Maintaining Foot Core Strength

Mar 6, 2020 | Teacher's Corner

I have come to realise how necessary it is to look after our feet as we get older. After all, we use them in everything we do. To enable us to keep standing, literally, it is vital to strengthen our feet.

As we age our arches tend to drop and our toes creep together, whether from too narrow shoes or lack of tone in our feet. This is how bunions form.

To strengthen and maintain your arches the most important thing to do is foot core exercises. To do this, stand with your feet flat on the floor and all your toes touching the floor. Without moving or curling your toes ‘shorten’ your foot. This pulls the toes closer to your heel and raises your arches. Hold for a few seconds and then release. Make sure that the toes are not doing any work, they’re just there for the ride. Doing this regularly will help you maintain foot core strength.

Another important part of the feet to work on is the toes. While sitting with your feet flat on the floor in front of you, try to lift just your big toes off the floor slightly and move them inwards without moving the other toes. If they won’t move on their own, use your hand to move them and see if you can hold them there.

Practice these exercises regularly and you will walk into old age stronger and for longer.

Happy walking!

(Manuela)