Who Knew Toes Need Exercise?

For decades I promised myself that when I had the time, I would start Pilates or Yoga or some type of therapeutic exercise especially for my neck and back. As a 40-year veteran of being a stenographer, my shoulders and neck were always aching, plus I was born with scoliosis. Once I sold my company, I finally had the time, but needed to find a great teacher. Using my habit of telling everyone I met I needed a Pilates teacher, the great Des was referred to me by my hairdresser. I will be writing a lot of articles about the wonderful Des and what I have learned from her the last three years. Today I want to focus on toes because they are top of mind for me. My Mother, Brother, and I all need toe exercises STAT.

A couple of years ago, Des asked me to warm up before my Pilates sessions rolling a tennis ball around with my feet, gripping it with my toes, passing the ball back and forth between my feet. This is to help with balance. I have a bunion (high heels) and a tendency to walk/run with my arches turning in, rather than walking/running with emphasis on the outside of my foot. Starting with the toes, this causes a knocked-knee gait and imbalance (very bad for the knees).

My Mother (85) has a “hammer toe,” as did her Mother. She always thought she inherited from her, but doing research I found out that a hammer toe is usually caused by wearing shoes with high heels or narrow toe boxes. It often affects the toe next to the big toe. The affected toe may be painful or hard to move, and may develop corns or calluses. She has corns and calluses. The toes get stiff and claw-like.

My brother (60) has peripheral neuropathy in both feet resulting in tingling, pain, and numbness. Balance becomes an issue because he can’t feel parts of his feet. Walking on his toes is painful, so he avoids putting pressure on them, and they are getting claw-like.

Des recommends I focus on my toes because of balance, and we are working on getting my legs strong. Whenever I am asked to do a difficult movement with Pilates, whether using my legs or even my shoulders, my big toe goes up, straining to help. My balance was embarrassingly bad when I started.

The one passive way to exercise and stretch out our toes is to wear toe separators 15 minutes a day. When I asked my Brother’s neurologist if toe separators would be helpful for him, she was pleasantly startled and said, “Yes, that would be excellent. Swimming would be great, too, since walking/running would be painful putting pressure on his feet.”

So I went online and found Dr. JK’s ToePals. They are excellent., Because they are made from gel, they are easy to put on and don’t break or tear. Just put them on!

Everyone in the world needs balance. I never realized how important my individual toes were in being an athlete, for walking, and most importantly balance. I am happy that I am taking care of my body, starting with my toes. Let’s all be toe athletes!!!