Foot Gymnastics – Cure For Your Feet

Many people have tired, aching feet, mainly in the arch of the foot area, due to our busy and active lifestyles. That is because one of the main characteristics of that muscle is its elasticity. Collapse of the arches or loss of that elasticity is known as flat feet. Flat feet generally don’t cause any pain or serious difficulties. However, some people do find that their flat feet are causing problems for them. They might be feeling pain in their feet or legs as a result of having severely flat feet. Alternatively, they may find that they can’t do some of the things that they want to do (such as certain types of yoga exercise) because their feet are too flat. In this case, those people may want to consider using exercise to reduce the flatness of the foot. The best type of exercise for someone who wants to fix flat feet is to do foot gymnastics.

Foot gymnastics refers to basically any kind of exercise designed to strengthen the muscles of the feet and legs. This exercise usually lengthens the muscles in the foot and can therefore reduce the problem of flat feet. It’s often recommended by doctors to children who have flat feet. Since its exercise designed with kids in mind, is game based and fun.

Foot gymnastics are also helpful as support therapy of varicose veins and pain and discomfort around midpoint of the dorsal (top) of the foot that can cause tendon injuries.

For example, a lot of the popular games that people enjoy when doing foot gymnastics are related to picking items up with your toes. This is silly and fun so you forget that you’re doing any exercise!

Top Ten Feet Exercises to Strengthen & Improve Flexibility

The best exercises for your feet to help strengthen and improve flexibility:

1. Start by standing up straight and balancing your weight. Shift your body weight onto your heels, then curl your toes downward. Straighten them and repeat 10 times. This exercise is good for general strengthening, but also to relieve cramps in toes or in the sole.
2. Put one foot on a towel on the floor. Pull the towel, grasping it with your toes. Repeat 5 times and change foot. When your foot is used to this exercise, you can increase the effort by putting a book or similarly heavy object on the towel.
3. Sit on a chair or stool and use the sole of your foot to rub the shin of the opposite leg, starting from the knee down to the ankle and vice versa. Repeat 20 times. It helps relieve tension around the shinbone and increases the flexibility of the foot doing the massage.
4. Roll a ball under the ball of your foot for two minutes. This action massages the bottom of the foot and can relieve discomfort from cramps, calf pain or foot arch tension.
5. If you have extreme pain at the heel and the bottom of the foot – Roll the cold (from the fridge, do not freeze) bottle of water or can of pop under the ball of your feet. This action massages and stretches the arch of your foot as well as cold soothes inflammation in your muscles.
6. Lying on the floor, rest a leg on a pillow at the height of your calf. Rotate your foot 10 times clockwise and then anti-clockwise. Repeat with the other foot.
7. Starting from the same position as step 6, imagine that your big toe is a pen and “write” the numbers from 1 to 10. Try this with both feet.
8. From the starting position of exercise 6, hold your foot in a vertical position (toes up, heel down). Flexing the ankle, point your toes towards yourself, then repeat in the opposite direction. Repeat 10 times.
9. Place 10 small objects (not sharp) on the floor and a container (marbles are perfect but coins work well too). Grab each object, grasping it with your toes, then drop it in a container. To make sure you use all your toes, try this exercise with a pencil too.
10. Finish the exercises by standing up, and raising and lowering yourself on the tips of your toes (with your feet together) 10 times.