Holistic Foot Exercises

How To Strengthen Your Feet

Strengthen Your Feet

Strong, healthy feet are essential to your balance, but they’re also a significant part of your physical and emotional well-being. They keep you centered and grounded while allowing you to move freely through your days.

Strong Feet Support You

Dr. Dawn has known about the importance of strong feet for decades. In her book “Natural Solutions to Common Foot Problems,” she writes that most foot-related problems develop because the foot has lost strength. When your feet are weak, your foot shifts out of alignment.

When the foot is misaligned, one is more likely to develop bunions, hammertoes, corns, calluses, neuromas, and other conditions and problems with knees, hips, and backs.

So, what is the answer? Fortunately, it’s as easy as spending a few minutes a day exercising your feet. We’ll look at some of the best ways to get strong, supple feet.

Tips to exercising your feet:

When possible, exercise them barefoot or in grip socks.
Start slow, and work your way up to more intense exercises.
Stretch your toes gently after every exercise.

Some exercises do more than exercise your body. Yoga, dance, and barre exercises engage your mind and body and are foot strengtheners. These mindful, meditative forms of exercise enhance your awareness, lower your stress levels, reduce chronic pain, help you breathe better, and make your bones stronger. Make mindful exercise part of your day and reap the benefits of mind, body, and spirit.

Walking Barefoot

Walking barefoot has many benefits!

First, it gives your feet a workout that engages the natural range of motion. When you free them from shoes, your feet can move freely and engage all their musculatures. Removing your shoes will relieve pain and pressure if you have bunions, hammertoes, or other conditions, which is also a treat.

Second, walking barefoot forces your feet to balance on all surfaces. To make this work for you, be sure to walk on uneven ground and try to walk on different surfaces. As your feet cope with changing terrains, they will naturally get stronger.

You’ll also enhance your balance, which is increasingly important as you age. Walking barefoot in the sand is one of the best exercises you can do, but it can be tiring if you’re a newbie, so only walk short distances first.

Third, and just as important, walking barefoot is a form of grounding. Grounding connects you to the earth’s electrons, a powerful antioxidant! Let the earth move under your feet!

Rolling

Rolling your feet is one of the best ways to exercise them. Rolling feels excellent, and it is a beautiful way to release stiffness in your ligaments. Rolling connects your feet to other body parts with enhanced blood flow and mobility. Here’s how to do it.

Do this while seated or standing.
Place a tennis ball or other small ball on the ground. You can also use a foam roller or similar item.
Place your foot on the ball, and roll the ball gently.
Start at the toes, and move the ball to the arch.
Move slowly back and forth a few times.

Pickup Game

Don’t forget those toes! Exercising toes can prevent rigid unsightly hammertoes and claw toes. You will need a chair, a large bowl, and 10 to 20 marbles.

Sit with your feet flat on the floor.
Place several marbles and the bowl on the floor in front of your feet.
Pick up a marble using only your toes, and drop it into the bowl.
Use one foot to pick up all the marbles, and then switch to the other foot.

In the book “Natural Solutions to Common Foot Problems” by Dr. Dawn Olsen Figlo, you’ll learn these and other ways to heal your feet with safe, natural remedies.

Five Pillars of Foot Health Create Overall Wellbeing

The Organic Foot – Five Pillars

The foot is a conduit of overall wellbeing. Focus on the foot in these areas improves foot health, reduces pain, and positively impacts us from toe to head. Here is a closer look.

1. Strengthening

Strengthening your feet reduces pain and improves your balance and flexibility. It also reduces your chance of foot pathologies such as bunions and hammertoes. There are 29 muscles in the human foot. Strengthening them supports proper alignment creating a solid foundation. If you’re a runner, walker, or athlete, you’ll get enhanced speed and performance from strong feet. There are several ways to make your foot muscles stronger. Some of them only take a few minutes a day.

Walking Barefoot: When walking barefoot, you’re allowing the foot to move in all three planes of motion and engage all of its musculatures. Walking in the sand is a great workout.
Heel and toe raise: Try them with the feet parallel, with heels touching and toes apart and with toes together. Hold onto a piece of furniture if necessary.
Resistance bands: Use resistance bands to exercise your feet. Place each foot on the resistance band with some tension from a seated position on the floor—point and flex and repeat.

2. Alignment

Most foot problems arise from improper foot alignment—the arch height decreases when this happens. The foot begins to compensate, and the joints take the toll—especially the great toe joint. Bunions, hammertoes, neuromas, and plantar fasciitis can result from this. Knee hip and back problems can also occur as a result of malalignment. Stress is reduced in our knees, hips, and back when our foundation is aligned. Foot alignment is essential at any time, but it’s vital when you’re walking or exercising. At the Organic Foot, we focus on the alignment of the feet.

Two ways to improve your alignment

Strengthening the foot (see above)
Custom insoles (orthotics). A mold is taken of the foot while held in proper alignment. A custom insole is made from the mold to fit your shoes of choice, making every pair custom!

3. Earthing

We spend most of our lives disconnected from the earth’s surface. Earthing, also known as grounding, is the practice of connecting physically with the earth’s electrons through walking barefoot outside, spending time outdoors, working with dirt, and otherwise reclaiming that connection. These electrons dispel free radicals reducing inflammation. A 2012 research study concluded that earthing had potential as a global modality of significant clinical importance.

There are many ways to make this connection, and there are numerous benefits. They include improved sleep, lower inflammation, faster healing, and increased energy levels. The use of earthing/grounding products makes it possible to achieve results from the comfort of your home.

4. Plant Medicine

Let the old become new again! FYI most of our synthetic medications come from compounds in plants. Turning to a safer way to address non-emergent health issues should be our first line of defense. Essential oils are oils extracted from plants. They are the plant’s defense against viruses, bacteria, and fungus and have vital properties to sustain plants’ vitality. When used safely and correctly on us, they can provide many health benefits, locally and systemically (throughout the body). They are beneficial in treating many foot problems, including plantar fasciitis, athlete’s foot infection, and plantar warts. The application of essential oils to the bottom of the feet can enhance overall wellbeing. Combining reflexology and essential oils can maximize the benefits of both.

5. Reflexology

Reflexology is a therapeutic massage that involves placing pressure on specific reflex points corresponding to organs and other body parts. Foot reflexology promotes overall health by reducing stress, enhancing relaxation, and reducing pain in many chronic conditions. Reflexology also incorporates working with energy zones and stimulates the nervous system. This treatment is sure to have you running back for more!

At The Organic Foot, we focus on the foundation of good health. Strong, healthy feet will carry you for a lifetime, and we want to make that possible. Contact us today to get started.

Reference:

Journal of Environmental Medicine: Earthing: Health Implications of Reconnecting the Human Body to the Earth’s Surface Electrons.