Exercises for the Feet

Our feet have to bear the entire load of our body throughout the day. You will often find people with freshly made up faces and well toned body neglecting their feet. As a result, our feet often become misshapen laden with small bruises and injury marks.

Painful feet spoil our gait and aggravate the problems even more. Taking care of our feet is absolutely essential if we wish to remain healthy.

Causes - While some foot problems may be hereditary, most of them occur due to ill fitting shoes, poor posture and recurring sprains. Uneven gait or dragging the leg during walking may also put undue pressure on the arch of the foot.

Orthotics and special exercises may help to reduce foot pain over a period of time. They also help in improving our gait substantially. Proper contraction and relaxation of the muscles helps in maintaining adequate flexibility of the muscles. Diet and life style changes may also have to be implemented if you want to get rid of long term foot problems.

Exercises- A group of exercises are aimed at proper strenghtening and stretching of the feet muscles. The towel curl involves distributing your weight evenly between the toes and heel of your feet. This also involves the involvement of your abdominal muscles.

Toes should be able to grasp the towel under your feet. It should  then be  released and the entire process repeated for eight times at least. The same exercise can also be done by grasping a pencil instead of a towel. Placing foam spacers between each toe and squeezing them tightly together will also help to strenghten them appreciably.

Ball massages, pedal presses as well as toe spreading exercises help in keeping the calves of the feet as well as the plantar fascia healthy.

Leg Lassoes and down dog tread exercises should be attempted if you want to get rid of foot disorders like Achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, and bunions. The exercises help to stretch and contract all the feet muscles thereby lessening the pain and inflammation to a great extent.