The Key Role of Foot Strength for Athletes
How strong feet propel athletes to the next level.
As athletes, we are always considering the footwear we choose for competition and practices. Yet, how often do we consider strengthening our feet? In this post I will briefly highlight a few ideas you should consider when it comes to keeping your feet healthy and performing at your best. One step at a time.
Firstly, how do we know if our feet are considered “strong”? There’s a very simple test you can do right now to find this out:
Place your feet flat to the ground.
Press or extend your big toe into the ground (without using your hands).
Lift of flex your smaller toes off the ground.
If you’re able to accomplish this successfully then you have your answer. James R. Jastifer of Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine explains,
“The intrinsic positive test includes having the participant extend the great toe, while simultaneously attempting to flex the lesser toes at the MTP joint and extend the interphalangeal joints. If the participant is able to perform this, it demonstrates strength of the intrinsics” (Jastifer, 2023).
By using this easy test, athletes are able to assess whether they have adequate intrinsic foot muscle strength. If you failed, no need to panic. There are ways in which you can improve from your current baseline.
Let’s quickly cover a few exercises or recommendations for strengthening the foot:
Toe Piano Exercise: the test we just outlined above.
Short Foot Exercise: start with a relaxed foot, then curl the toes or “scrunch” a towel.
Resisted Toe Flexion Exercise: use a band or doorway to actively press the toes against.
Toe Spread Exercise: widen the spacing between the toes, creating “splay”.
These exercises have been proven to increase the strength and muscle size of the foot. Additionally, you might consider training barefoot (when and where appropriate). That is a topic for another discussion. Jastifer backs the recommendations by stating,
“The mean percentage increase in activation ranged from 16.7% to 34.9% for the short-foot exercise, 17.3% to 35.2% for toe spread exercise, 13.1% to 18.1% for first-toe extension, and 8.9% to 22.5% for second- to fifth-toes extension” (Jastifer, 2023).
“The cross sectional area more than doubled, and the strength increased by about 11% over the 8 week timeframe. This supports the notion that the SFE is effective in strengthening the intrinsics” (Jastifer, 2023).
The evidence clearly shows that by exercising the foot, athletes can experience improved muscle activation and muscle size (cross-sectional area). Speaking of which, how does the muscle size influence the performance of the foot?
Our ability to balance, produce force, and prevent injury are all impacted by our foot shape. The 2023 study goes on to highlight,
“Weakness of the intrinsics is related to a decreased ability to control the medial arch and subsequently foot protonation. With intrinsic atrophy, an imbalance develops in favor of an extension deformity across the MTP joint which is present in both claw toe and hammer toe de- formities (Jastifer, 2023).”
“Heel pain, and more specifically plantar fasciitis, has been proposed to be a result of intrinsic weakness. They noted a reduced cross-sectional area in the side with plantar fasciitis (Jastifer, 2023).”
In other words, when the foot experiences a decrease in muscle (atrophy) and strength, we negatively impact our ability to create optimal shapes for balance and pain. The study mentions heel pain and plantar fasciitis being more prevalent in feet with reduced cross-sectional area. Thus, outlining the importance of strengthening the intrinsic muscles of our foot.
Being strong starts from the ground up. If you appreciate the details of being an elite athlete, we’ve got you covered. New Wave’s holistic training programs will give you the edge you need. Oh, and probably some stronger feet.
Moving you forward, redefining performance. #nwp
