Dear Andrea, about a year ago the transverse arch of my right foot came crashing down. I let it hurt for a couple of days and then realised it needed fixing as it wouldn t fix itself. I didn t want to go to a doctor and I didn t want to wear orthotics for the rest of my life, so I looked up things on youtube and came across your video. I am German and grew up with Birkenstock shoes and supporting footwear and now live in Australia where I walk barefoot a lot and I walked barefoot round the apartment when it happened. What you said about the arches getting lazy by providing them with support made sense to me and I did your exercises and was pain-free after one week and could squat down and come onto my tip-toes after three weeks.The arch restored itself completely with the exercises, particularly the curling round of the foot and working into the pain. Not only did you help me but also a lot of my clients, I m a remedial massage therapist and can now refer clients to this video if they ask my advice about orthotics or pain in their feet. Thank you so much. Uli

Thank you!!

One of the best videos I've ever seen on KZfaq

This is the best intrinsic muscle video I have seen.

Still after 11 years a brilliant and super relevant video. Thanks Dre!

This video & demonstration is breathtaking.

Excellent explanation in front of what has happened to our feet and same for the conditioning exercises. I feel that we all need these even if we don't run. Thank you.

Damn. This vid is freaking amazing. Best exercises I’ve seen for intrinsic foot muscles.

At 4:19 the exercise begin.

Dr. Spina, thank you thank you thank you, i have a plantar facilities and a very flat arch, and I and my wife walk every day about a two miles down the beach here in san Diego and it helps but than i included food exercises like tennis boll foot roll, now this video with toe exercises .. precious !!!!

This is a great video! Dr. Spina, I do believe you could knit a sweater with your toes; so much articulation! I am gradually working through these exercises, and it is helping my dance strength immensely. At first, I would just stare at my toes and will them to move, but now I can do it!

glad you enjoyed it

Thank you so much for this, Dr. Spina. I'm in the process of healing my plantar fasciitis and I do believe these exercises will help instead of just locking my feet in, not moving... We are supposed to move!

Fantastic video. You touch on almost all the things that I read in this book I just finished reading. It is called simple steps to footpain relief by Katy Bowman. One of the best books for fixing foot pain for good rather than always trying to treat the pain. Highly recommend to anyone with severe foot pain like me.

Great exercises and love all your advice and you help us a lot.God Bless you Dr. Spina

You are incredible doctor; thank you so much.

This has helped me so much

The trick with the pen was really helpful! I could not get the adduction at all, but after several tries with something for my toes to squeeze I finally started getting something.

I used to be able to do a full squat, just tried it and no dice! Much needed work to be done!

Thank you for sharing Chelsey. I am glad that you have resolved the problem...and by the sound of what you did to do so, I would assume that you have done so permanently

Smart foot training video! Thanks a lot! I knew about towel curls but you added great additions.

AWESOME!!! Great video. Will share with my friends, thank you!!

This was worth watching just for "Cramping is neurological confusion" gonna steal this line hehehehe

Thank You for sharing! This Knowledge is absolutely GOLD!!!

Great material!

Great video Doc. Love this stuff.

These are great ideas. Spot on as usual, Dre. Looking forward to FRC. -Derrick Eddy, M.D.

He is right on!

this is amazing!

Awesome! My podiatrist just prescribed orthotics for my foot pain. I guess he's not up on strengthening. Will try this.8)))

gold mine right here, thank you

Thanks for the amazing video!!!

Great video sir.. I'll watch more of this later.. Hopefully you have more

This is a fantastic video, thank you sir.

WOW I did not realize how weak my toes were... Thanks I will do these exercised daily. Hopefully it will assist in my inverted foot posture.

The adduction exercise I cannot do at all. Wow! I found a part of my feet I need to strengthen!

Thanks dr for this video

Nice stuff! Especially after bunionectomy

thank you, Many people will need these exercises, including me. Will spread this video :)

Good afternoon sir this is a great video thank you very much Dr Spina

This is the best video! I like it !

Thanks much…they are very hard to do but will keep trying

Wow!!! Some real goals right here!

Gracias. Excelente video y muy útil. 👍👏👏👏👏

Amazing. My feet felt amazing doing this, I can tell my feet are super weak.

Excellent. Very helpful. Thanks.

Jumping rope in flat shoes is great for foot strength. Experiment with hard versus soft or surfaces to jump on. softer surfaces are generally more challenging for foot strength as they absorb your energy and make you work harder.

Great video mate! I did a similar sequence last year titled "waking up the feet". Really good stuff, you've clearly put in a lot of personal movement research time. Look forward to seeing more.

looks like it works, i'll give it a go. thanks

indeed. Many lines of research speak to the the importance of intermittent loading (as is sustained with the various exercises demonstrated) for stimulation of bone healing via activating the osteoblasts (the cells which build new bone structure)

You’re a legend.

thank you

How the algorithm knew I needed just this video? Not sure, but glad it did!

