This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in January of 2024. For the original video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02RW2zlhIPQ
Brad: You may be surprised that poor balance can be affected by one of the smallest appendages, especially as you get older.
Mike: So we're going to show you one way you can overcome this problem and also reduce any aches and pains you may be experiencing in the area as well.
Brad: Alright, so the small appendage I'm talking about happens to be your toes. Now we all know as therapists and most people know that your toes have a great influence on your balance. So for example, if you have stubbed your toe, you have a sore toe, your balance often goes very wobbly and it's a problem. Mike, I think you were just mentioning some patients we worked with who had a toe amputation.
Mike: Yes, it is common in the therapy realm, especially with peripheral neuropathy, and many people have challenged their balance and walking abilities just by losing their big toe. That's how important it is to your balance and walking pattern. If you're curious to actually try yourself for yourself, don't remove your toe, but simply stand on your heels and see how much you lose your balance.
Brad: That's right. So we're going to show you some simple ways to help your toes become more effective, hold your balance, and make a big difference. You'll be surprised. Alright, Mike and I were just laughing because our cameramen were actually standing on their heels to get a feel for it, and I really hope you do that as well so you understand what toes have to do with balance. Now we're going to show you some simple things you can do with your footwear as well as some stretching that you can do with your toes and strengthening that can really get your toes back in the game, making you balance and feel much more stable. So let's talk about footwear first. Mike, you've got something in your hands.
Mike: So when you have typical normal shoes like I have here on the right, you could see the toe box or the end of the shoe is narrow. If you look at the one on the left, this has a wide-toe box. This allows your feet to spread out in your toes. The more surface area you can touch with the bottom of their feet, the better your balance will be. So simply changing your footwear will help. If you don't have footwear like this to begin, simply walk around in your normal shoes and then walk around barefoot in your house and you'll probably notice a difference.
Brad: Alright, I want to talk about this point a little bit more, point, no pun on words, but here we have one of my wife's shoes, I guess they are pumps or something like that, but they are skinny footwear, like even my shoes.
Brad: This is the style, this is what everyone likes to wear. It looks nice and cute, but you can imagine your toes get scrunched up and you have a very small area to balance on versus a wide toe box like these crocs that I wear all the time around the house. Much more stable. I can feel what's going on underneath me. And it really stabilizes my balance.
Mike: We've talked to experts, specifically Dr. Ray McClanahan, who's a podiatrist, and he recommends getting shoes with a wider toe box like this to help with issues like bunions, hammer toe, plantar fascitis, a whole array of foot issues. So not only will you improve your balance, but also can help with any of those prolonged painful feet things you may have going on.
Brad: Yep. It's amazing how everything fits together from balance to pain to function. That's where we're going with this. So what we want to do initially is get your proper footwear or simply make sure you walk around barefoot at home so you really get those toes to splay out and start working again because, in shoes, they can get cramped up. Now you don't have to spend money to get a pair of shoes like this, although you can and we do recommend it. I wear Crocs around the house because they're functional and they don't cost that much. They have a wide toe box and they do what they need to do to help you become more mobile and better balanced with better toe health, if you will. Now we're going to get into how to stretch and do some simple exercises with those toes to wake them up so they can help you perform your balance and eliminate the pain and problems like bunions and whatnot. So let's get on with that. Alright, let's get on with some simple stretching. Now, these are stretches that I recommend you do early in the morning, just after you get out of bed. And you can repeat them throughout the day once or twice at least. They only take less than a minute. So first of all, this is the figure four position. You can do it lying down in bed or seated in a chair. And the first thing is to flex and extend the toes. Mike, go ahead.
Mike: So you could take your hand to push down your toes into flexion and then extend them back into extension. You can just do it if you want like this, but as you can see, I can't get as far. So if I press a little bit, it shouldn't be painful, just a little bit of overpressure, and just work each way.
Brad: Yeah. And do that about three to five repetitions in the seated position. It's best to do it, you know, without socks on. Now, Mike actually has these cute little socks. Go ahead, show them your toe socks.
Brad: They are nice socks because they allow your toes to work more. You don't need to buy those, but it is a plus in this realm. If you're doing it in a seated position this figure four, I reach all the way across to flex the toes and I just push the toes down. I literally feel the stretch all the way up into the ankle, those tendons that work the muscles that extend the toes, and then I pull back and you get everything all at once.
