Practice Point: Exercises for Your Feet

Feet! How often do you think about yours?

Feet are the foundations of our bodies - 28 bones, 38 joints and more than 100 muscles working together to provide support, balance and mobility.

I was surprised to see a number of articles popping up last year about toe-ga and my teachers’ seemingly sudden interest in feet but working on our feet does makes sense. Our feet are key to the stability and strength of our standing poses and keeping our feet strong and flexible can help reduce foot and ankle pain, support our posture, and keep us active.

 

Before you begin ...

These exercises could exacerbate existing foot problems. If you are unsure whether these exercises are suitable for you, consult with your general practitioner or health specialist.

The exercises

Toe curls (and ankle bends)

Toe curls help mobilise the toes. Add ankle bends to stretch the muscles in the legs.

  1. Sit in a chair or on the floor with the legs extended out in front, feet relaxed with toes towards the ceiling.
  2. Spread the toes wide, and then curl them under.

  3. Optionally, add an ankle bend:
    • Spread the toes wide and draw the toes back towards you.
    • Curl the toes under and point the toes away.

  4. Do 10-15 rounds.

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Duck stand

Ankle pronation position
by Ducky2315 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

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The duck stand exercise is appropriate if you tend towards being flat-footed, that is, you pronate your foot or feet so the arches start to flatten. The purpose of the exercise is to activate the gluteal muscles in the buttocks to raise the arches and develop awareness of how these muscles affect the arch of the foot.

  1. Stand with the feet together.
  2. Engage the buttock muscles to turn the feet outward, keeping the heels together. Ensure that the spine remains neutral and you're not starting to arch your lower back.

  3. Keeping the weight distributed across the feet, push towards the outer edges of the feet and feel the arches lifting. Hold the position for 30 seconds.
  4. Do another 2-4 holds.

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Towel scrunches

The towel scrunch strengthens the muscles of the toes and the top of the foot, and the ankles. It also stretches and flexes the foot, which aids balance.

  1. Stand or sit with one foot forward.
  2. Lay a towel down in front of the foot and put your toes on the end of the towel.
  3. Keeping the heel still, scrunch the toes to grasp the towel and pull it towards you.

    Try to use all five toes and create a hollow under the arch.

  4. Repeat drawing the towel towards you as far as you can go. You might need to straighten the towel in front of your foot or place your heel on the towel to continue drawing the rest of the towel towards you.

    5. Depending on the size of your towel, do 2-5 towel lengths for each foot.

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Big toe press-downs

The big toe press-down strengthens the muscles of the big toes, muscles that are key to arch support.

  1. Stand or sit with the feet about hip width apart.
  2. Raise the toes, spread them and, keeping that feeling, slowly lower them back on the floor.
  3. Gently engage the buttock muscles to lift the arches and feel the weight distributed across the balls of the feet, the outsides of the feet, and the heels.
  4. Keeping the arches raised, push down into the big toe. Hold the position for a couple of breaths, and then release.
  5. Repeat another 2-4 times.

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Toe push-ups

Toe lifts, or what I like to call, toe push-ups help to mobilise the toes, and stretch and strengthen the foot.

I like to start a set of toe push-ups with all-toes push-ups before moving into the variations.

All-toes push-ups

  1. Stand or sit with the feet about hip width apart.
  2. Gently engage the buttock muscles to lift the arches. Feel that your weight is distributed across the balls of the feet, the outer edges of the feet and the heels.
  3. Move slowly to lift all the toes, hold, and then lower the toes. Try to move only the toes and to keep the weight balanced across the foot.

  4. Continue lifting and lowering the toes, doing up to 10 rounds.

Toe push-up variations

These variations involve moving one or more toes whilst the others remain on the floor. In an effort to lift particular toes, you might find yourself rolling across the feet so try to press down through the balls of the feet to anchor them.

Initially, you might even have to bend down and lift or press down toes with your hands while you gradually build up the strength in your toes.

Big-toe push-ups
Raise and lower the big toes keeping the other toes on the ground
Four-toes push-ups
Keep the big toes on the ground and raise and lower the remaining toes together.
Alternate big-toe/four-toes push-ups
  1. Raise and lower the big toes, keeping the remaining toes on the ground.
  2. Keeping the big toes on the ground, raise and lower the remaining toes together.
  3. Alternate between raising and lowering the big toes and then the remaining toes.
Mexican wave
The aim of the Mexican wave is to move individual toes. This is hard! I still can't do this without rolling my feet. 😆

Try:

  • Raising each toe in turn from the big toeto the little toe until all toes are lifted. Then lower each toe in turn from the little toe to the big toe until all toes are back on the ground.
  • Reverse the order, raising each toe in turn from the little toe to the big toe, then lower each toe from the big toe to the little.

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Personal practiceDeb @ LaiLin YogaLaiLin Yogafeet, practice, poseComment