The Secret to Happy Feet - Arch Activation

Our feet are remarkable and complex, they are our body's postural foundation. Keeping your feet happy will consequently make for happy and healthy ankles, knees, hips, and lower back. Think of our feet as the foundation of a building, except the building is immodbile, it's stationary. Our feet carry the burden of being mobile with the obligation of flexibility and strength.

An assessment of how we run, walk, stand, or sit can help to determine any imbalance or misalignment throughout the rest of the body. When it comes to pain within the intrinsic muscles of the feet, or through the arch of the foot, there are four primary suspects.

Pronation of the foot (Rolling Inwards): How the body distributes weight during gait.

Normal Pronation: The outside portion of the heel makes the initial ground contact and the foot rolls (pronates) inward approximately 15%.

Over Pronation: The outside of the heel makes the initial ground contact, but the foot rolls (pronates) inward more than 15%. This is a common symptom of flat feet.

Underpronation: The outside of the heel makes the initial contact with the ground, the but the inward movement of the foot occurs at less than 15%.

Supination of the Foot (Rolling Outwards): How the body distributes weight during gait.

Oversupination: An outward roll (supination) of the foot during normal motion. This is a common symptom of high arches.

High Arches (Metatarsalgia): Excessively raised arches or instep found on the bottom of the foot. High arches are less common than flat feet.

Flat Feet / Fallen Arches: A very common condition where the arch or instep comes into contact with the ground.

How to Activate Your Arches:

The solution is simple. Stand with your hips approximately shoulder width apart. Place the majority of your weight in your heels. With the pad of your foot touching the ground, be sure that your balance is equal from your pinky toe to your big toe. Now, lift up only your toes! Do you feel it? That tension through your instep? All of the small intrinsic muscles through the arches of your feet are excited! You just activated your arches. You can do this sitting or standing, during exercise or while watching TV. Ultimately, it will become an innate movement, helping to prevent or rehabilitate any of the above conditions. Sequentially, this and other arch activation exercises will decrease or even eliminate repercussive pain in the ankles, knees, hips or lower back.

More Exercises:

Check out these great tools at Livestrong!

Are your feet unhappy? Come down to energyXchange / Physiomed Leslieville•Riverside and make an appointment with Dr. Roopa Patel for more information at 416•727•9884.

Information Provided by: Kym Crawford, Kinesiologist.