Improve Your Pelvic Floor By Improving Your Feet

Can you lift your big toe- without using your hands? Why should you care?

This is important because tension in your feet is a good indicator of also having tension in your pelvic floor, neither of which is good for us.

In my experience, almost all of the aches and pains we deal with are somehow connected to the hips and pelvis. A healthy pelvic region requires a balance of strength and mobility, and VERY often the clients I see don’t have either of these. 

Simply put, your pelvic floor is the very foundation of how you move- and how you feel when you move. Not having good strength and mobility makes for a messy chain reaction up and down the body, and this is why I’m always working with clients on the feet from day 1, regardless of what else we’re also working on.

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Here’s the fun thing about this connection: the nerves that come out of your spine to innervate your pelvic floor are the same ones that go to your feet!

So while it can be difficult to know exactly what is happening in your PF, we can easily see what’s going on in your feet- just take off your shoes and look. Feet give us some information about the PF.

If you have enough muscular control to lift your big toe, or even (gasp!) to WAVE all your toes, then you probably have good muscle tone in your PF. On the other hand, if you can’t move your toes independently, then you probably don’t have good control over the PF either. 

Not only is it simple to begin improving your foot mobility, I recommend you KEEP it simple both because the feet are complex, and because they're used so much in our daily lives. You want to make sure the work you're doing is gentle so it doesn't cause any inflammation or discomfort that can lead to other problems. 

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Start Here

Stretch your toes by lacing your fingers between them, and by bending them backwards and forwards.

Roll a ball under the sole of your foot to start loosening up structures. This can be a tennis or lacrosse ball, a textured ball, or even a rolled up pair of socks.

​Wear yoga socks until it doesn’t drive you crazy, then move up to silicone toe spreaders, starting both with small increments of time, maybe 5 minutes, and increasing as your tolerance does. 

Our feet are intimately linked with our nervous system, and changing sensations from our feet can cause quite a reaction like anxiety and defensiveness! Take it slow.

Start trying to move that big toe. It needs a combination of muscle strength and nerves to tell it to, and this takes time. I’ve read that nerves can grow about 1 inch per month, so this won’t happen tomorrow. But if you practice (all of life is a practice, isn't it?) you’ll get there.

P.S.- You’ll probably also see some other improvements up and down the chain too. Everything’s connected, after all.

P.P.S.- Want some extra help? I can do that! Sign up for a private session with me.