Welcome to our Part 2 of 4 blog post in the “Foot Pain and Plantar Fasciatis” series – Toe and Foot Stretches
(Part 1) Foot Pain and Plantar Fasciatis: Proper Walking Posture
Stretching (and strengthening) the feet, and individual toes is just as important as stretching and strengthening ours hips and core muscles. After all, the lower leg joints do bare all our weight. We recommend clients of all ages to start stretching their feet and ankles to further prevent falls in the later stages of life.
In today’s video, we have foot and toe stretches. Tightness in the lower leg muscles is often a large contributor to cases of Plantar Fasciatis and Foot/Heel Pain.
In addition, the feet are where various other issues can stem, such as knee pain, hip tightness, low back, shoulder, and neck pain.
You will also see at the 40s mark of the video, the ‘short foot’ exercises, this is one of the best exercises to rebuild the strength of your arches.
(If you missed our blog post about ‘Fascial Trains that run through our body (AKA Anatomy Trains), it my help you understand why foot and toe stretches would help your neck pain)
We advise our clients to be barefoot as much as possible to keep the toes from becoming restricted and weak in a shoe. Even socks apply pressure too much pressure to our toes so we can’t move them which eventually weakens the muscles. Furthermore, if your shoes are stiff, your toe-off phase of walking will be essentially impossible. (see our Part 1 blog to see what this means)
Enjoy, we forgot to include it in this video but as suggested in the video scroll picking up a towel off
the floor is one of the BEST foot exercises to build up your arches and avoid numerous issues
Check out the other posts in our Foot Pain and Plantar Fasciatis series:
(Part 1) Foot Pain and Plantar Fasciatis: Proper Walking Posture
(Part 3) Foot Pain and Plantar Fasciatis: Leg Exercises and Stretches
(Part 4) Foot Pain and Plantar Fasciatis: Choosing Footwear
Active Kinetix Fitness & Rehabilitation
Kinesiologists, Active Rehab, Personal Training, Fascial Stretch Therapy
Burnaby, Vancouver, Canada