Stretching your toes and feet for a healthy body

Help ease the most common foot pains through foot health exercises

The feet are often an overlooked body part. Yet, our feet are our foundation, just like a house; our feet are what supports the body. If they are not strong and supportive, you will most likely deal with aches and pains affecting everything up the line. So, how do we work to strengthen our feet? Practicing some basic toe stretches, foot exercises, and getting out of the tight shoes a few times throughout the day is an important part of good health overall.

Your ankle communicates directly to the brain. If you do not have an adequate range of motion in your ankles, you affect the joint receptors that communicate directly to the brain. Your feet are also a sensory organ, like your hands and nose. They are constantly communicating with the brain about where the foot is on the ground and telling your body where it is in space. This is called proprioception, and it helps you to balance. It provides information on how quickly or slowly we should be moving and if we should be slightly tilting to help keep us stable. If you want to decrease your risk of injury or increase athletic performance, you must spend more time barefoot, practice proper foot stretches, and strengthen your feet. These are all non-invasive techniques and are effective methods for pain relief.

Importance of getting barefoot:

Some of the best ways to strengthen the feet are by getting barefoot more often. Most tend to shove their feet into ill-fitting shoes all day. These shoes tend to be too small, too tight, and can change the shape of our feet. Although high heels and cute shoes are fashionable, they are not great for our overall foot health. Our shoes tend to cause many foot problems by decreasing blood flow. They can also cause neuromas, plantar fasciitis (heel pain), hammer toe, bunions, stiff ankles, sore Achilles tendon, and toes that won’t separate at all.

Instead of getting rid of all the tight shoes, I recommend you practice some foot care to stretch out your toes. I like practicing basic toe exercises (flexible toes) to stretch out the space between the toes. You can do this with your fingers by placing a finger between each toe to work on separating them. Or grab some toe spacers from Amazon to wear for a bit throughout the day. Start slow, as your toes need time to get used to them. So, only a few minutes each day until that starts to feel more comfortable, and then you can add more time.

Exercises to Strengthen the Toes:

1. Try pressing your big toe down on the floor while lifting the little toes up off the floor. You can use your hands to help if they cannot do them independently.
2. Then try pressing the little toes down while the big toes go up, seeing how much big toe flexibility you have. I also recommend trying to imagine pulling your big toes toward each other. You can slide your finger along the side of your big toe to try and “wake it up”.
3. Separate the toes so that you can see the floor in between each toe.
4. Can you place your big toe and pinky toe down, while all the other toes are up in the air?

Easing the most common forms of foot pain with these exercises

1. You should first work on stretching out your calf muscles. This is one of the most effective stretches to help ease pain. It will help lengthen all of the muscles on the back of the leg that tend to get tight from sitting a lot. I have made this a part of my daily routine by habit stacking it with brushing my teeth each morning and night.
2. Wake up your feet with a tennis ball or (spikey ball, like the one in the video), by rolling it on the bottom of your foot. Many clients love doing this after a long day of standing as it helps ease sore feet. If you use a golf ball, make sure to be gentle as it doesn’t have a lot of give to it.
3. Strengthen your feet. I offer a Fit Feet Course that you can work through to help strengthen the feet

I personally feel like the feet are the backbone of the body. If there is a problem with range of motion at the foot, you will have other problems up the line. The stronger your feet become over time, the easier it will be to continue to strengthen them. Many of my clients do a lot of their regular exercise program barefoot to help to allow for better range of motion.

Work on the mobility of the foot as well:

I wanted to share some other exercises that you can do to help strengthen the feet and ankles for more range of motion and mobility within the ankle. These exercises can be done seated, but I would encourage you to try them standing as well, as this allows your body’s entire weight to be working against the movement.

1. Separate your toes. Press big toe into the floor, than little toes into the floor.
2. Tap your right foot, then press down into the ball of the foot while lifting the heel up off the floor. Then do these exercises on the left foot as well. It is important to work on strengthening the toes, if you notice you have incontinence.A weak big toe may be affecting the pelvic floor.
3. Work on strengthening the arch of the foot, by pressing the big toe down into the floor. Then think about pulling the big toe back towards the heel.
4. Sway your body side to side, allowing weight to roll towards the outside of the foot, while the other foot is rolling in and then sway towards the other side.

If you are still struggling or need additional information, head over to our community Moving through Midlife for more help.

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