Very nice. Love

Really nice and well presented video!

I've been looking around for feet strengthening exercises specifically because I've gotten into minimalistic running. Guess I struck gold. Thanks for a great video!

This is super helpful!

Thanks lot for share you knowledge best one

I am on this..... thank you

This is great stuff. Hardly any good videos on foot strengthening. I have had crazy pain behind in my second toe on top of the foot. Recently ..it has almost vanished...after I stopped all Dairy!!! Most aches and pains have disappeared... could have been an inflammation issue caused by Dairy all along!!

Thanks. I noticed I have no problem with most of these so walking barefoot constantly seems to have its advantages!

Thanks, I think this will really help me; left foot can barely do any of these exercises and have been feeling a lot of arch pain with recent increase in running.

Bravo! Thank you for popping up on my you tube today! Who knew how challenging the individual toe work was! I now appreciate my feet more than ever.

Amazing! Thank you! :)

Thanks to Ciprofloxacin, my intrinsic muscles weakened (likely at the tendon) so my smaller 4 toes started to curve outward. Gonna do this to strengthen.

interesting can you explain intermittent loading for bone healing and how it works ive been doing weight bearing excercises for my foot that was injured with a stress fracture but its getting stronger but im interested in how this intermittent loading works thanks andreo

You are incredible Dr Spina - my sports therapist insisted I watch this video, and I'm very glad he did. It seems I have some neural pathways to form!

fantastic vid :)

Squeezing my toes together didn't even feel like something I could tell my feet to do until I stuck a pen between them, but the splaying toes and squatting circling and calf raises were all fine. It makes me wonder how on earth I have such discrepancy between the different areas. But! The goal is to remove the discrepancy! Off to figure out how my toes work! Thank you for the video

oh wow really that's good to know thanks for replying . I have a 5th metatarsal stress fracture its been 2 weeks and 2 days since the injury but its feeling a lot better and much stronger what kind of foot excercises would you recommend to help heal up the fracture and make foot stronger thanks in advance for your help and advise

Great videoooo

u r welcome. I hope it can help you

This is immensely helpful! I have weak feet after spinal cord compression. But I also have very high arches & bad bunions from years of dance & athletics. No surgery! Are either of these issues addressed anywhere? thank you.

wow interesting I wear a lot of air max nike free shoes do these decrese muscle in my foot as well ? I just had a stress fracture that was probably the cause of it

Bruh... Thank you!

ok thanks andreo

Thanks

Thanks to u sir

proper foot strength/control would theoretically help with any and all conditions stemming from biomechanical dysfunction

So today I learned my feet are stronk! Never thought of dem foot gainz.

does these excercises help with foot stress fracture recovery

Great exercises 👍🏻👍🏻, could you please suggest some for Plantar Fascitis too ? Many thanks 😊

Excellent exercises!! Thank you so much for making this video. Do you also recommend short foot? If so, do you have a video you can post for short foot? Also, do you (in general) recommend these for people with severe sesamoid issues?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Do you have a tip on how to teach the nervous system the toe seperation? Like with the pen at adduction. Cheers

hey Doc...hope all is well. You should try to come down to Toronto for the November 30-December 1 FRC certification

Great post Andreo! thankyou.

good grief, this is frigging great!

I find it helps to do the same movement with your hands at the same time as your feet.

the part where he balances calf raises on just his big toes was a pretty amazing show of foot strength. He’s got nice/great looking manly feet. #FeetGoals.

Although I have not assessed your specific case...and hence cannot provide specific medical advice, all of the exercises in the video can be beneficial when progressed at a slow but steady rate allowing for the tissue/bone to adapt and respond.

I'm doing these exercises to strengthen my foot. I have a sesamoidite with bursite that I can not absorb, in the meantime I hope to be able to reinforce the foot

While it is normal to have 'intrinsic nerve stimulation' which can lead to muscular cramping...it is not normal to have symptoms of tingling. If this is what your are experiencing I would suggest that you have your foot examined by a knowledgeable practitioner to rule out any other potential conditions/underlying problems. Regarding how long until 'cramping' ceases, it all depends on the original condition of the foot prior to commencing (ie. weak, very weak, etc...)

if after a couple of weeks it does not resolve I would be looking into the matter more deeply (imaging, etc)

Is it normal that the big toe deviates laterally as you extend or is it supposed to extend completely straight upwards in the sagittal plane (during the exercise where the lateral 4 toes are planted into the ground)?

How long would it take to go from all toes to just the big toe calf raise to ensure the big toe is ready?

Could this type of work also help in rehab post ankle sprain? Thank you

I find walking on sand is quite a good foot exercise. Loose dirt works too, but not as well.

Would this help at all in preventing bunions?

Can you make a video about posterior tibial tendonitis..

Which exercises do you recommend for race walkers.