Brad: Now this is an important adjunct to this stretch, okay? Actually do one toe at a time. Your great toe or your big toe has the most influence on your balance, so focus on that. But don't forget the other toes. I'm going to push the great toe down and work that toe and then I'm going to pull up and stretch. I just got that toe to crack. Oh, I like that, work that, and you can work side to side a little bit. We want to mobilize all the joints in that toe and get that toe to start working again. And again, each toe individually. You don't have to spend 20 minutes on each toe. Simply a few stretches. These toes usually don't experience this.
Brad: And I guarantee you, if you haven't done this, you're going to feel that your foot has woken up for the first time in years. And as you do this, particularly these small toes, some people's smaller toes from those tight shoes are pushed in and it's already in that wedge shape that looks like a point without wearing the shoes. We need to open it back up again. Get that foot wakened up and doing its job once again.
Mike: It's kind of fun.
Brad: Alright, now we're going to show you some options to stretch your toes throughout the day when you're not seated or in bed. It works out really well, it's very quick. It's best to do it without shoes on, either barefoot or stocking. Simply go up to a wall and we're going to put our toes against the wall and push down and stretch. And you can go right to left, with more emphasis on the great toe and then on the smaller toe. And you can do that for 15 seconds or so. And you'll have adequate stretch.
Brad: You can do it with your shoes on. It works okay, but it's just not as effective. Either way, you're getting a stretch.
Brad: Wake those toes up some more. Mike, can you show me a way to do it on the floor the way you like to do it?
Mike: So this is the way I like to perform this if you can get in a kneeling position. Otherwise, if you can't, just do it like Brad did earlier. I like to have something soft to kneel on. What you're going to do is do a tall kneeling position. Notice my toes are curled under to start and I'm going to sit my butt towards my heels. I sit for 30 seconds. You can work up to that. Oftentimes the first one I do each day, my knees and feet are a little achy. So I have to put my hands on my legs and I kind of sit like this and let it loosen up. The second time I do this stretch, I can normally just go into it. Like now, I actually did this stretch this morning, so this is what I do now.
Mike: You can switch it, point your toes down, same thing. You're going to sit deeper. Again, beginners can kind of lean over like this. Once you feel loosened up, sit straight up. If you're feeling any pain on the top of your foot, you can certainly put a rolled-up towel underneath there and do the same stretch. I do it three times for 30 seconds each variation.
Brad: Alright, thank you, Mike. Now to be complete with your toes, to make sure they're adequate for better balance, we need to strengthen those small muscles. One way to do it, we're going to show you a couple of options. The first is to simply put a towel down on the floor. This actually works better on a smooth floor than on a carpeted floor, but you'll get the right idea and you simply try and grab the towel with your toes and pull it underneath your foot and keep doing that.
Brad: Now, if you haven't done this before and you get some cramps in the muscles under here, which is possible, simply go to the figure 4 position and stretch them back immediately.
Brad: The cramps will dissipate and you'll be fine. And then carry on with the strengthening exercise the next day. That's all you need to do is curl that under with five to 10 repetitions and make sure you do the other foot. Otherwise, you'll start to walk in circles. It's a joke. Anyways, Mike, can you show a little more aggressive?
Mike: Now, it's also important to strengthen the muscles in the front of the ankle as well as the back. So what we're going to do first is simply calf raises. We're going to go up on our toes. You can do five to 10 repetitions. Over time, I like to do 30 repetitions the whole day. So work up however you need to, get to that number. Now, when it comes to the opposite direction, I like to lean against the wall and then simply bring my toes up towards my nose, my heels are on the ground. With these exercises, you can wear shoes if you want to. To make this one a little more challenging, just step further away from the wall. This is going to work your front shin muscles, which are also important for walking in balance.
Brad: You're only 35 and you started doing this a few months ago, right? For stretching and strengthening your ankles.
Mike: Yeah. I was starting to have a little bit of plantar fascitis issues when I ran. I no longer have any of those pains. And my dad also has a big old bunion and I was going in that direction. I switched and my feet are fine now.
Brad: A big old bunion.
Mike: Big Old. He's old.
Brad: What is he? 65? Get outta here.
Mike: He's 70.
Brad: All right, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that if you work with these, within a week, you're going to feel a difference in your feet and your balance. There are wonderful exercises and I encourage this to continue. Mike, we have more information, right? If you'd like to check out more videos on how to correct your balance, just click the video link on the screen.
Mike: "25 Second Balance Exercises That Stop Falls and A PDF Printout." You can't go wrong with that one.
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