Education is key when it comes to taking power over your own health and wellness. When you need support, knowing more about how your body works will help you ask the right questions and understand the answers from your medical or wellness team. I look at the role movement can play in your health, wellness and recovery to full and optimal function. The articles are not meant to take the place of medical advice and should not be used as such.
Toe Exercises
Carol Robbins The intrinsic muscles of your feet are so important!
Every horseman is familiar with the saying "No foot, no horse." Regardless of how beautiful or perfect the rest of the animal may be, if it has faulty feet, do not buy it! Such is the importance of your foundation.
Most children begin walking at the age of one, give or take a month, and as soon as they do, we stick their feet in shoes. My children are now adults, but I back in the 90s when they were little, I was under the impression the more expensive the shoe was, the better it must be. Obviously appealing to my sense of guilt, I bought my kids adorable little French sneakers. I wish now I'd let them go barefoot as long as possible.
Imagine if as soon as your child started picking up objects to examine we slapped a pair of leather mitts on their hands. What would happen to the dexterity of that child's fingers? Unable to use them independently, they would grasp objects between the mitts, and then overuse the forearm to turn the object to examine.
This is exactly what shoes do to feet. Your feet have the potential for more dexterity than you are probably using. For example, can you lift only your big toe, leaving the other four toes relaxed on the floor (no gripping)? If you can lift it, does it come straight up, or does it lift up and then go veering over the second toe? Try to lift it straight up.
Now, leave your big toe on the ground and lift the other four toes. Do they all come up?
You actually have dedicated muscles in your feet that are responsible for lifting your toes up, or bending them down, moving them apart (spreading) or together. But those muscles are often so unused that the motor connection may be missing.
Most of us have motor programs that are like having a phone number on "speed dial." No matter who you want to call, your brain just dials that same number. So you need to program in a new number, but for a while, you have to dial it manually every single time. You have this movement pattern that your brain is used to performing and can perform speedily. But you want to use a different movement. You might have to actually reach down and move the toes manually. Eventually your brain will connect that nerve to that muscle and you will get a flicker (Flicka?) of movement back in that muscle, eventually leading to restored movement.
So what is the importance of restoring muscle movement in the foot? Your body prioritises the needs of muscles, delivering more oxygen to the ones that are being used. If they aren't being used, they only get enough oxygen to survive, not to thrive. So simply by practicing movement in the toes, you are improving circulation and therefore cellular health to those tissues. If you cannot move your toes independently, you can surmise that there is already neuropathy (or nerve damage) beginning, leading to loss of sensation, loss of mobility, and starting you down the slippery and dangerous path of gait instability.
Remember, twenty-five percent of your bones and muscles reside below your ankles; putting on your sneakers and heading to the gym is missing out on a lot of health potential.