Recently one of my lovely students gave me an article she saved from the The New York Times. If you’re an online subscriber, here’s the link. The article, dated 7/23/24, was titled “For a Strong Body, Get Strong Feet.” It also included a 12 minute workout.

If you were in any of my classes last week, you heard me share some excerpts from the article, and lead a class with special attention and exercises for the feet. Here are a few key excerpts from the article:

“Your feet are responsible for mobility and balance.”

Did you know that you have a “foot core - a network of tiny muscles in your feet that create balance a provide stability - every time you stand or walk”?

“Poor footwear often cramps the toes and stiffens the midfoot” - this includes shoes that are too tight / stiff, as well as flip-flops that your toes have to grip to keep from falling off.

“If the muscles within the foot or lower leg become weak and out of balance, this can create a chain reaction of problems in your feet, ankles, knees, hips and lower back.”

A few things we tried out in classes were:

Press your big toe into the ground and attempt to lift the smaller toes. Repeat with the reverse: small toes stay down while big toe lifts. This demonstrates how much toe dexterity you have.
To test your toe strength, while seated with your knee over your ankle, press your big toe into the ground on top of a credit card (or similar flat object). Try to hold it down for 3-5 seconds while someone tries to pull it out. Repeat with other side, and with the card under the smaller toes.
Heel and toe raises for toe and ankle mobility. We did these both seated (chair classes), reclined (mat classes), and standing. Alternate between lifting the toes off the ground (just the toes, not the whole front of the foot), then the heels. Observe what muscles you are using, and how if affects your balance when standing.

If you tried these out, how did you do? You can still work on building that toe strength! I hope you can make some time to move, breathe, and care for your feet this week.

Be Well,

Eva