Support your feet for pain relief in any activity: The #1 exercise that prepares your feet

You’ve got a big active day scheduled in two weeks. You know you might have a lot of pain from being on your feet all day. Here’s how to prepare your feet so you support them and stop the foot pain before it starts.

You want the muscles, joints, ligaments, and tendons to be ready for any event so they aren’t stressed and painful at the end of the day. Strengthening your foot muscles is like getting a better and stronger handle on a plastic bag needed to hold heavy groceries. Your muscles need to be strong and pliable to hold your bones in the joints properly and move your bones through the force of walking, jumping, or running. With weak muscles, the bones don’t hold strong in the joint spaces they are meant for and shift causing your foot joints to hurt.

Here’s the exercise you want to do 10 times a day two weeks before you have a big, on-your-feet event scheduled or you will be participating in an athletic event. This is one of the many tips that I give for every person’s unique needs.

Stand squarely on both feet. Put a pencil, length-wise, gripped under your toes on one foot. Act like you’re heightening your main foot arch (the arch that touches the other when your feet are together) and roll the pencil to you by pulling the arch of your foot up towards your head while keeping the outside of your foot, your heels, and your toes touching the ground. Do this 20 times on each foot every day. In two weeks this major arch should be stronger and help your foot get closer to being pain free when you need them most.

This is a great foot strengthener that will relieve pain. However, everyone is different and depending on your feet, any injuries your feet have had in the past, the stage of degeneration some of your joints may be under, disease processes that can affect the foot or just your unique body structure genetics, you may benefit from other exercises or treatment options. Any one piece of advice given doesn’t substitute for a thorough foot evaluation by an expert who can see the specific needs of your feet and ankles as you go about your sports and daily activities.

Put this tip to task for your next planned activity and feel free to let our office know how well you did.