Educational Articles

How to Strengthen Intrinsic Foot Muscles

Posted By Marty Hughes, DC

Disclaimer:

The above content is for educational or informational purposes only and is not intended to replace or augment professional medical instruction, diagnosis, or treatment. Read full disclaimer here.

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Comments
April 16, 2015
Bill Kranker

Dr. Robyn: Great video by Dr. McClanahan!!

I had also read in Brenden Brazier’s book “Thrive Fitness” about strengthening your toes and arch by placing your foot on a towel on the floor and pulling the towel toward your foot with your toes. It seems to work really well also.

Have a great day!!

Bill

April 16, 2015
Natural Footgear

Thank you for your comment, Bill! And thank you for sharing that towel drill. We’re fans of any exercise that attempts to improve foot strength and toe dexterity.

Kind regards,
Robyn Hughes, ND

August 02, 2016
Paige

I have a question regarding doming of the foot arch. It’s pretty much impossible for me to straighten my little toes, and when I try to dome my foot arch, they curl in and under. I’ve tried placing them on a piece of flat rubber to lift them a bit while I “dome” but they still curl. Am I still getting the full benefit of working the intrinsic foot muscles?

August 02, 2016
Natural Footgear

Greetings, Paige,

Thank you for your question. Working your intrinsic foot muscles is a great way to strengthen your foot and, in time, help your fifth toes to straighten out and realign. To encourage this process, our best recommendation is to incorporate Correct Toes into your daily routine. Correct Toes works best (i.e., offers the greatest corrective effect on the toes) when it’s used in a weight-bearing situation, such as standing, walking, or running.

Consider walking around your house with your Correct Toes on for about 30 minutes per day to begin with. Then slowly increase the amount of wear-time (by about 30 minutes per day) until you can wear the device while doing activities like walking or running in foot-healthy shoes.

You might consider signing up for our free e-course that dives deeper into the many facets of Correct Toes:

www.naturalfootgear.com/pages/do-you-want-to-learn-more-about-correct-toes-toe-spacers

It seems to me that, even though you’re experiencing some curling of your little toes, the Short Foot exercise would still be helpful in achieving foot health benefits, including enabling natural arch support and improving foot arch strength, lower leg stability, etc.

I hope this info helps!

Kind regards,
Laura Trentman

February 21, 2021
Christie Donahue

My toes cross, and if I do exercises without Correct Toes on, I worry that I am reinforcing the bad toe position. One of your staff told me it’s okay to wear Correct Toes with foot exercises. Is this specifically just for stretches but not for strengthening? I noticed in the video that Dr. Ray grabbed the hacky sack and did short foot exercises without correct toes. And in another video, the woman specifically removed her Correct Toes before the exercise.

February 21, 2021
Natural Footgear

Hi, Christie,

Thank you for your comment. For exercises in which it’s possible to wear Correct Toes, by all means, go ahead and do that. In some cases, though, you may not be able to have the device on and still perform the stretching or strengthening exercise. I believe that Dr. Ray probably removed the spacers for the Short Foot Exercise in order to better demonstrate how to perform it; but normally, this would be an exercise you could do while wearing Correct Toes.

Kind regards,
Marty Hughes, DC

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