia helps to maintain shape, strength and flexibility of the foot. When the plantar facia is overloaded or injured it becomes inflamed and tender.

Some of the common causes of plantar fasciitis are:

• A sudden increase in physical activity or intensity of the activity
• Poor footwear
• Foot type or biomechanics of the foot
• Increased body weight
• Faulty training
• Trauma/injury to the heel

 

The symptoms of plantar fasciitis can vary depending on severity however, the most common signs are pain in the bottom the heel which can radiate into the arch. Pain is generally worst in the mornings and then eases off after a few minutes of walking.

So how do we treat plantar fasciitis?
Treatment will depend on the cause of the symptoms. A thorough investigation is done by a podiatrist to determine the cause of the pain. A treatment plan is then tailored accordingly to help reduce pain/strain and minimise risk of it reoccurring.

Treatment can include the following:

• Rest, ice, compression and elevation (RICE) may be done initially to reduce pain.
• Footwear check
• Orthotics
• Strapping
• Stretches/strengthening.
• Shockwave therapy
• And much more.

 

While plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of heel pain, there are other factors which can contribute to heel pain such as Achilles tendinopathy, posterior tibial tendinopathy, heel spurs, abductor hallucis tendinopathy, heel fractures etc. Thus, it is important to determine the cause of the pain.

Don’t suffer from heel pain, book an appointment with us today!

Orthotics are medical devices worn inside shoes that are intended to correct abnormal, or irregular walking patterns which have contributed to increased stress through the feet and legs. Orthotics are not just “arch supports”. An orthotic is designed to guide the mechanics of the foot to help muscles and tendons perform more efficiently, making standing, walking and running more comfortable.

If you’re suffering from pain or injury, the orthotics may help with your recovery. Orthotics are specifically designed to correct any biomechanical abnormalities that are contributing to ongoing pain and re-distribute weight away from the painful area. Since foot posture and function vary significantly from person to person, there is no ‘one type fits all’. Think of orthotics like prescription glasses. You’ll need a comprehensive biomechanical assessment done by a podiatrist to determine the type of orthotic or modifications required to get the best results.

There are 2 different types of Orthotics:

Prefab Orthotics: A huge range of pre-made orthotics with specific features such as cushioning, shock absorption, arch support and many more. Prefab orthotics are modified in the clinic to achieve the therapeutic effect identified in the biomechanical assessment. These are great for acute conditions where orthotics will be used for a short timeframe to facilitate healing and repair.

Custom Orthotics: Are designed by taking a mould/impression of the foot. This gives precise location of bones, joints and muscles which ensures the orthotic achieves a specific function.
Custom orthotics are generally for chronic or long-term problems and can last up to 5-10 years.

Each orthotic whether it be prefab, or custom are designed and modified for your foot, to achieve necessary therapeutic effect.

Below are just some of the ways orthotics can be used to help or assist with:

• Facilitating healing of damaged muscles and tissues – e.g. Achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis
• Redistributing pressure or offloading painful areas of the foot – e.g. corns, callus, ulcers
• Reducing pain from chronic conditions – e.g. arthritis
• Supporting foot and leg abnormalities – e.g. leg length discrepancy
• Improving walking and running techniques/gait.
• And much more!

Heel pain is a great example. The most common causes of heel pain are excessive strain on ligaments/tendons or poor shock absorption. Orthotics can help to align the foot to redistribute pressure away from the heel, while providing support to the foot and attenuate shock more efficiently. This will help to alleviate pain and make walking or running more efficient.

If you have an issue with your feet or legs or would like to know how orthotics can help you, book an appointment with one of our experts today!