Product Description : Amazon.comThe North American Healthcare Foot Rocker was developed by sports professionals to help you relieve lower body pain quickly, safely, and easily with a rocking stretch. This one-size-fits-all rocker is designed to position your foot optimally, so that you can work and stretch the muscles, tendons, and ligaments of your foot and lower leg by simply following the foot rocker's three, 30-second stretches. This simple device was developed to provide an effective way to relieve the lower body pain associated with plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis, ankle strain, arch pain, and other chronic conditions.Product Description : Three 30-Second Stretches Work Wonders for Heel Pain! Step right up to maximize the benefits of safe, effective stretching to minimize heel pain and discomfort. Developed by sports professionals...great for everyone! The rocker design holds the foot in the optimal position for proper stretching. Just 3 repetitions of 30 seconds each provides an effective way to help relieve the lower body pain associated with Plantar Fasciitis, Achilles Tendonitis, Ankle Strain, Arch Pain and other chronic conditions. Includes retail packaging. I work at a PT clinic and we actually have both the Medi-Dyne "ProStretch" (retail $30) and the NA Healthcare "Foot Rocker" (retail $15) lower leg stretch devices, and there is not much of a significant difference between the two. Both products are sized very similar and have similar features (hard molded resin body, non-slip surface, heel stop, skid-free bottom, etc.). BTW, I'm a size 10.5US shoe and both products fit me with some room to spare. Bought one for myself to stretch the Achilles' tendon and shin muscles.Other than the price difference, the ProStretch is also made in the USA (Foot Rocker is imported from China), however both products have held up to many uses and still going strong. We have referred patients to buying either product according to their liking and budget. Overall, if you are looking for a good stretching device, this will fit your needs. As there are a lot of people buying this clever little device to address a painful foot condition known as plantar fasciitis, I thought I'd throw in my two bits for what it's worth.First of all, you can use this device to help PREVENT plantar fasciitis. How does that work? Well, risk-factor studies show that if a person can't pull their foot up towards their head sufficiently (a motion called dorsiflexion), then they have an increased risk of getting plantar fasciitis. Since the Foot Rocker loosens up the muscles that keep you from pulling your foot up, it can increase dorsiflexion and decrease your chances of getting plantar fasciitis. Problem is, how much stretching does one have to do to really make the leg muscles more flexible?Well, according to the book, The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution, which has painstakingly gone through all the randomized controlled trials comparing static calf muscle stretching to no stretching in order to get to the bottom of things, the most efficient way to get the job done is to hold a stretch position for twenty seconds, do it four times daily, three days out of the week (Knight 2001). There are other combinations of hold times and frequencies that will work, but this way is by far the most efficient (if you look at the table in the book, you'll see what I mean). Using these guidelines, you will gain about 6 degrees in 6 weeks. Individuals looking to stretch out their calf muscles and increase their length for other reasons (i.e. running, sports...) will also want to use these guidelines.The second reason to use the Foot Rocker when it comes to plantar fasciitis, is to help TREAT and get rid of this painful condition. To my knowledge, there is only one randomized controlled trial that has tested out the effectiveness of doing just calf muscle stretching alone to get rid of plantar fasciitis. It goes something like this:-one group of volunteers stretched their calf muscles for 3 minutes, three times daily, while another group did five 20-second stretches two times a day (Porter 2002). At follow-up four months later, both groups improved with no differences in any aspect of their outcome.So it seems that based upon the LIMITED evidence (you gotta go with what you got), calf muscle stretching alone IS an effective treatment for plantar fasciitis. Therefore, if you want to use the Foot Rocker to help treat your plantar fasciitis, I suggest using any of the two stretching guidlelines above. Hope this helps potential buyers. I ordered this for my mom as a birthday present. I know it seems like a boring present, but if you have plantar fasciitis, you'll love it. It really helps to stretch the tendons in her foot in just the way she needs to provide relief. I think that if you are a person who suffers from plantar fasciitis, you should use this every day to help make your foot more flexible and prevent yourself from having more pain in the future. My mom only remembers to use it when she's already in pain, so it helps her, but it could be even more helpful.
