Little-known toe exercise can boost health after 50

People over the age of 50 are prone to focus on the health issues of greatest concern. We’re talking high blood pressure, weight gain, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hearing loss, vision problems, bladder problems, and even dementia. Making healthy food choices, exercising regularly, keeping your mind as active as possible, and making healthy lifestyle choices such as limiting alcohol consumption and quitting smoking can go a long way toward solving these health problems. If you’re over 50, there are even healthier ways to eat pasta.

It turns out your feet can also get some pampering in the form of exercise to ensure you age healthily. Your quality of life and ability to do things such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching for items from overhead can be affected by your toes. Experts say toe yoga is especially helpful for older adults. Jane Andersen, a podiatrist in North Carolina and spokesperson for the American Podiatric Medical Association, explains that as we age, the intrinsic muscles in our toes weaken. Really simple). "The muscles between the toes become weaker as we age, so stretching them can slow deterioration."

Toe yoga can be a useful practice in this regard. However, before we get into that, let’s first understand what exactly toe yoga is and how it can benefit your feet and overall health.

As the name suggests, toe yoga is a series of yoga poses that target the toes. More specifically, it includes toe-specific exercises such as toe presses, toe stretches, toe lifts, and toe curls. If you Google the term, you’ll find several different types of exercises recommended by yoga practitioners. Adriene Mishler, yoga teacher and founder Adelina YogaShare that foot-centered yoga is an effective way to send love to your feet, a part of the body that is often overlooked or ridiculed as we age.

Toe yoga can improve balance, coordination, strength, stability, flexibility, range of motion, joint health, and posture—factors that become even more important for people over 50. In addition, flexing your toes can improve circulation to the area; help relieve pain associated with conditions such as arthritis; and combat foot problems that become more common with age, such as overpronation (flat feet), bunions arthritis, hammertoe, and plantar fasciitis.

While conditions like bunions can’t be reversed with toe yoga, some experts believe you can slow the progression. For conditions like plantar fasciitis, a condition in which the tissue along the bottom of the foot to the heel becomes inflamed, toe yoga can help relieve the pain caused by the condition. As physical therapist Tracy Baker explains (via sharp), it is first important to have yourself examined by your doctor. "Toe yoga exercises help retrain the small intrinsic muscles of the foot for a more normal walking pattern," experts say.

Again, health conditions affecting your feet, whether age-related or not, need to be checked out by a doctor first. The last thing you want to do is engage in exercise that may worsen your pain or condition. Once your physical therapist or doctor agrees with your condition, you can try some toe yoga poses recommended by experts.

Yoga instructor Ann Grace MacMullan tells us new york times You can start with something as simple as standing up and placing all your toes on the floor. Spread them out and gently lift them from the floor toward the ceiling while placing the rest of the feet on the floor. Hold this position for about five seconds, then relax and lower your toes back to the ground. Next, do the same thing with just your big toe while keeping the rest of your foot and other toes on the ground. Hold for 10-15 seconds and relax. Finally lift your little toes while keeping your big toe and the rest of your foot on the ground. Hold for 10-15 seconds and relax.

There are other toe yoga exercises that involve grabbing the floor surface with your toes, spreading your toes apart and holding them that way for a few seconds, and then lifting one toe (both feet) at a time to improve balance and body control. toe. To make sure you’re doing the exercises that are best for seniors, talk to an experienced yoga practitioner or a physical therapist who specializes in treating this age group. Correct posture is important.