Strengthen the 300+ muscles, joints, bones, tendons, and ligaments of your feet
Head – shoulders – knees & toes – knees & toes- tarsals – metatarsals – phalanges – talus – calcaneus (insert music notes here :))
One thing I do know after coaching for decades is that nobody is symmetrical. Even the most graceful, able-bodied athletes put the work into fine-tuning the intricate system of their foot complex, which often goes overlooked, to create healthy patterning in their gait cycle and longevity in their sport. Everyone should take this note for the sport of daily functional movement, especially all the walking that we do in the spring and summer months.
Add spring to your step this year: Walk barefoot, avoid shoes with worn soles, be aware of the intricacy of the feet as you walk, and strengthen them! Remember that they are furthest from your brain and may require a little more thought to integrate effectively with the rest of your body.
The gait cycle is balanced functional mobility in the pattern of walking or running. It consists of the stance phase involving: the initial contact of the foot to the ground, the foot absorbing shock, the body moving over the standing or supporting leg, the body moving forward of the supporting leg while the heel begins to rise and leads into the swing phase involving: the foot lifting off the ground and moving forward and preparing to land into position for the next stance phase…. And on and on. A healthy gait is typically symmetrical, a teetering of pronation and supination in the feet through the stance phase, and with efficiency.
Joseph Pilates said our muscles should move like the springs on the apparatus. This mindset helps us to create a movement quality of controlled precision which equates to efficiency and harmony in our movement or sport. Note that control, precision, efficiency & harmony are all Pilates principles that we learn and incorporate in the BASI Pilates Teacher Training Program.
The foot is not just a foot!
The human foot is a complex structure with each foot made up of
- Bones: 26 total including 7 tarsal bones, 5 metatarsal bones, and 14 phalanges of the toes.
- Joints: 33 total that allow for the movement response necessary for adjusting to different surfaces while walking, running, and balancing. The ankle joint, subtalar joint, and various other joints between the bones of the toes, arch, and midfoot to name a few.
- Muscles, tendons, and ligaments: 100+ including 20 intrinsic muscles located within the foot itself, and more extrinsic muscles originating outside the foot. These muscles help control the movement and dynamic stability of the previously mentioned joints and bones,
I have a bunion on my right foot that can be very painful in the surrounding joint structure. To avoid articulating this tightness, my body often takes the path of least resistance, rolling more weight through the heel and outside of my foot as I walk. This poor patterning causes an array of less-than-ideal alignments up my kinetic chain, even up to my neck & head.
This weight shift causes the pelvis to rotate to the right and laterally flex to the left. This pelvis rotation is also causing a slight lateral flexion in the left side of the torso to counterbalance as well as compression in the right hip joint. This compression in the hip joint will cause friction and pain in the hip socket as well has dysfunction in the hip mechanics. See the video for a visual demonstration and some exercises that neutralize these areas to properly train and build strength.
These micro deviations become more evident and uncomfortable the more active you are since the repetition of poor patterning out of neutral or homeostatic alignment. While many people blame age for these aches and pains, I like to empower us by saying these aches and pains are from time spent doing things with inefficiencies. We have a lot more control over our demise when it comes to our body mechanics, one of the few things we do have control over.
Pain and discomfort are often the body’s last signal that something is “wrong” after other warning signs have been unnoticed or ignored. For example noticing your shoes more worn on one side, ignoring a small twinge of discomfort or tightness that is recurring, or being fatigued easily from functional activities may be a precursor that something is off with your body mechanics.
Try these exercises to wake up the intrinsic muscles of the feet. Please note that a comprehensive program would include motion at the knees, hips, and upper body. Here I am specifically focusing on the isolated and often neglected foot muscles that we want to include in those larger exercises involving the full kinetic chain.
I hope you find spring in your step this season:)