When was the last time you worked out your feet? While foot strengthening might not be on most people’s radar when it comes to strength training, if you’re a runner and you’re not addressing your feet as part of your strengthening program, you probably should be. Here’s why.

When we talk about strengthening the foot, we’re usually talking about the muscles that help make up the arch on the bottom of your foot. The concept of a foot “arch” is commonly misunderstood: your foot actually has not one but three arches that together create a half dome under your foot (McKenzie). As you walk or run, your arches must adapt and change based on what point you’ve reached in the gait cycle. Depending on whether you are making initial contact with the ground or pushing off, your foot has to be both incredibly flexible in order to absorb and accept heavy loads (a position we call pronation) and it also has to be exceptionally stable in order to create a rigid lever to propel you forward (also known as supination) (O’McKeon et al). Your foot has to be able to switch between the two positions over and over again- an average of about 750 times per foot in just one mile of running (Watson).

Structurally, your arches are formed by the 26 bones of your foot as well as ligaments and connective tissue, but most importantly, they are formed by the muscles in the bottom of your foot and the tendons that cross into the foot from the ankle. The foot itself contains 29 muscles- 4 layers of muscles that originate in the foot, and 10 from the ankle. All of these muscles are what must contract and relax in order to control the arch at different phases of the gait cycle (Basmajian et al).

When these muscles are weak or are not able to control the arch properly, it results in instability and altered biomechanics up the chain into the ankle, knee, hip, and even low back; it compromises tissue integrity by placing repetitive strain on structures; and causes you to leak power, decreasing running efficiency. Altogether, this is the perfect recipe for sustaining an overuse injury. In fact, poor arch strength and control have been linked to many overuse injuries commonly seen in runners such as plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, posterior tibialis dysfunction, shin splints, runner’s knee, and even bone stress injuries (Brewer et al).

If you’ve been in the running community long enough, you’ve probably heard the terms “overpronation” and “oversupination” thrown around. All these terms mean is that there are some people who have difficulty getting their feet into either a pronated or supinated position during their gait cycle. This can be structural, meaning that you were born with either more rigid or flexible feet, but most commonly it is due to poor control of the foot muscles. This is especially true if you have “flat feet,” or feet that remain pronated throughout most of your gait cycle.

So how do you strengthen your feet? Everyone is different, so if you’re experiencing lower extremity pain, one of our Doctors of Physical Therapy here at Perform PT can assess the way you move and structure a strengthening program to address your specific needs at your initial evaluation. However, there are a few tips and tricks you can try at home or in the gym to prevent injury from occurring in the first place. As you run, most of your time is spent hopping from one foot to the next, with very minimal time spent on two legs. This means that developing stability in your foot while being on one leg is going to directly translate to increased stability in your foot and lower extremity while running. You should also aim to do exercises that are dynamic, or involving movement, rather than just static exercises, given that running is a dynamic activity and requires your muscles to be able to adapt and stabilize as you move and adapt to forces from the ground. Lastly, you want to train your muscles with different kinds of contractions- your muscles not only contract by shortening when you run (called concentric contractions), but they also contract by lengthening slowly to control movement (known as eccentric contractions), and they must be able to contract at different speeds. Below are a few examples of exercises you can try at home.

With the following exercises, the key is going to be creating an arch in your foot before you begin each rep and then maintaining that arch throughout (it may help to complete them barefoot so that you can really see and feel what the foot is doing). You can do this by thinking of your foot like a tripod- the inside and outside of the ball of your foot as well as your heel should always remain in contact with the ground. Pushing these three points into the ground, create an outward rotational force with your foot, like a windshield wiper, and let your foot, knee, and hip rotate externally. This will also activate muscles in your hip that are important for single leg stability and will help lift your arch off the ground. If you’re doing it right, you should feel the muscles on the bottom of your feet and on the outside of your hip working hard. You can progress these exercises by standing on an unstable surface like a soft pad or Bosu ball or you can complete them as slowly as possible to increase eccentric strength and control.

Reverse lunge to runner with band
> https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mERqviKerY0

Standing hip abduction
> https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mERqviKerY0

Side lunge to runner
> https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GNjgaU9tpeA

Single leg RDL
> https://www.youtube.com/shorts/raunQYUlVGE

In addition to exercise, we use a couple different tools here at Perform PT that can assist you in your recovery and injury prevention. We use toe spacers a lot from https://glnk.io/69ln/claire (use the code Perform.Pt10 for a 20% discount). Toe spacers are an awesome tool to help stretch your foot muscles and place your feet in the best biomechanical position while you workout your feet. We also love shoe orthotics from www.superfeet.com (use the code SFRX588 for a discount). Orthotics are placed in your shoes and can help correct arch instability while you run. They’re a great adjunct to PT!

Works Cited

1. Basmajian JV, Stecko G. The role of muscles in arch support of the foot. J Bone
   Joint Surg Am 1963;45:1184–90.
2. Brewer RB, Gregory AJ. Chronic lower leg pain in athletes: a guide for the differential diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment. Sports Health 2012;4:121–7.
3. McKenzie J. The foot as a half-dome. Br Med J 1955;1:1068–9.
4. O’McKeon, Patrick O et al. “The foot core system: a new paradigm for understanding intrinsic foot muscle function.” Br J Sports Med 2015; vol. 49: 290. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2013-092690
5. Watson, Thomas. “How many steps in a mile running or walking.” Marathon Handbook. Published November 16, 2022. Accessed October 3, 2023. https://marathonhandbook.com/how-many-steps-in-a-mile-running-walking/