The Foot Mechanic

Jump training for your feet

Here's a great tool to use for strength training your feet.  I can hear you asking, "why do I want to strength train my feet?"  If you run, jump, or dance -- for that matter if you walk -- you probably need strength training for your feet.  The rest of your legs get a great work-out too... but this is not good for people who are recovering from bad ankle sprains because this requires and challenges your ability to stabilize your ankle as you jump and land.

These Airex balance pads are soft slabs of foam that were designed to challenge your balance, but they have tons of other uses as well.  You can get one from OPTP.com or amazon.

Stand on the pad and jump...

--Jump 10x on both legs.

--Alternate legs 10x - land right, then left, then right, then left etc.

--Jump 10x on the right leg, then 10x on the left leg.

Use good jumping form.  Jump so high that your feet fully clear the pad and your ankles fully stretch.  (That's called plantarflexion, BTW. You'll thank me next time you play Scrabble.)  

If you feel like someone put rocks in your tutu, you can place your hands on a stable surface like a ballet barre or a chair back and use a little bit of upper body help to get off the ground.

Toe Woe Types

Didja know that hammertoes are not the only type of toe woe?  Yep, it's just serendipity that you end up with a hammer toe.  I like that word.  Serendipity.  It sounds like ice cream cones, chance encounters, sunshine while it's raining... it sure as heck doesn't sound like this:  wait.  scratch that.  I was going to post a seriously gnarly shot of a foot with hammertoes but that would NOT be nice for those who are not movement educators or similar.  You'll have to imagine it or google on hammertoe.  It's intense so breathe through your mouth.

Anyhoo, here are those other toe patterns:

The Claw Toe

So called because of the lovely talon-esque profile of this toe.  Yikes!  Can you imagine the forces coming into the ball of the foot?  It's all about force distribution, y'know.  If the forces can't be distributed onto the length of the toe then all of it must go to the ball of the foot and the tip of the toe in this case.

The Mallet Toe

'Cuz it looks like a mallet.  Not a mullet, that's a god-awful hairdo.  (I always hear Journey in my mind when I see a mullet.)  In this toe profile, the ball of the foot is down (that's called extension in this case), the next joint is in neutral and the very last segment is pulled down toward the floor (into flexion).

The Hammertoe

This one is only different from the claw toe because the tip of the toe is lying down here instead of curling under as in the claw.  

This poor foot really needs a tennis ball to stretch out all these parts that are too tight.  Put the ball under your foot and roll your foot over it for a massage that feels great.  If it's too hard, use a dead tennis ball.  If it's still too intense, use an inflated ball like a Franklin ball.

Hammer toe Woes

Yeesh.  Hammertoes.  Where do they come from?  How did this happen to such a nice person?  We pay our taxes, get our pets fixed, donate to good causes and still!  Hammertoes!  Well, I don't know why bad things happen to good people (or why good things happen to bad people) but I DO know how hammertoes come about.  

Here is my incredible sketch of a normal foot.  (See what happens when one gets a gift certificate to an art supply store?  I buy markers!  and paper!  and a red beret to wear on one side of my head!  And then I figure I am an artiste, so I make a drawing and find out that I actually suck hard.  So I buy a smock!  This is what will make me an artiste!  But non! I still suck hard.  So I start a blog that I can fill with my leetle drawings and I annoy passersby with my sketches.)

Meanwhile....

The green band in my masterwork above represents the muscles that connect the pads of your toes to your heel and the back of your calf.   The pad of your big toe is connected to the heel by the flexor hallucis, and the pads of your four toes are connected to the back of your shinbone by the flexor digitorum longus.   When these muscles get tight, they pull the pads of your toes toward your heel, and vice versa.  Your foot can react in a couple of different ways.  It can:

--overarch your foot.  This causes a sort of "doming" effect in the center of the foot and can be painful because your midfoot is prevented from spreading out like a melting chocolate chip when you stand on your feet.  Instead, the bones are compressed together.  Yowch!

--pull the pads of your toes toward your heel.  If your midfoot doesn't dome upward because it's ornery or because it can't, the tension will go to the next easiest place.  Usually it's to the toes.  In this masterpiece, you can see the end toe-bone (that's a phalange, by the way) is pulled into a hammertoe position.  This elevates the knuckle (where the arrow is pointing) and results in corns, painful calluses, and (let's face it) ugly toes.  Well, okay, not ugly as in Cinderella's ugly step-sister ugly, but still pretty bad.

