Crowhugger,

I did my stretches by sitting up in bed, grasping the "bad" foot with both hands (one palm on the ball of the foot, the other on the heel) and repeatedly pressing "up" (toward the ankle), thus flattening* the arch. Alternating with the flattening stretch, I curled the foot, bringing the toes closer to the heel, exaggerating the arch. I also used my hands to twist or wring the foot.

My more creative wife imagined that she was on a beach writing in the sand with her big toe. She "wrote" the alphabet every morning. As she "wrote", she took care to repeatedly alternate between movements that flattened, and movements that exaggerated the arch. Either way, it is the same idea as doing "warm-up" stretches before an athletic event. If you use this method, remember to do the writing with FOOT motion, not just ankle motion. Ankle motion doesn't stretch the arch.

This does work for rehabilitation, up to a point. My case was caused by wearing "bargain" $10 shoes. I also stopped wearing the shoes. I used a custom orthotic for awhile, and it helped, but I still had pain. The pain didn't go away until I started doing the stretches.

Kent

* Standing up would also flatten the arch, but with excessive force. Supporting my weight generates much more force on the arch than I can generate with my hands, which is why it is so important to do the stretches BEFORE bearing any weight.