Toe Exercises
There are 19 intrinsic muscles in the feet, 18 of these muscles connect to your toes. Our toes are our balancers and all those muscles are to be able to have control over what our toes do. We spend most of our life in shoes where are toes cannot move freely and those muscles become very weak, thus our whole foot structure is weak. The more you exercise your toes the stronger your entire feet become.
1. Toe raise, toe point, toe curl: Hold each position for 5 seconds and repeat 10 times. We recommend these for people with hammer toes or toe cramps.
2. Toe Squeeze: Place small corks between your toes and squeeze for 5 seconds. Repeat 10 times. This is a good exercise if you have hammer toes or toe cramps.
3. Big toe pulls: Place a thick rubber band around both big toes and pull them away from each other, toward the smaller toes. Hold for 5 seconds and repeat 10 times.
4. The golf ball roll: Roll a golf ball under the ball of your foot for 2 minutes. This is a great massage for the bottom of the foot and good for people with plantar fasciitis (heel pain syndrome), cramps or arch strain.
5. Toe Pulls: Put a thick rubber band around all of your toes and spread them. Hold 5 seconds and repeat 10 times.
6. Towel curls: Place a small towel on the floor and curl it toward you, using only your toes. You can increase the resistance by putting a weight on the end of the towel. Relax, then repeat this exercise 5 times. Try this if you have hammer toes, toe cramps, pain in the ball of your foot, or for overall strengthening.
7. Marble pickup: Place 20 marbles on the floor. Pick up one at a time with your toes and put each marble in a bowl. This is recommended for people who have pain in the ball of the foot, hammer toes, or toe cramps.
8. Sand walking: Any chance you get, take off your shoes and walk in the sand at the beach. This not only massages your feet, but strengthens your toes for general foot conditioning.