Re:I highly recommend using toes to grab the floor

[Guest guest]

Oh Caroline! I just did a paratriathlon session yesterday with British Triathlon

and this is what they recommended for ALL of us! It is a way to work total foot

muscles.

They were in the sand pit doing this (reminds me of Gretchen's sand walking

advice!) - but the PT advice is the same as the athlete advice.

Take a towel under your foot. Using your toes scrunch it up moving it under your

foot. Then the reverse - use your toes to push it away. Everyone I met did this.

Even just thinking about moving - if you can't today imagine it - can apparently

help stimulate re-enervation!

Thanks for sharing. I've been thinking of getting a Flip to start video blogs of

my PT. Would anyone value that?

Donna

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I TRI because I CAN!

www.myfitnessyear.com

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[Guest guest]

Hi ,

The idea is to activate the muscles in your feet. The action of scrunching toes

may seem to mimic a hammertoe effect in terms of shape, but the pushing of the

towel away, and straightening, is the opposite. It is a balance of muscle

groups that leads PTs to recommend both activities.

I was told about this exercise in the following forums:

- paratriathlon day with british triathlon e.g. athletes with disabilities (not

only myself with a neurological condition)

- my neurophysiotherapist

- my yoga teacher

- a running forum which recommended this to help with foot tendon problems

regular runners have through foot strength work

I find it interesting so many different groups suggest this.

The neuro work on thinking of movement re-activitating nerves interests me. I

will have to ask the people I work with for the article. I am a bit less

" embracing " of this as it seems just crazy but I know scientific work has been

done on this subject. So I do it. As I do a lot of things that don't take a

long time, that don't seem to hurt anything, in the hopes of maybe helping

things.

The exercise your yoga teacher has you doing is a great stretching exercise. I

am working on toe stretches - in particular the big toe - as a complement to the

foot strength work. Stretching and strength go together, kind of like pea and

carrots (as we say in the US).

Best wishes,

Donna

>

> I am really dubious about strengthening toes in this direction

>

> I see this exercise as a way to exacerbate hammer toes.

>

> My yoga teacher ... noticeably lengthened and straightened my toes.

>