3 Steps To Strong Feet You’re a runner, but how well do you look after your feet?
Why injury-free running starts from the ground up
WHEN IT COMES TO injury-proofing the body, most runners accept the need to improve their core strength, but how many pay attention to the feet? ‘Very few runners know how powerful foot strength can be,’ says Eric Orton, the run coach who worked closely with Christopher Mcdougall, author of Born to Run (runningwitheric.com). ‘Everything starts with the feet. They have muscles, just like the other parts of our body. I call it the foot core.’ Orton says that if our feet are weak – and most runners’ feet are pitifully so – this sets off a poor chain of movement, which can lead to problems in the knees, hips and lower back. The good news, says Orton, is that you can condition your feet. By balancing on one leg on your forefoot – preferably on a slanted board – you can get some strength back in your feet. For Mark Esteban, coach at barefoot-shoe brand Vivobarefoot (vivobarefoot.com/uk), the ideal foundation of healthy feet is not so much strength as it is shape. ‘Rather than doing specific exercises, I’d say you’re better walking around barefoot or in a barefoot shoe,’ he says. Barefoot shoes, according to Esteban, should be ‘flat, wide and flexible’, allowing the foot to move as it would do without shoes. And it becomes even more important as we get older. ‘If you have dysfunctional feet, it will get worse rather than better,’ he says. ‘It’s so important to keep moving as you get older. Whether you’re a runner or not, we can and should be looking to maintain our physical and mental health through movement. And it all starts with the feet.’