Essential Tips for Healthy and Strong Feet

Not long ago, flat feet were considered a condition that could exempt you from military service. Today, it’s seen as a common issue that can cause pain. However, this doesn’t mean that foot problems are a thing of the past. Each foot has over 100 tendons, muscles, and ligaments, as well as 33 joints. There’s a lot to take care of. Read on to learn how to make your feet more resilient to injuries and what to do when something goes wrong.

Strengthening the Core

It’s no secret that core strength is crucial for running, just like leg strength. Strengthening your abdomen and back improves stability and running efficiency, but your feet also have their own ‘core.’ Research shows that working on this core can bring significant benefits. ‘Studies increasingly emphasize the importance of proper activation of the foot muscles for creating healthy mechanics,’ says Dr. Dominic Farris, a lecturer in sport and health science at the University of Exeter who has extensively studied feet.

Short muscles, the intrinsic ones, support the arch of the foot and bear the load, much like the back and abdominal muscles form the core, providing stability. Working on these muscles will not only make you a better runner but also protect your bones, reducing the risk of injury.

Exercises for the Foot’s Core

Research has shown that four weeks of exercises for the short muscles of the foot can significantly improve both the strength of the foot arch and balance.

Toe Spread and Lift: Stand barefoot on a flat surface, keeping your knees unlocked. Lift and spread your toes as far as possible, then place them back down. Using the muscles of your foot arch, pull the front of your foot toward your heel without bending your toes to form a dome. Train one foot at a time.
Towel Scrunches: Place a small towel on the floor. Pull it toward you using only your toes. Repeat 10 times, preferably 1-2 times a day.
Marble Pickup: Sit on a chair and place two bowls in front of your feet: one empty and the other with 20 marbles. Use your toes to pick up the marbles one by one and transfer them to the empty bowl. Use the other foot to return them to the first bowl.

Avoid Overloading

Strong feet are healthy feet, but short muscles alone aren’t enough. Most foot injuries, like most sports injuries, occur due to overloading. About 80% of injuries result from training errors, such as increasing training volume too quickly, repeating intense workouts on the same muscle groups without sufficient recovery time, or simply not allowing enough time for recovery. Gradually increase your load and intensity—this rule is repeated often because it’s always effective.

Take Care of Your Plantar Fascia

Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of foot pain in adults, affecting up to 10% of runners. It can manifest under the arch of the foot and around the heel. There’s no clear cause, but risk factors include chronic overuse (e.g., spending a lot of time on your feet, pregnancy) and stretching the calf muscle. The main rescue options are stretching, taping, and individual training (i.e., finding the cause in the person). If these don’t help, the next step might be shock wave therapy (which is as unpleasant as it sounds), followed by custom orthotics (most often shoe inserts).

Good movements for the plantar fascia include:

Stretching the calf.
Rolling your foot (e.g., with a ball).
Lifting your toes upward, stretching the sole (see exercises above).
Scrunching a towel with your toes (see exercises above).
Picking up marbles (see exercises above).

Go Barefoot

Even gym enthusiasts spend a relatively small part of their lives in motion outside of workouts. Experts agree: we should all spend much more time barefoot or in minimalist footwear. A significant portion of modern footwear is harmful to our feet. High heels and other restrictive, narrow-toed shoes can deform the toes. Notably, up to 90% of surgeries on the front part of the foot are performed on women. A study by the University of Liverpool showed that wearing minimalist footwear for six months (at least 70% of the time participants were in such footwear) increased foot strength by 60%. In older people, minimalist soles also improved stability and reduced the risk of falling. So, even if you’re not giving up on glamorous workouts or high heels, spend the rest of your day without such ‘support.’

Provide Support

In addition to rationally distributing training loads, it’s worth controlling the load on the feet by strengthening the muscles that support them. A strong complex of calf muscles protects against excessive load on the ankles and feet. It’s important that strength training targets both the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles of the calf. The latter is the most neglected part of the triceps surae muscle. Change this by including foot-to-knee exercises and performing functional exercises with single-leg movements, such as Bulgarian split squats or deadlifts.

Choosing Footwear

Good practices include:

Choose footwear according to the type of activity you’re doing, as sometimes stability is useful, and in other cases, such as cushioning.
Comfort should be the most important criterion when purchasing.
Lace up your shoes well (and this can be done in several ways) so that they fit.
Shoes lose their properties over time—running shoes are recommended to be replaced every 500-800 km.

For more information on foot health, you can visit FootHealthFacts.org.