The foot is the base of support for our body’s in upright positions and activities.
If the foot’s alignment is off then it can lead to compensations at the ankle, knee and hip. The compensations lead to stress. If we overload those compensations with too much running or lifting the outcome may be pain. When training folks with lower extremity pain I may need to address the foot’s mobility, strength and control. I usually start with their ankle mobility. Then I will begin to bring awareness of the arch position, weight shifting and muscle activation. In these videos I talk through the basics of getting your feet in good postures! These drills may be a starting exercise for some before scaling up into more demanding activists like squatting and jumping.
There are times however where we haven’t moved our feet in 20 to 30 years. In these situations our muscles and our joints are stiff and likely inflexible . They need to get moving. Here are some easy ways of getting your feet moving if they are stiff or if putting the ankle/arch in neutral was difficult.
If all we did was massage, stretching, and joint mobility, then we would feel better….but it would not be lasting. The magic in PT is when we integrate getting people to move more with strength and coordination. These simple exercises like weight shifting, knee bending and squat movements are the next progression after finding “the dome” position of the foot
The final step is to strengthen the feet through resistance training. We take the movement capacity developed through self mobilizations along with the coordination of the arch and foot muscles then begin to load these structures. This builds strength. It is here my clients see great progress in their function. This is the last step in rehab and the first step in performance!