The goal of the study was to gather and review information and combine existing literature in one article. We gathered, analysed and described detailed overview of strengthening exercises for the foot and toe muscles.
Foot supports the weight of the body, maintains balance while standing and moving. It absorbs impacts and transfer forces from muscles to the ground. That is why it is important that we strengthen our foot and do exercises for global and local foot muscles.
We gathered more than 20 exercises and its variations for strengthening global and local stabilising (intrinsic and extrinsic) foot and toe muscles. We focused on the new, innovative and maybe less known exercises, which were proven to be more affective than well-known exercises such as »marble pick-up« and »towl curls«.
We found out that it is hard to categorize strengthening exercises for the foot and toe muscles, as every individual reacts differently on the specific exercise. Even when reviewing some studies we found out that results of the muscle activity measurements in the same exercise differs among individuals and studies. There is no visible correlation. Exercise recommendations in all the studies differ from recommendation for sport exercise and known principles of strength training.
Therefore basic purpose of all the strengthening exercises is to improve strength, activation, hypertrophy, consciousness and neuromuscular control of the intrinsic and extrinsic muscles. We advise that exercises are picked from basic to advanced with proper progression in between.
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