The Short Foot Exercise

Here it is, in all its glory...Our version of the short foot exercise. Love it or hate it, say it “doesn’t translate”, we find it a useful training tool for both the patient/client as well as the clinician. It awakens and creates awareness of the sometimes dormant muscles in the user and offers a window to monitor progression for them, as well as the observer.

Remember that the foot intrinsics are supposed to be active from midstance through terminal stance/pre swing. Having the person “walk with their toes up” to avoid overusing the long flexors is a cue that works well for us. This can be a useful adjunct to your other exercises on the road to better foot intrinsic function.

Dr Ivo Waerlop, one of The Gait Guys

Sulowska I, Mika A, Oleksy Ł, Stolarczyk A. The Influence of Plantar Short Foot Muscle Exercises on the Lower Extremity Muscle Strength and Power in Proximal Segments of the Kinematic Chain in Long-Distance Runners Biomed Res Int. 2019 Jan 2;2019:6947273. doi: 10.1155/2019/6947273. eCollection 2019

Okamura K, Kanai S, Hasegawa M, Otsuka A, Oki S. Effect of electromyographic biofeedback on learning the short foot exercise. J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 2019 Jan 4. doi: 10.3233/BMR-181155. [Epub ahead of print]

McKeon PO, Hertel J, Bramble D, et al. the foot core system: a new paradigm for understanding intrinsic foot muscle function Br J Sports Med March 2014 doi:10.1136/bjsports-2013- 092690

Dugan S, Bhat K: Biomechanics and Analysis of Running Gait Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am 16 (2005) 603–621

Bahram J: Evaluation and Retraining of the Intrinsic Foot Muscles for Pain Syndromes Related to Abnormal Control of Pronation http://www.aptei.ca/wp-content/uploads/Intrinsic-Muscles-of-the-Foot-Retraining-Jan-29-05.pdf

#shortfootexercise #footexercises #footrehab #thegaitguys #gaitanalysis #gaitrehab #toesupwalking

https://vimeo.com/342800960