Our feet are probably the most neglected part of our body. We shoe them, don’t exercise them and then expect them to stay strong and injury free and keep supporting us both in body weight and movement. When you neglect your feet then pain starts to occur not only in your feet but in your ankles, knees, hips and back.
Foot Anatomy Overview
The joints, bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments work intricately together to allow for shock absorption and locomotion. Unfortunately, such a dynamic and finely tuned system lends itself to frequent overuse injuries causing foot and ankle pain.
A single human foot has 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments, 19 tendons and 26 muscles.
There are 4 layers of intrinsic muscles within the foot (attach from foot bone to foot bone). 3 under the foot and 1 on top. They are responsible for toe movement only.
Also, the foot has extrinsic muscles which control ankle stability (attach from the lower leg bones to the foot bones).
Before becoming involved in Pilates, the only thing I would do for my feet was barefoot walking and running on the beach in the semi-soft sand and that is still probably more than most of you. Now I make sure I not only release and stretch my feet, but keep them strong by doing Pilates Footwork.
Perhaps the greatest advantage of balancing your leg muscles and aligning your feet is that the benefits just keep on coming:
_ It helps to build strength in the hips, legs, ankles and feet for a more stable posture
_ Leads to increase in flexibility of the lower limbs
_ Helps to attain a balanced growth and development of muscles around the joints
_ Pilates footwork is essential in leg, ankle and foot alignment
_ Improves the bio mechanics of the body to optimize functions such as walking, running and dancing. It is especially beneficial for athletes who partake in sports
_ It helps in preventing injuries from sports and training by balancing the muscles to help them manage the stress on the joints of the limbs
_ The reformer also helps to recover from muscle injuries, thanks to its closed-chain nature which allows the person to gradually build muscle strength by slowly increasing the resistance
There are many positions to place the feet on the Reformer, Wunda Chair and Cadillac. We even copy some of these movements on the ground.
So next time you’re in the studio, do your Pilates footwork with concentration, precision and control, and remember the power your feet have over your whole body.