There are 26 bones in each foot, so both feet together contain a quarter of the bones in your body. As you can see in the picture above feet are an intricate arrangement of bones and tendons with surprisingly little muscle.
The more flexible and mobile the joints between the bones and the stronger the tendons are, and in turn the muscles further up the leg that that control these, the better we move.
How our foot lands when we walk, run, jump or how it holds our weight when we stand really can effect our entire body. The way that a
foot can go from shock absorber to power producer in one step is astounding...an 'engineering' masterpiece! Also, when we land when running we come down with 3 to 6 times our body weight so strong feet are so important...how many injured runners do you know? I'll wager a bet that those wearing knee braces and complaining of niggles etc are are not looking after their feet.
The same
applies for walking..weak feet can cause issues over extended periods of time.
Strengthening our feet can go a long way to improving posture, reducing pain and moving better.
See below some things to try to look after your tootsies:
- Ditch your shoes as much as possible
- Reduce shoes with heel drop (difference in height from heel to toe)
- Roll your feet about on a golf ball to massage every eve. Progress from sitting whilst doing this and then up to standing...putting all your weight on this. This results in some serious foot strength and strong arches. It hurts and this is
the only time I'll say 'no pain, no gain'. It should be like a massage type pain..never inflamed or hot so be careful.
- Do 'ankle alphabets' every eve. Spell the alphabet in lower and upper case with each foot, really accentuating each letter. This random movement moves the ankle through all planes of direction...super mobility!
- Do calf raises (tip toes up and down) whenever you
can
- Look into minimalist training shoes instead of large rubber soled ones (build up mileage in these carefully though)
- Try toe curls and grips in a rug as often as you can (like a cat!)
- When finished rolling the golf ball under your feet then move to rolling about on shins (muscles not bones!), calves and the top of your feet
- Go for barefoot walks! It takes a less time than you think from teetering about over the tarmac to being able to walk over gravel etc. The more your feet get practice adjusting to uneven surfaces the more our ability to spread our weight and adjust improves..it isn't about tougher skin.
Imagine when we are born we had to wear tight gloves most of the time, what would happen to our hands? We often overlook our
feet but they are not that different to our hands so should be given the same amount of freedom. Obviously shoes are needed and society prefers us to wear them, however try doing your very best to mitigate this...
Kick off those shoes!
J
