ISO help strengthening my feet

[jgenie]

I know it sounds odd but my feet seem to be failing me. I tried doing a workout on Fitness blender and I wasn’t able to keep up. I wasn’t winded or fatigued. My problem seemed to be my feet couldn’t keep up. My feet were hurting within 5 minutes and by 15 mins I was in so much pain I had to stop. I walk almost every day for 60 minutes and generally get 3.5 miles in. It’s not a fast walk but it is pretty consistent. I feel like I had the same problem when I did C25K. No problems with breathing or my body but I really feel my workouts in my feet. Anyone else experienced this? Anyone have any tips on strengthening my feet so it’s not as much an issue in the future? TIA

[SnuggleBuggles]

Are you sure you just need new shoes? Maybe done with better support for cross training?


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[StantonHyde]

I have to wear super feet or power feet orthotics in my shoes. Walking is a different movement than side to side stuff. You might do better in basketball shoes for the workouts. You can also strengthen feet by standing on a bosu or something else that wiggles around and you have to adjust to stay standing

[newnana]

Hi, sorry I'm late to this. I have heel spurs and plantar fasciitis. For years. Finally went to physical therapy last year and they gave me a bunch of foot strengthening exercises that helped a lot:

Take a small bowl/cheap container about the size of your hand. Fill it with a bag of marbles from the dollar store. Sit in a chair like a desk chair or kitchen chair where your knees are at a 90 degree angle at the front of the chair so you are sitting up straight. Dump the marbles out in a small area you can reach with one foot. Pick up the marbles one at a time with your toes and put them all back in the bowl. Repeat with the other foot. 2-3 times each foot.

Get a washcloth. Same chair. Put the washcloth under the front of one foot. Pick up the washcloth with your toes, hold it for 1-2 seconds. Set it down. repeat. 2 Sets. 10-15 times per foot.

Stand on one foot barefoot for one minute. Switch feet. Repeat. Do this as often as possible. If you have a bosu ball, do it on the squishy side of that.




All this is about strengthening the little muscles in your feet. I'm so impressed with how much better my feet feel. The spurs won't go away, but the pain is much better.

I use a golf ball under my foot to massage it. A tennis ball is recommended but I don't love that. Also, my feet feel much better when my calves and below are stripped. I do it with the handle of a serving spoon per my therapist but there are tools you can buy. Basically a massage of the back of the lower leg since reading that it sounds horrible. It's a hard place for me to massage myself.

HTH!

[jgenie]

Hi, sorry I'm late to this. I have heel spurs and plantar fasciitis. For years. Finally went to physical therapy last year and they gave me a bunch of foot strengthening exercises that helped a lot:

Take a small bowl/cheap container about the size of your hand. Fill it with a bag of marbles from the dollar store. Sit in a chair like a desk chair or kitchen chair where your knees are at a 90 degree angle at the front of the chair so you are sitting up straight. Dump the marbles out in a small area you can reach with one foot. Pick up the marbles one at a time with your toes and put them all back in the bowl. Repeat with the other foot. 2-3 times each foot.

Get a washcloth. Same chair. Put the washcloth under the front of one foot. Pick up the washcloth with your toes, hold it for 1-2 seconds. Set it down. repeat. 2 Sets. 10-15 times per foot.

Stand on one foot barefoot for one minute. Switch feet. Repeat. Do this as often as possible. If you have a bosu ball, do it on the squishy side of that.


All this is about strengthening the little muscles in your feet. I'm so impressed with how much better my feet feel. The spurs won't go away, but the pain is much better.

I use a golf ball under my foot to massage it. A tennis ball is recommended but I don't love that. Also, my feet feel much better when my calves and below are stripped. I do it with the handle of a serving spoon per my therapist but there are tools you can buy. Basically a massage of the back of the lower leg since reading that it sounds horrible. It's a hard place for me to massage myself.

HTH!

Thank you for taking the time to type this all out! I’ll start these exercises next week and hopefully I’ll see a change.

Can’t seem to multiquote. I have always bought my sneakers at a running store because I have narrow feet and can’t seem to find narrow sneakers in a regular store. Where should I look for cross trainers? I would like to try on for best fit - I’m ok with getting regular width sneakers to try out.

[newnana]

I realize now I was typing the previous response barefoot on my balance board - same philosophy, different action. The other stuff is with items you may have around the house. This I alternate standing on one foot or doing squats on or toes down then heels down all barefoot. Like this one:

https://www.prosourcefit.com/product...kaAhFWEALw_wcB

As far as shoes go, I had gotten new shoes before starting PT and haven't bought new ones, it's probably time for me. PT did not have recommendations and said as long as it had good arch support for my particular condition, they were fine. They then had me take them off and do all the stuff I mentioned to you to strengthen the small muscles in my feet - and I could never walk barefoot without pain before.

I also have a narrow foot, but for this it was recommended to get a regular width for my toes to splay better in the toe box. Do you have a Scheel's near you? Their associates are a wealth of knowledge about whatever department they are working in and do not rotate. When DH tore his Achilles and needed new shoes, the guy took one look at his giant archless flipper feet and said, there are only 2 brands for a foot like yours and proceeded to explain why. He went on to find the exact right shoe to help during DH healing phase and I think that made a world of difference. When I was looking and mentioned the heel spurs and plantar fasciitis they put me in a pair of brooks. Kind of like these:
https://www.brooksrunning.com/en_us/...ns/120293.html

First pair of any shoe I've worn in about a decade without an orthotic. I cannot believe how good they feel.

If you don't have a Scheel's, I'd stick with the running store, personally. HTH!