No matter where you are viewing this right now....take off your shoes and socks. Notice your feet:

How do they feel?
What is their appearance?
Does anything hurt?
Are they easy to move?

Learn to appreciate your feet, take care of these babies, recognize the many journeys where they have carried you, this article is to raise foot awareness!!

Lets start with an anatomy lesson:

Each ankle and foot complex is made up of 26 bones {25% of the bones in your body}. For the purpose of this article, lets group the foot into 3 regions:

Rear-foot {Ankle}: transmits 60% Weight-bearing Load
Mid-Foot: provides stability to the forefoot
Fore-foot {Toes}: adapt to terrain and uneven surfaces

Supporting these bones and joints are over 100 ligaments, tendons, and muscles. LIGAMENT- connects bone to bone. TENDON- connects muscle to bone. When a muscle force {action} occurs, it causes movement of a joint {or multiple joints}. Check out the complexity of foot musculature:

The human foot has evolved into a highly complex structure{s}, these adaptations allow us to walk with an upright Bi-pedal posture {rather than crawling on all 4s}. Along with ambulation, feet perform many job duties such as balance, force distribution, shock absorption, among other weight bearing and non-weightbbearing functions. Foot strengthening is very often overlooked by athletes, dancers, clinicians, women in heels, doctors, or basically anybody who uses their feet for ambulation{walking}. Below I will go over 2 exercises that can be added to any daily routine.

First exercise is plantarflexion {heel raise}, or for my dancers relevé. From neutral stance, lift your heels up, while planting your fore-foot on the ground. Try a few reps and look at our feet in a mirror if possible. Did you do this??

This is WRONG.....notice how the calcaneus {Heels} translate out and the foot compensates into inversion {ankle rolls in}. This person is weak or inhibited in the deep stabilizing muscles required for weight bearing plantar flexion.

The picture below shows 2 large Primary muscles of plantar flexion gastrocnemius and soleus {calf muscles}. For this exercise, I want you to focus on the 3 blue muscles, these are underneath the large calf muscles. In addition to plantar flexion, the Tibialis Posterior, Flexor Digitorum Longus {FDL}, and Flexor Hallucis Longus {FHL} are primary movers for other joints in the foot. Your force will be directed through 1st Metatarsal Head {Ball of Big Toe}.

Shoutout to Visible Body for this picture. Awesome App for studying anatomy

You will need 2 quarters {Placed under 1st Metatarsal Head}. Perform 5-10 slow and controlled repetitions. 3-5 sets will correct muscle control before activity, can be performed anytime as Neuro-muscular re-education.

Weakness, inhibition, poor motor control or coordination of the feet can migrate up the body to other joints. Dysfunction in 1 toe can lead to hip tightness, lower back pain, altered shoulder mechanics, basically it can affect the entire musculoskeletal system. The 2 exercises below focus on Toe flexors and extensors {also called foot intrinsic muscles-primary action toe flexion and extension}. Give them a try before activity to warm-up the feet and prepare for optimal performance from the ground UP.

Thanks for taking a look at the foot with me today!!! Let me know what you think of these exercises.

~Take Care!!