Foot Pain, Sprained Ankles & One-Legged Balancing

One of my Daily Yoga Tip readers wrote this in response to the Tips I wrote about plantar fasciitis:

Regarding foot pain... I don't have plantar fascitis, thank goodness. But I do have neuromas in both feet (though it's particularly bad on the right side).

One thing I have found that helps, in addition to the toe stretches, dorsiflexion, and thunderbolt poses you mentioned, is standing balancing poses such as tree, eagle, warrior III, half moon, etc.

Balancing poses require all the tiny muscles in your lower legs and feet to really kick in and constantly readjust to keep you upright. This strengthens the muscles in the feet and improves the integrity of the foot structure.

Well, that's my belief, anyway. I don't have any medical evidence for it. But it does seem to help and it makes a bit of sense, too. Just thought I'd toss in my two cents... (or possibly maybe just one cent, since I have no evidence!).

Good night and keep the great stuff coming.

Namaste,
-LL

I can't agree with her more! These one-leg balancing posture are great for foot and ankle problems.

I will disagree on one point. I do have plenty of medical evidence that balancing on one foot produces tremendous measureable benefits for your feet and ankles. Probably the most well-documented is prevention of sprained ankles among people who have sprained their ankles in the past.

Don’t just sit there. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s. You can read my previous messages about plantar fasciitis here:

http://experienceyoga.blogspot.com/2005/04/plantar-fasciitis-make-pain-go-away.html

http://experienceyoga.blogspot.com/2005/04/toes-up-against-your-arch-enemy.html

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