So, now you've got a tight foot that has resulted in hammer toes.  You can make a big difference in your feet with a few exercises.  The easiest one of all is called Releve.  Oui, releve.  This is not because of the artiste/smock/beret thing, it's just because ballet started in the court of Louis XIV and for some strange reason, everyone there spoke French.  Go figure.  

It's wonderful to use a mirror for this exercise because it will help you to see your feet.  (I apologize for the background and the crummy sound -- it's my home studio and my Gyrotonic machine is there between my feet looking menacing.  In reality, it's actually very loving and sweet.)

Just a sign of the bubble that burst?

I was looking at toes (internet-shopping for some nail polish to go with my new FitFlops for our Indian Summer) when I remembered an article I read a few years back.  At the time, women were having their toes surgically shortened so they could wear stilettos again.  Stilettos are beautiful but they are hard on feet because they force an enormous reduction in the range of motion of the ankle and metatarsal heads (ball of the foot) during gait and they are extremely narrow at the toe box.  Many women, once upon a time could tolerate the sacrifice stilettos require but just can't do it anymore because of pain from bunions, hammer toes, and corns.  So they limp, in their sensible SAS shoes, to the friendly podiatrist's office where they are promised they will skip out in Manolo's.  After the stitches come out.    

Doesn't that seem like a different time now?  It just seems so bubble-headed, so extravagant....  And I don't mean just with money - extravagant with the delicate mechanics of your feet!  Your feet!  You don't get another set, mate.  I wonder if women are still doing this surgery or if it has fallen out of fashion.

Arch Exerciser

Over the years I've been pondering how best to strengthen and lift the arch and I've had a billion ideas about it too.  But this looks like a clever device... the manufacturer claims 6 weeks of training with the Elgin Arch Exerciser increased toe flexor strength by 3.9 pounds and increased vertical jump performance by 1.06 inches.   

Of course, you can also strengthen the arch by wrapping a theraband around your toes and curling your toes against the resistance, but for many people it is too difficult to reach down toward their feet.  This doodad allows the exerciser to have a neutral spine while flexing the toes.  I like it!

Toe Woes

Toes are hassled a lot.  The ball of your foot bears a great deal of your weight while standing and is used like a hinge every time you take a step.  This movement, between the metatarsals and the toes (the MTP joint) is called extension.  Flexion is when you grip your parakeet perch with your toes or pick up Fritos from the floor.

 

The fantastic illustration below is from the wonderful Thieme people... you can preview their combined Atlas of Anatomy at www.winkingskull.com, and then buy it at amazon.  It is very reasonably priced and I think it's the best anatomy text out there.  It certainly kicks Netter's butt.  (It is most definitely NOT Thieme's illustration above, that's my own ridiculous attempt of combining photography and illustration.) 

So, walking moves your MTP joints through a neutral (or flat) position to extension, but not through flexion.  As a result, your feet get a lot more practice with MTP extension than with flexion.  With time and neglect, many feet begin to show MTP extension even when there is no weight on them - yikes!  And that, little one, is the beginning of hammer toes.

Toe Sox

Toe Sox are great for the Pilates studio!  The non-slip bottoms help you grip your surface for stability (Monkey on the Cadillac or Standing platform work on the Reformer) not to mention they will protect your feet from any ickies you might pick up in the studio.  Remember, although most studios do wipe down their equipment between clients, they don't switch out the cotton foot straps and if the last client has some weird foot fungus and you have bare feet....  well I guess you can figure out what would happen next.  They are also available in a full toe version for cold days or germophobes.

 

Fitflop

I've had a pair of Fitflops for a little over a year and I really like them.  I just discovered (and love) their Electra Sandal  - so damn cute!!  Fitflops are on the fitness while walking bandwagon, like MBTs or Skechers' new Shape-Ups.  The Fitflop sole is composed of different densities of foam to imitate the destabilizing effects of a wobble board.   I've worn mine quite a bit, although I don't notice any extra muscular effort in the legs or glutes.  The only negative thing about them is that my foot is very narrow and these only come in medium widths, so the instep banding hovers over the top of my foot by about a half-inch.  My feet look like skinny bananas.  But they certainly are cute and comfortable (the Fitflops, that is) and the fitness effects may be occurring under the proprioceptive radar.  Besides, what a great name:  Fitflop.  It makes me think of other possibilities like:

FitGlop:  a simple glucose replacement to use for endurance sports. (Like Gu.)

