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Today I am going to show you several self foot massage and ankle stretching techniques as well as toe, calf and soleus stretches that will keep your feet, ankles, toes, calfs and soleus muscles supple and flexible. Not only do these stretches prepare your feet, ankles, calfs and soleus before exercise, they are great after a long workout or anytime your feet and lower legs need some love and attention.

Strong, flexible feet are essential to balance, fall prevention, and aerobic activities. Unfortunately, our feet tend to spend most of our lives sheltered in our shoes. The external support provided by our shoes protects them, however, it limits their movement and flexibility. As a result, we have to actively work on our feet and ankles to increase their flexibility, strength and stability.

The foot massage techniques demonstrated in this blog are great for your plantar fascia and the smaller muscles of your of your feet.

Self Foot Massage With a Ball • Technique #1

You will use a ball during this self foot massage.

Keep your heel on the floor. Place a ball at the bottom of your foot — on the outside edge of your arch. Follow these steps:

  • Sweep your foot over the ball. The movement should occur from rotation of your hip joint and allow the ball to massage from the outside the edge of your heel bone to the inside edge and back again.
  • Repeat this action several times before moving the ball.
  • Next, move the ball a little further into the mid foot. Repeat the sweeping motion back and forth.
  • Lastly, move the ball a little higher — just beneath the knuckles of the toes. Make slow sweeping motions from the base of your 5th toe to the base of your big toe and back again.
  • Remember that rotation happens from the hip joint. The knee and foot move as one unit.
  • Repeat on your other foot.

Self Foot Massage With a Ball • Technique #2

For this technique, imagine your foot resting over a lightly opened, old fashioned, hand-held fan. The handle of the fan is at your heel and the spokes of the fan are in line with the long bones (metatarsals) of your toes.

Begin as you did in the exercise above with the ball at the bottom of your foot outside edge of your arch. However, this time your heel is lifted off the floor. Follow these steps

  • Adjust the amount of pressure you have on the ball by shifting more or less weight onto the ball — you are looking for a Goldilocks pressure — not too strong or too weak, but “just right”. You should feel the pressure from the base of the heel to the knuckle, and all the way back.
  • Slowly roll the ball under your foot. Work the soft tissue between your 5th and 4th toes from the base of the heel to the outer two toes.
  • Next, place the ball in the centre of the base of your heel.
  • Slowly roll the ball under your foot working into the soft tissue between your 4th and 3rd toes from the base of the heel to the respective toes.
  • Repeat the massage between your 3rd and second toes and then finally between your 2nd and big toe.

Eventually you may wish to do this in standing position.

self foot massage and increase ankle flexibility melioguide

Exercise Recommendations for Osteoporosis

Exercise is an essential ingredient to bone health. If you have osteoporosis, therapeutic exercise needs to be part of your osteoporosis treatment program.

But what exercises should you do and which ones should you avoid? What exercises build bone and which ones reduce your chance of a fracture? Is Yoga good for your bones? Who should you trust when it comes to exercises for osteoporosis?

A great resource on exercise and osteoporosis is my free, seven day email course called Exercise Recommendations for Osteoporosis. After you provide your email address, you will receive seven consecutive online educational videos on bone health — one lesson each day. You can look at the videos at anytime and as often as you like.

I cover important topics related to osteoporosis exercise including:

  • Can exercise reverse osteoporosis?
  • Stop the stoop — how to avoid kyphosis and rounded shoulders.
  • Key components of an osteoporosis exercise program.
  • Key principles of bone building.
  • Exercises you should avoid if you have osteoporosis.
  • Yoga and osteoporosis — should you practice yoga if you have osteoporosis?
  • Core strength and osteoporosis — why is core strength important if you have osteoporosis?

Enter your email address and I will start you on this free course. I do not SPAM or share your email address (or any information) with third parties. You can unsubscribe from my mail list at any time.

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Toe Curl Exercise

Now we are going to give your toes a workout.

  • Place the ball just beneath the knuckles of your foot and keep your heel down.
  • Curl the toes around the ball as you slowly count to three.
  • At this point, open and stretch your toes away from the ball as you slowly count to three.

Repeat five times and then repeat on your other foot.

Toe Stretches

These toe stretches are done in sitting position. Depending on how flexible you are, either you can bring your foot to rest on your opposite knee or place your it on a chair or a stool.

You are going to stretch the web space between your toes.

Often, if toes have been confined in tight shoes, they begin to develop bunions. Over time our big toe can crowd out the second toe and this “crowding out” effect forces the big toe to sit over top of the second toe. Deformities of our toes are not only unattractive but, more importantly, they impair our foot function.

Toe alignment is very important for balance, posture and walking. Most of us ignore our toes until they become a problem. let’s try to change that!

I encourage you to begin gently. Respect the lack of flexibility that may have developed over the years. If you make foot care part of your daily routine, your feet will get better.

Technique #1

Begin by sitting tall. In a supportive manner, hold the big toe with one hand and the second toe (of the same foot) with the opposite hand.

  • Gently stretch the space between the big and second toe.
  • Hold for at least a slow count of three or as long as it feels right.
  • Move to the next two toes.
  • Stretch the space between the second and third toes, third and fourth, and finally fourth and fifth toes.

Technique #2

Begin in the same way as the first technique.

In a supportive manner, hold the big toe with one hand and the second toe (of the same foot) with the opposite hand.

