While its way too hard to declare one limb better than the other in terms of both pros and cons, many of us fail to understand the true importance of feet and their massive impact on our overall health.
Our feet work tirelessly for not just keeping us on the go, but maintaining alot of external aspects of the body. With them being the two primary pillars that act as the foundation, keeping the feet healthy means keeping the entire body healthy.
Our feet are supporting our entire body weight whether we are walking, running or engaging in any day-to-day chore. Taking adequate care of the feet means we are helping prevent back, hip and knee pain. Today, we are going to focus on a few home remedies and exerices to help prevent and relieve pain in these areas.
1. Top Presses
This is one of the things that alot of us fail to understand. Warm them up before using them up! It is mega-important for our feet to get warmed up before they’re being put to work. Toe Presses are an expectional method to warm the feet as they promote relaxed movement.
For Toe Pressing, bend your knees while standing and grip the floor with the toes. Maintain this very position for about three seconds. After the three-second mark, release and repeat the process 10 times. Do this exercise three times a day.
2. Toe Walking
Toe Walking is one of the most effective methods of adding strength to the muscles of the toes. It also makes the ligaments and muscles around all balls of the feet more durable.
To start, stand on your tiptoes and then walk for 20-30 seconds. Stop before your toes start to ache too much.
Rest for 15-20 seconds and then repeat the exercise 3-5 times.
Note: No long-term relief comes overnight. Start off slow and patient. That means start off with 3 sets everyday. If you start with more than 5, you’d be putting yourself in risk of cramps and strains.
3.Ankle Circles
How flexible and mobile your ankle are determines the degree of most of the movement that you do in your faily lives. If your ankles are stiff, tight and restricted, this may not only lead to muscle and joint pain in your feet and legs but also back and hip mean as the human body needs to compensate for their weakness.
Here are the steps to perform the Ankle Circles exercises:
- Lay back on the floor.
- Extend your right leg away from your head.
- Rotate the ankle clockwise for 10-15 seconds. Repeat the same step with the left leg.
- Keep switching legs and repeat the procedure.
Note: 1 set = 1 rotation each for the right and left ankles. At the start, 3 sets should be enough to avoid strains and cramp pains. Gradually increase the number of steps once you’ve persisted with the exercise for a few weeks.
4. Resisted Flexion
Much like the other limbs of the body, our feet contain both small and large muscles. While some muscles may be simple to ignite and engage, others, not so much. Resister Flexion is a home exercise that targets the small muscles of the foot which are hard to engage. Adding strength to these little muscles will play a big helping hand in saving energy and maintaining balance.
Steps for Resisted Flexion:
- Start off by sitting on the floor with your legs and feet straightened out.
- Take a chair and wrap an exercise band around it.
- Put the other end of the band on your feet.
- Now slide back until you start feeling the tension in the band.
- Bend the feet backwards and hold for 5-8 seconds.
- Relax for 1-3 seconds and repeat Step 5 ten times.
5.Top Pencil Pickups
This is arguably the simplest of the five exercises, since all it requires is a pencil! Yeap!
- Stand straight with a pencil close to your feet.
- Grab the pencil with your toes and raise it as high as you can.
- Hold on for 10-15 seconds.
- Drop the pencil and repeat five times with each foot.
These exercises work flawlessly if done alongside each other. However, if they take too much of your busy daily routine. do them in succession of each other every two to three days. That would work like a charm too, but only if you’re regular!
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