How to do it
Without curling the toes, draw the ball of the foot toward the heel so the arch lifts.
Default dose
3 × 12 · 5s · each side
This is the library's default dose. Each person's programme is set after assessment, around the grade of their finding and their own conditions and limits.
Muscles involved
- holding still Plantar foot muscles
Muscle colours in the animation: orange working, blue stretching, amber holding still. These muscles were measured on the 3D model.
Where it sits in a programme: Activate the weak
The third phase is activation: strengthening a muscle that has become weak or underused, with controlled movement and light load, so it can carry its share of holding the body up.
Which postural findings it is prescribed for
It appears in the example programme on these pages:
Take care
- If the movement causes pain or makes pain worse, stop and contact the clinic or your doctor.
Source
Textbook:
- Page P, Frank CC, Lardner R. Assessment and Treatment of Muscle Imbalance: The Janda Approach. Human Kinetics; 2010.
Janda's approach: the crossed syndromes, the short-foot exercise and motor-control retraining. - McKeon PO, Hertel J, Bramble D, Davis I. The foot core system: a new paradigm for understanding intrinsic foot muscle function. Br J Sports Med. 2015;49(5):290.
The intrinsic foot muscles are the foot's core; the short-foot exercise works them without curling the toes.