  • Now stretch your big toe towards you as you stretch the second toe away from you.
  • Remember it should feels like a comfortable stretch.
  • Next switch the direction of stretch. Stretch your big toe away from you as you stretch the second toe towards you.
  • Hold for at least a slow count of three or as long as it feels right.
  • Move to the next two toes.
  • Stretch the toes in opposite directions between the second and third toes, third and fourth and finally fourth and fifth toes.

Your toes will thank you each day that you do these exercises.

A good time to stretch toes is when you are drying them after a bath or shower.

If your toes are really stiff, you could begin by placing an extra layer of towel between your toes. However you take care of them, do try to give your toes a nice opportunity to stretch out on a regular basis.

Exercise Recommendations for Osteoporosis

Exercise is an essential ingredient to bone health. If you have osteoporosis, therapeutic exercise needs to be part of your osteoporosis treatment program.

But what exercises should you do and which ones should you avoid? What exercises build bone and which ones reduce your chance of a fracture? Is Yoga good for your bones? Who should you trust when it comes to exercises for osteoporosis?

A great resource on exercise and osteoporosis is my free, seven day email course called Exercise Recommendations for Osteoporosis. After you provide your email address, you will receive seven consecutive online educational videos on bone health — one lesson each day. You can look at the videos at anytime and as often as you like.

I cover important topics related to osteoporosis exercise including:

  • Can exercise reverse osteoporosis?
  • Stop the stoop — how to avoid kyphosis and rounded shoulders.
  • Key components of an osteoporosis exercise program.
  • Key principles of bone building.
  • Exercises you should avoid if you have osteoporosis.
  • Yoga and osteoporosis — should you practice yoga if you have osteoporosis?
  • Core strength and osteoporosis — why is core strength important if you have osteoporosis?

Enter your email address and I will start you on this free course. I do not SPAM or share your email address (or any information) with third parties. You can unsubscribe from my mail list at any time.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Plantar Fasciitis Prevention

Tight calf and soleus muscles causes extra strain on the plantar fascia predisposing someone to develop plantar fasciitis. The two stretches below are easy ways to stretch these two muscle groups and prevent the development of plantar fasciitis.

In our heel drop exercise blog (which includes heel raises) we discuss the importance of stretching the calf and soleus muscles.

Calf Muscle Stretch

The next exercises specifically stretches your calf muscles.

You will need either a rolled yoga mat, a half foam roller, or a 1 – 11/2 inch (2.5 – 4 cm) thick book. We will begin by stretching the right calf:

  • Stand with a supportive surface (a sturdy chair or counter top) on your left side.
  • Place the object of choice six inches in front of your right foot.
  • Rest your left hand on the supportive surface.
  • Step your right foot forward and place your right forefoot onto the raised surface.
  • Drop your right heel to the floor and straighten your right knee.
  • If you don’t feel a stretch, step your left foot closer to the raised surface.
  • If you still don’t feel a stretch, keep going forward until you start to feel a nice stretch in the calf muscle of the foot resting on the raised surface.
  • Hold the stretch for at least 30 seconds.
  • Repeat on the opposite side.

Soleus Muscle Stretch

The next exercises specifically stretches your soleus muscles. You will notice that the stretch is identical except for the knee is kept bent during the stretch.

You will need either a rolled yoga mat, a half foam roller, or a 1 – 11/2 inch (2.5 -– 4 cm) thick book. We will begin by stretching the right calf:

  • Stand with a supportive surface (a sturdy chair or counter top) on your left side.
  • Place the object of choice six inches in front of your right foot.
  • Rest your left hand on the supportive surface.
  • Step your right foot forward and place your right forefoot onto the raised surface.
  • Drop your right heel to the floor and bend your right knee.
  • If you don’t feel a stretch, step your left foot closer to the raised surface.
  • If you still don’t feel a stretch, keep going forward until you start to feel a nice stretch in the calf muscle of the foot resting on the raised surface.
  • Hold the stretch for at least 30 seconds.
  • Repeat on the opposite side.

Balance Exercises for Fall Prevention

A good place to improve your balance is my Balance and Fall Prevention Exercise Workouts available on Amazon Prime and Vimeo.

balance exercises for fall prevention

Conclusion

Foot and ankle flexibility are foundational to balance and fall prevention. In this blog, I covered several self foot massage and ankle flexibility exercises, as well as toe, calf and soleus muscle stretches you can do before and after a workout. These exercises will increase your ankle flexibility, build foot strength and improve your balance.

Balance Exercises for Seniors Guidelines

For more information, check out my Balance Exercises for Seniors guidelines.

Comments

March 23, 2020 at 12:22pm

catherine squillini

loved this! Thank you

March 23, 2020 at 12:37pm

Richard Martin replies

Hi Catherine. Thank you.

April 28, 2020 at 9:08am

anna green

Hi, I wondered which exercises were the ankle-flexibility ones and whether you have any for ankle strengthening? I have sprained or broken my angels three times in the last eighteen months.

December 31, 2020 at 8:08pm

Chicken Little

This type of toe-spreading and crossing sounds like it could really elevate my wake-up routine. I've been doing a primitive version of these exercises (massaging stretching & wiggling my toes, feet and ankles, then stretching calf & hamstrings, piriformis, etc.) each morning lying on my back before getting out of bed. (I have kind of assumed these would be better done at night, but morning is when I seem to be motivated consistently, so morning it is.)

Is there any reason why your foot massage should better be done in a sitting position than supine on a bed?