5 Ways To Strengthen Your Feet & Why It’s Essential For Well-Being

We don't pay nearly enough attention to our foot health. When we do try to take care of our feet, we're bombarded with misinformation about everything from which shoes to buy to how we should walk. Clearing up this confusion is crucial because, without proper foot health, mobility in later life is out of the question.

Luckily, we have a comprehensive crash course on all things foot health in a recent episode of the mindbodygreen podcast. We sat down with foot and gait specialist and chiropractor Courtney Conley, D.C., to get the 101 on how to take better care of your feet and the role foot health plays in longevity, mobility, and overall health.

For so long, we’ve been told that more cushion is always better when it comes to shoes—but Conley disagrees. In fact, she generally recommends shoes that support your foot’s natural position. It’s more work for your feet—which is a good thing. The more work your feet have to do, the stronger they’ll get.

Her recommendations are plentiful, but each ideal shoe checks at least one of the two following boxes:

A wide toebox

"There's a very big difference between a wide shoe and a wide toe box," Conley says, so don’t be fooled by marketing. You want the toe of your shoe to be the widest point, just as your foot is naturally. Or, opt for barefoot style shoes with isolated toes.

Conley uses a metaphor to highlight this importance: Walking in narrow-toed shoes is like wrapping a rubber band around your foot and trying to hold a single-leg balance. "If you walked around with a sling on your arm for 20 years, you think your bicep would get weak?"

The same goes for limiting your toe splay—the less you allow your toes to move and strengthen, the weaker they will become.

Zero-drop 

Instead of layering on the cushion for your shoes, take the opposite approach: Look for zero drop. However, be cautious, as many shoes labeled as "zero drop" aren’t truly zero drop, Conley says.

When searching for zero-drop shoes, evaluate the heel-to-toe drop measurement, which brands most often report in millimeters. The ideal range is anywhere from zero to six millimeters, Conley says, though many low-drop shoes fall around eight to twelve millimeters.

RELATED READ: The 7 Best Zero-Drop Running Shoes + The Benefits Of Running Barefoot

Side note: When to opt for high-cushion shoes

High-cushion shoes aren’t ideal for everyday wear, but Conley acknowledges they have their time and place. For example, when she’s walking around a metropolitan area like New York City, hitting the concrete for hours on end, she’ll opt for a higher-cushioned option to ease the blow. 

Like overall health, there’s a low-lift way to strengthen your feet: Walking–but walking barefoot is even better.

“We have over 200,000 sensory receptors on the bottoms of our feet that are screaming to feel things,” Conley says. When you walk barefoot, you’re stimulating all of these receptors on the bottom of the foot because you’re able to feel the ground and move your toes freely. 

When it comes to affordable investments for foot health, toe spacers are a great place to start. For Conley, toe spacers helped her recover from years of foot strain caused by pointe ballet shoes.

Toe spacers align the toes and splay the foot out, stretching those toes in the opposite direction of how they’re typically positioned in cramped shoes.

This tool can even help relieve and prevent bunions—something many people assume is solely genetic. "You didn’t come out of the womb with a bunion," Conley says. You may have inherited connective tissue laxity or hyper-mobility, both of which increase your risk of bunions, but they can be prevented with attentive foot care.

Finally, Conley boils down her foot care advice to one general recommendation: Pay attention. Notice when your feet hurt, when shoes don’t fit properly, or when your toes cramp up. Even knee and joint pain can be traced back to changes in your foot health or shoe choice.

It’s time to take better care of your feet. By wearing the right shoes, strengthening your foot muscles, walking barefoot when you can, and utilizing additional foot health tools like toe spacers, you can make a huge difference in the feel and function of your feet. In the long run, you’ll be adding years to your mobility.