The Source / A field guide to feeling better
Ankle & Foot
A rolled ankle and a painful first step in the morning belong to different stories. Start with yours.
Can you point to it?
Select a label to explore its side of the body
Choose the closest area.
Pick a point on the close-up, or choose from the list below. Each one covers what might be going on, the details that help at a visit, and the research behind it.
Put the symptoms in context
What happened, exactly where it hurts, any swelling, and if you can put weight on it: all of that shapes the exam. Rebuilding your walking, balance or running comes after the diagnosis.
Follow the question
Explore ankle & foot
Each guide explains what the condition is, what the research shows and where it runs out, and when it calls for a different kind of care than ours. An exam is how we look for which one, if any, fits you.
- Condition guide
Ankle sprains
Getting it checked early, rebuilding balance and confidence, and when a rolled ankle may be a fracture.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Plantar heel pain
Pain under the heel, especially with your first steps after rest, and a gradual way back to loading the foot.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Arm & leg pain
The difference between pain from a joint or muscle and pain traveling along a nerve.
Understand this condition
Rolled ankle, or painful first steps?
If you rolled your ankle, our ankle sprain guide starts with the signs of a fracture or another serious injury, then rehab. Pain under the heel that's worse on your first steps after rest, often called plantar fasciitis, is covered in plantar heel pain. Either pattern can have more than one cause.
Your feet carry whatever your day asks of them, so what's changed in your walking, standing or training is worth telling us about. Bring the shoes you wear most to your visit.
What does ankle and foot recovery look like?
Less pain is a start, but a full shift, a trail or a sport asks more of your foot. The ankle guide covers balance and repeat sprains; the heel guide explains what stretching research can and can't show. After the exam we recommend a plan built around what we found and what your foot needs to do.
Follow the evidence
Research, with context.
Selected published sources behind what we've written, each with what it found and what it can't tell us. We give you both halves because no paper can diagnose you or predict how your own care will go.
Ankle Stability and Movement Coordination Impairments: Lateral Ankle Ligament Sprains Revision
People with lateral ankle sprains or chronic ankle instability.
What it foundThe guideline supports rehabilitation that includes mobility, balance and neuromuscular exercise. Manual therapy can accompany exercise.
What it can't tell usThe plan depends on the injury and the stage of recovery. The recommendations don't apply to fractures, and they don't show that a brace alone resolves chronic instability.
Publication details & citation
Martin et al. Ankle Stability and Movement Coordination Impairments: Lateral Ankle Ligament Sprains Revision. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy. 2021. DOI: 10.2519/jospt.2021.0302.
Read the publication recordTissue-specific plantar fascia-stretching exercise enhances outcomes in patients with chronic heel pain. A prospective, randomized study
101 patients with plantar fasciitis lasting at least ten months.
What it foundPlantar fascia-specific stretching improved worst pain and first-step pain more at eight weeks than Achilles stretching.
What it can't tell usOnly 82 patients came back for follow-up, and the two groups differed at the start in how long they'd had symptoms. Both groups also got insoles, medication and education, so the results can't be put down to stretching alone, or applied to every heel problem.
Publication details & citation
DiGiovanni et al. Tissue-specific plantar fascia-stretching exercise enhances outcomes in patients with chronic heel pain. A prospective, randomized study. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. 2003. DOI: 10.2106/00004623-200307000-00013.
Read the publication record
Our editorial policy explains how to read these sources and what our clinical-review labels mean.