Poor toe alignment and foot function impacts biomechanics all through the human body. And furthermore, modern footwear disrupts natural toe alignment and degrades overall foot mobility over time. Starting at the ankles, poor foot function can have negative flow on effects unto the knees, hips and even lower back.
So what should you do? As you can probably guess, our default solution to everything is simply ‘more movement’. And when it comes to matters of the feet, our advice is no different!
Follow these steps to mobilise and engage your feet, starting with one of the biggest contributors of stability, the big toe.
Step 1 – Do some ‘toe yoga’ to improve toe activation, strength and mobility. Widen your toes away from each other, then curl them back down in sequence, starting with the big toe then down to the small toes. Then reverse the movement, small toes to big toe. Practice for 3 mins, twice a day.
Step 2 – Stretch out constricted tissues and passively coax your toes back to natural alignment with a pair of our toe spacers. Wear them for half an hour every night. You’ll help prevent a bunch of foot nasties from forming while you’re at it; plantar fasciitis, bunions, corns, hammertoes, blisters and overlapping toes to name a few.
Step 3 – Get your toes and feet adjusted. We’ll be posting a video demonstrating some toe adjustments this week so you can experience how this sounds and looks! If you’re self-manipulating, remember to use traction technique, not compression. Refer back to our earlier post called ‘Help! I can’t stop cracking my own joints’ for details on how to do it correctly.
Regularly stretching and exercising toes and feet lay strong biomechanical foundations that transfer to the rest of your body. Don’t discount the importance of foot health!
To chat with one of our Human Movement Co. professionals, book online today!
Comments are closed.