Hawkes Physiotherapy Blog

Well I've now been running Hawkes Physiotherapy for 18 months and it's going really well. So much so, that I've decided to take the plunge and take away the safety net, AKA: the NHS job.... Scary! Well, I had little choice as my working week had become just that, a "working week"! Eat, sleep and drink work! In anyone's book, a 75 hour working week can only go on for a small period of time!  So I enter a new era, which I am excited about. I can finally do the things that I always wanted to do and more the point, I now have the time to do them! My patients will reap the greatest benefit due to my increased capacity and flexibility. I can see them when suits their lifestyle without compromise. I will also have even more time to get stuck into the latest research findings in the Physio world. (Some may say I have this covered but you can never know too much in my book!) -   https://twitter.com/MathewHawkes Hopefully I can take my YouTube channel...

What is the Plantar Fascia? The Plantar fascia is a dense connective tissue, it isn’t a tendon or a ligament but it is similar to both (Boabighi et al 1993). It runs along the sole of the foot and forms a strong biomechanical link between the calcaneus (heel bone) and the toes. It is made up of medial, lateral and central bands and it is the medial band that is frequently implicated with injury (Kaya 1996).  The central band is the major structural and functional component and the lateral band is actually absent in some people (Wearing 2006). What does it do? The Plantar fascia makes the foot become a rigid structure ideal for propulsion by using the windlass mechanism. It is very clever because if the foot was always rigid then it would not be very good at shock absorption or be able to adapt and mould to the differing surfaces of the ground. The plantar fascia contains more fibroblasts than tendon or ligament. So it does more than just transmit force it is c...