Experincing foot pain latley? Have had a flat foot awhile… Lets fix that.
Flat feet are a pain in the ass if you have them, standing for long periods of time can be killer, it can effect your lifts, and running is a bitch. Plus having orthodics probably make the situation worse becuase your muscles that normally support the arch arnt supporting it. Well doing some research and with the help of podiatrist i’ve been able to put something together that should help those of you with flat feet.
First area of attack, you calf muscles (soleus, gastrocnemius). Start doing lots of stretching for your calves, every day.
Second area of attack, your tibialis anterior. This is a muscle that runs down the anterior side of your tibialis. It brings your foot upwards when your contract it. To train this muscle take a dumbbell and grasp it between your to feet, sit of a flat bench, have your legs straight, then use your feet to lift the leg, i find this can be somewhat painful to from the pressure against the foot, what i do is just wrap a small towel around the dumbbell to cushion it against the top of your foot.
For the next two exercises, cross your legs where your there perpendicular to each other.
You’ll also need some sort of purse, bag or backpack for the next two movements that you’ll be able to load plates into.
Third area of attack. Hang the bag off your foot and flex the tibialis anteroir and raise your foot superiorly. You should see that muscle sticking up at the front of your ankle when you do this.
Fourth Area of Attack. Keep the same position but instead of flexing your tib flex your calves, now bring the weight up again, you should feel the muscles just inferior to your ankle being flexed. (your foot wil be parallel and in line with the rest of your calves)
Try doing these with reps of 20 for 4 sets 2 or 3 times a week. I promise you’ll start feeling better 
herb,
nice info… one dumb question though on the 3rd and 4th areas of attack: by having your legs perpendicular, do you mean “with your right knee bent at 90 deg. rest your lower leg on your left knee and execute the excercises”
or am i misunderstanding “inferior” and “superior”
thanks for the clarification!!!
btw, i am interested because i am currently rehabbing/prehabbing ankle inflexibility, pronation and strength imbalance issues which i think have in the past contributed to shinsplints, inability to really take a squat down a2g, jumpers knee in b-ball, plantar fasciitis every once in a while, etc… you get the idea.
andy
by perpindicular i mean you have one leg resting across the other, like how dudes cross their legs, not fully crossed but with one leg resting on top of the other? I tryed to upload some pics with my digi camera but no luck. But yeah i believe you have the correct understading of the exercise. But about the shin splints training your Tibialis anterior will do wonders for that. That pain you get from shin splints? Thats you tib. ant. tearing away from the bone… Ouch.
Good luck with your rehabbing man, so far ive been having some pretty good luck with these exercises, stretch your calves whenever you get a chance though that seemed to make a big diffrence before i knew about anything else that i could do. Plus it would never hurt to seek out a chiro who knows art. Generally the ones who do are pretty knowledable about sports rehab.
herb:
thanks very much. i will work in your recommendations (on the 3rd and 4th exercises - i was doing dorsiflexions and stretching). i am also going from e.o.d. to every day for the dorsiflexions and other exercises, and will look to stretch calves/post chain twice a day.
a closer look & a little thought convinced me that my lack of discernible progress might really be due more to lack of “a plan” and “a goal” and “discipline”
thanks again!!
andy
That’s all well and good if these plantarflexors and dorsiflexors are in fact the origin of the problem. If your pronated feet are a result of dysfunction further up the kinetic chain, you might never make progress with these recommendations alone.
mr. cressey,
what else would you suggest then? a podiatrist? ART? chiro?
and what else further up might be the problem? i have thought of tight posterior chain, tight hipflexors…
by the way, i am elated to be getting such insight into this issue (thanks for starting the thread, herb). in the past, these things haven’t really been a hindrance to daily life, but rather would keep me from playing ball or running to the extent i would like to (and ended my rugby season a meaningless game short). since there is not really an acute injury, but rather only low-level hampering of performance, all my coaches and doctors have really just tended to say “rest.”
thanks for the help!!
andy
use2
if you think its your hip flexors you should check out Joe Defranco’s article from a week or two back titled something like “Dirty tricks for a higher vertical jump” he gives a great hip flexor stretch
Will the above mentioned exercises help someone like me who’s had flat feet all my life? I’m 28 years old and on the advise of my chairopractor I’ve been wearing orthotics for the past 5-6 years. Is this a bad idea?
Are you suggesting that having flat feet is not genetic, but is actually a problem that can be corrected?
I ask because i have relatively flat feet, and have had them all my life.
Flat feet arnt nessecarilly genetic, ive only recently developed them along with arthritis, its my understanding that in most cases of flat feet the chorocoid tendon (achilles) becomes stretched. Yea flat feet can be corrected, but i would assume it all depends on the severity, give the workout i detailed a try but most definitly consult a good podiatrist and someone whos good with sports rehab, alot of chiros who do ART are pretty well trained in this, make sure you get a good practioner too. Yea you can correct a flat foot, but if you’ve had it all your life, like i said, definitly get in contact with good doctors in your area and give these exercises i detailed a shot man, they cant do anything but help you. good luck man
herb,
yeah, thanks, i added joe defranco’s hipflexor stretch a week or two ago.
all: my viewpoint might be a little uninformed, but i have been working with the hyposthesis that, in Most Cases, “flat feet/pronation/arch problems” is really a Continuum of afflictions, with a mild inflexibility/structure issues/etc at one end, and completely fallen arch at the other. generally, i think the common characteristic is that your foot rolls inward…
i am working to address the causes and effects of this whole situation in myself that i think include post. chain tightness, vastus medialis weakness, ankle inflexibility, hip flexor tightness shin splints and patellar tendinitis.
before anyone sheds a tear for me, i still live a full rewarding life. lol.
andy