FitSlop:  your ex-boyfriend's nasty t-shirt and old shorts work-out outfit.

FitPop:  popcorn cakes with only 2 calories each (has that one already been done?)

Barefoot Running

The New York Times has a nice article in today's paper about the current thoughts on barefoot running and the chagrin of the shoe manufacturers.

The article also mentions the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall which I read earlier this year.  It's about the multiple injuries suffered by the author that drove him to discover the running style of the Tarahumara, a native Mexican-desert dwelling population.  Running essentially barefoot, the Tarahumara are like a human gazelle/mountain goat and beat the pants off most competitors, especially in Ultramarathons like this one.  (McDougall's book does spend a lot of time cooing over ultramarathoning and its stars.  A little tedious for me, but surely a lovefest for those in the sport.)

If you've ever studied foot biomechanics (I promise you I am really a treat at cocktail parties.  Really. I  don't bore anyone.) you know there is a moment called footstrike or heelstrike when the heel initially touches down on the ground to begin a new step.  In barefoot running (or gladiator-sandal running, or Chalcolithic-sandal running, etc) the foot doesn't strike with the heel, but with the mid-foot.  This is essential for foot safety if you don't have any external cushioning on the foot.  Only some of the shock-absorption capacity is in the heel; it can accommodate the energy/shock from walking, but not the increased impact forces from running.  As a result, barefoot running is more upright than running in Nikes or Asics or whatever cushioned shoe you've got.

 Here are Nike's Zoom Mawler Track and Field shoe.  Look at the rearfoot area:  it's thin with very little shock absorbing material there.  Sprinters spend no time on their heels.  Go to 1:12 and watch the slow-motion of the sprinter's feet.  Their weight is not in their heels.

To me, the next question is do barefoot sprinters go faster than modern-technology sprinters, or is this paradox only applicable to endurance runners?  I'm wondering if the Tarahumara put spikes on their sandals would it increase their speed?

--Donna

Some exercises for foot cramps

Previously we talked about those nasty foot cramps and why they happen.  (It's because you didn't eat enough brussel sprouts when you were a kid.  Naughty naughty!)  And now it's time for some exercises to prevent those darn cramps from occurring again and again.  

Point and flex.  

Sit with your legs extended out in front of you. Loop a theraband around your forefoot and hold the ends in your hands.  Point your foot against the resistance of the band, then increase the tension by pulling on the band with your hands, then slowly bring the top of your foot back toward you.

A nice variation of this is done in the Pilates studio on the chair or on the Universal Reformer (the exercise called "tendon stretch").

Parakeet

This one is an oldie but a goodie, learned twelve years ago at the knee of Lisa Marie Goodwin (now Rice) at Long Beach Dance Conditioning.  She's a genius.

Lie on your back with your extended leg up in the air with a rolled Kleenex held under your toes (like a parakeet perch).  Point and flex your ankle while constantly curling your toes over the tissue.  The more difficult phase of the exercise is when your ankle is flexed and your toes are curled because this is the opposite of what our feet usually do!  You may only be able to do one or two of these before the cramps return, but at least do what you can.

Toe Push-Ups   

The energy for the movement must originate on the bottom of your foot, so the sensation is pushing the pads of the toes down into the floor and thus leveraging the ball of the foot up.  Just like a push-up:  the energy to LIFT the torso comes from a PUSH into the floor.

Sit on a stool.  Lift the heel of one foot up so it looks like you're wearing an invisible stiletto (sorry guys).  Point your toes by pressing them down into the ground, activating the muscles that line the bottom of your foot and your calf.  

 

Do NOT use your thigh muscles to lift the leg - no no no no. That is a marionette's movement:  strings from above lifting a passive structure.  This exercise should be very active in the lower leg, because you are not a puppet!

Now for those of you in my group classes:  let me know how this goes, OK?  If you have any questions, you can ask me in our next class or you can post them here as comments.