Feet are extremely complex. There are 26 bones in the feet, 33 joints and over 100 tendons, ligaments and muscles. When one part isn’t doing its job, it can affect all the other moving parts. You don’t have to sit and suffer. In fact, sitting may be the worse thing for you. You can relieve foot problems with exercises. There are so many painful conditions, from bunions and flat feet to plantar fasciitis that can put your workout to the side, but with a few exercises done on a regular basis, you can be back to the gym in no time.
Plantar fasciitis is extremely painful.
That first step in the morning can be excruciating when you have an inflammation of the plantar fascia ligament. It can come from small tears in the ligament that attaches to the heel or from an imbalance caused by other areas being tight near the sole. While you should stay off your feet when it’s extremely painful, you can do some stretches that will help relieve the pain and reduce the risk of a future episode. Since some of the problem occurs because of tightness in the Achilles tendon, stretching it and your calves help. Sit in a chair with a foam roller in front of you and roll your foot over it. You can use a frozen bottle of water for more pain relief. While seated, create a strap from a folded towel and place it in the arch of one foot, holding an end in each hand. Pull the top of the foot toward you gently and hold for a half minute. Repeat three times.
Flat feet cause a number of problems.
When all of your foot touches the ground, even the part that’s supposed to create arches, you have flat feet. It’s painful sometimes not only to the foot, but to the ankle, calf, knee back, lower leg and hip. It throws your gait off balance, which is demonstrated by the uneven wearing of your shoe soles. You can build the muscle tissue with a many different exercises. One of them is to use your feet to bring a towel toward you. Put the towel on the floor, curl your toes and release, leaving your heel planted on the ground, pulling the towel toward you. As your muscle strength improves, put a weight on the other end of the towel. You can also build the muscles by putting your foot against a wall, toes on the wall pointed upward, bring your knee toward the wall stretching the muscles of the foot.
Bunions can be a painful problem faced more by women than men.
Those sexy high heels look pretty fantastic until you notice a redness and swelling by the big toe joint. As the lump at the side gets bigger, you’ll notice the foot starts to look different. Even small toes seem to be affected, curling under, with corns and callouses at the side of the foot. It’s not just ill-fitting shoes that cause bunions, genetics and abnormal foot structures do too. How do you relieve the pain and maybe even help the problem? Exercise is the first course of action. Limber up that foot by making circles in the air with your big toe while you’re seated and barefoot. Stand with feet flat on the ground, raise your heel up, hold for three seconds and then lower. These heel raises should be done ten times every day. Toe crunches, as you did with flat feet, also help.
- You don’t have to have a specific problem to benefit from any of the exercises. They’re good for achy foot muscles from overexertion, too. Stretching helps keep all the muscles toned and fit.
- You don’t have to have a formal program of exercise to address tired achy feet. Rolling and stretching them, arching then lifting the front of the foot towards you can bring relief, while building strength in muscles you haven’t used in a long time.
- If you’ve had bunions for a while, you may not be able to correct the problem with exercise. Try exercises for a four week period. If you don’t see improvement, it’s time for professional help to see if there’s permanent damage.
- Keeping your feet fit is just as important as keeping your body fit. If your feet are sore, it can change your stance and posture, causing other problems in your body.