Introduction
Arms, legs, abs, buttocks: when you train you think of many muscle groups and different parts of the body. But you hardly ever remember to exercise your feet. Yet even the lower extremities need to be kept in training. Keep your feet strong and flexible, in fact, it can help reduce pain to the feet themselves and ankles, to relieve muscle soreness, improve overall foot health and stay active. This is why it is important to include foot exercises in your fitness routine.
The feet perform essential tasks
The feet perform a number of essential tasks: they transmit balance, stability and support to the whole body, withstand the weight, guarantee contact with the earth, allow you to walk, run, stand erect, allow blood to rise towards the heart. Affect, then, on the arrangement of the vertebral column and, thanks to the presence of numerous nerve endings connected to the rest of the body, they transmit to the brain an infinite quantity of impulses concerning balance, direction of travel, and the characteristics of the ground. For all these reasons it is worth learning a series of foot exercises.
Exercises for the feet, the benefits
The following foot exercises have a number of benefits:
- help free your feet
- improve freedom of movement
- reduce the risk of getting hurt
- slow and gentle stretches increase flexibility
- strength exercises allow the muscles to deliver better support and protection for the foot as a whole.
You can perform these gentle stretching and strengthening exercises three days a week or even every day if you want to increase the freedom of movement, strength, health and vitality of the foot.
If your feet and ankles are very sore, if you have injuries or if you have arthritis or diabetes, consult your doctor or physiotherapist before you start doing any of these foot exercises. Depending on your needs, your doctor can add other exercises or remove some.
Be careful not to overdo it, sometimes you can feel pain in your feet after performing a Calf Raise.
There are also targeted exercises to strengthen the hips.
Toe raise, point, and curl
This three-step exercise is perfect for to move the toes and the feet themselves.
- Sit in a chair with your back straight and your feet flat on the floor. Keep your toes flat on the ground and lift your heels until only your toes touch the ground. Maintain the position for five seconds.
- Then point the toes so that only the ends of the longest toes touch the ground. Maintain the position for another five seconds.
- Finally, keep your heel off the ground and roll your toes so that your toes touch the ground. Maintain the position for another five seconds. Repeat each position 10 times
Toe splay
This movement helps gain control over the muscles of the toes.
Sit in a chair with your back straight and your feet resting gently on the floor.
Spread your toes as wide as possible. Maintain the position for five seconds. Repeat 10 times.
You can make this exercise more difficult by wrapping a rubber band around the toes of each foot.
Toe extension
Stretching the big toe is helpful to prevent or treat plantar fasciitis, which causes heel pain.
Sit in a chair with your back straight and your feet flat on the floor.
Lift one foot and place it on the opposite thigh.
Grasp your toes with one hand and pull them towards the ankle until you feel a stretch along the bottom of the foot and in the heel cord.
Massage the arch of the foot with the other hand during the stretch.
Maintain the position for 10 seconds. Repeat 10 times on each foot.
Toe curls
This exercise strengthens the muscles of the upper part of the feet and fingers of the feet.
Sit in a chair with your back straight and your feet flat on the floor.
Place a kitchen towel or hand towel on the floor in front of you so that the short end is at your feet.
Place your toes on the end of the towel and wrinkle your toes to pull the towel towards you. Repeat five times with each foot.
You can increase the difficulty of this exercise by placing a small weight (such as a can of soup) on the end of the towel.
Marble pickup
This exercise strengthens the muscles of the lower part of the feet and fingers of the feet.
Sit in a chair with your back straight and your feet flat on the floor.
Place 20 marbles and a small bowl on the floor in front of you.
Pick up one marble at a time with your toes and place it in the bowl.
Use one foot to collect all 20 marbles.
Repeat with the other foot.
Big-toe stretch
This three-part stretch helps maintain good freedom of movement in the big toe.
Sit in a chair with your back straight and your feet flat on the floor.
Lift one foot and place it on the opposite thigh.
Gently use your fingers to stretch the big toe up, down and to the side away from the other toes.
Maintain the stretch in each direction for five seconds.
Repeat 10 times in each direction.
Repeat with the opposite foot.
Tennis ball roll
Roll the bottom of the foot on a hard ball can relieve arch pain and treat plantar fasciitis.
Sit in a chair with your back straight and your feet flat on the floor.
Place a tennis ball on the floor near your feet.
Place your foot on top of the tennis ball and roll it, massaging the bottom of the foot.
Increase or decrease pressure as needed.
Roll for two minutes on each foot.
Training weak ankles with specific exercises is also helpful.
Here, however, the natural remedies for plantar fasciitis.
