It challenges your perception of the ground and really works on strengthening that sense which is so very important. This will mean wearing the right shoes, and possibly custom orthotics, to accommodate your arch shape. Practicing stepping on uneven things is one of my favorite balance exercises for seniors. 01 WEARING THE RIGHT FOOT-WEAR You’ll need footwear that can help support and stabilize the lower limbs. You could use small things to step on including rolled up news paper or clothing. I start walking with ski poles to make sure the seniors don’t fall down. I line several of them across the floor and we practice stepping on them. In my balance class we use squishy plastic balance pads. A suggestion here would be to practice stepping on uneven things. In this case there is not much you can do because your foot is naturally stiff and rigid.

If your foot has a high arch and is rigid, it will not adapt and remain stiff as you put weight through your leg. In a normal foot, when your heel strikes the ground, it will “give” a little and adapt to the shape of the ground. That is when your foot adapts to the irregularities of the ground as you begin to step forward onto your foot. The last function is an important one for balance. Simply rising up on your toes is a great exercise here. So suggestions here would be to strengthen the push off muscles like the calf. In other words, we need some tightness in our foot in order to push off efficiently. This movement requires a firm foot in order to transmit the forces through the ground. It starts in our hips as we begin to bring our weight over our planted foot, then start to “push-off”. The second function of our feet are propelling us forward. By strengthening this muscle we are helping the shock absorbing muscles allowing them to do their job of absorbing shock as we walk. This muscle is the one that brings your toes back toward your head. You can also strengthen your lower leg muscles especially one called the Anterior Tibialis.

These inserts are made of a cushion material that will absorb the shock of the heel hitting the ground. If our feet can’t absorb shock, it will stress especially our lower leg and our back.Ī suggestion for absorbing shock include getting some shoe inserts for the heel.

This job is done mostly in our ankle and heel joints. Absorb shock, propel us forward and adapt to uneven surfaces. Our feet were designed for three purposes. To make suggestions for your feet then, lets look closer at the function of our feet when we are standing and walking. Because we walk around on our feet have evolved to be different than our animal friends. In high arch feet, some of the ankle bones are permanently locked. A high arch is the opposite to flat feet. As people we stand on two feet, (unlike our other animal friends who use 4 legs). High arches can definitely influence your balance.

Low arch vs high arch feet