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Sunday, December 15, 2019

Best Foot Exercises and Stiffness Recommendations

Dear Dr. Blake:
     Hi, I love your blog posts. I just re-read the one about the golden rules for feet.  I have stiffness in my feet after undergoing 2 separate bunion surgeries 6 years ago with a third one to correct a bunch of scar tissue in one foot. What would you recommend as the three best exercises to do on a daily basis? 
Dr. Blake's comment: The three (four) best exercises to do each day are:

  1. Single leg balancing up to 2 minutes either barefoot and with shoes on
  2. 2 positional achilles stretches done once or twice a day to make sure the calf is loose
  3. Single leg heel lifts up to 25 (if one is difficult spend a month just doing 2 sided)
https://youtu.be/-4OB7wcYTJE

https://youtu.be/xjsYz_YFGyY

https://youtu.be/0eAqJ4-oKTM

https://youtu.be/GY-mJjXmeIc


I do so many exercises for different ailments in other body parts that I can’t or don’t have the time to do a lot of feet exercises but would like to narrow it down a bit. I find that I have a lot of stiffness/pain  in my right foot when I go to do a push-up or something like that when my foot is bent at that weird angle. I’m sure you’re too busy to write me individually but maybe you could send a letter out about post bunion surgery exercises to avoid the situation I’m in.
Dr. Blake's comment: Stiffness is an interesting thing. It can be related to stiffness, so rolling out the arches regularly on a tennis ball is good along with the plantar fascial wall stretch on one of the videos above. It can be related to foot weakness, so the four exercises above will be helpful. It can be related to scar tissue that really needs some PT work. It can be related to swelling stuck in the foot. Try doing contrast baths daily for a week experiment (sorry this is time consuming) and see if that loosens up you foot. It can also be related to nerve tension. Neural flossing can help that. Good luck. Rich

https://youtu.be/rRt5hC24Afg

https://youtu.be/g94F8g_jzGg

Thank you,

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Thank you very much for leaving a comment. Due to my time restraints, some comments may not be answered.I will answer questions that I feel will help the community as a whole.. I can only answer medical questions in a general form. No specific answers can be given. Please consult a podiatrist, therapist, orthopedist, or sports medicine physician in your area for specific questions.