Picture your feet - every day they get us to where we need to go! We can think of them in terms of bones - each foot has 26 bones, which is almost 1/4 of the total bones in our body, just in our feet! Or maybe consider there are 33 joints! Not to mention all the muscles, tendons and ligaments. And when we put all these together, we have a truly amazing piece of anatomy that allows us to have a flexible and supportive base that is the foundation of all our movements. They definitely deserve some love and attention!
Strong, healthy feet are essential to the health of our body - did you know even our pelvic floor can be affected? The old rhyme is definitely true - Toe bone connected to the foot bone, Foot bone connected to the ankle bone, Ankle bone connected to the shin bone and so on. I’m sure you get the picture!
There are many exercises to strengthen the feet. Check out the videos below to get started. We are running a workshop to help develop the muscles in the feet, calves, hamstrings and glutes, plus your balance and agility will also improve! (See dates at below)
What are some proactive things you can do? How about spending time being barefoot? This is a great way to develop strong and flexible feet. But if you have always worn some type of shoe or sandal, even around the house, you will want to increase the amount of barefoot time slowly. By wearing shoes all the time, especially if our footwear has a narrow toe box and/or an elevated heel, the muscles in our feet can weaken. Developing strong, mobile feet can take many months so don't get discouraged. Working on our feet is well worth the investment - your entire body will thank you!
Making the switch to barefoot style footwear can help with foot pain and even bunions, as long as you also do specific foot and whole body strengthening exercises. Barefoot shoes have a wide toe box, which allows our toes to splay out for proper anatomical movement and a zero drop, which means the heel is at the same height as the ball of the foot. We aren’t suggesting throwing out all your shoes, but perhaps you can start incorporating this kind of footwear into your lifestyle. CMMT will start carrying Xero Shoes in May - they are anatomically shaped for our feet and very comfortable.
Dates for class held at our clinic.
Saturday May 7 9:45-10:45am Text Kathy at 403-609-4915 to register.
Wednes May 11 5:15-6:15pm
Friday May 13 5:15-6:15pm Class is $25 - payable by cash or etransfer.
A special shout out to Petra Fisher Movement - I found her Instagram page over two years ago and I have learnt a lot from her. Here are a couple links to her videos: one on the pelvic floor here and one on feet here.
Also check out Anya's Reviews - it's a fabulous resource for more information on barefoot shoes for all budgets and for all kinds of activities, check out anyasreviews.com.
Check out these Instagram accounts for more info on feet, pelvic floor and all things movement & body related...
strongbodystrongmama website https://strongbodystrongmama.com
drsarahduvall website https://www.coreexercisesolutions.com/about-sarah/
alisonmariephd
katie.stclair.fitness
healthyfeetalliance