Foot Health and Athletic Performance

Ay, ay, ay.

One, that's not going to do anything long-term.

Two, flatter feet isn't always a problem.

Some people naturally have lower arches than others.

In fact, some of the best athletes in the world

have very flat feet.

So rather than focusing on the height of the arch, we need to focus on maintaining

its function by enhancing the muscular control of the arch you do have.

Here's three factors to consider.

One, we optimize the function of the tibialis

posterior muscle with exercises like

banded heel raises. This is called RNT, reactive neuromuscular

training. It's a way to teach the body to control

the motion of excessive

pronation. We then do the same with a lesser-known

muscle that can also help

support the arch, the flexor hallucis longus.

We can do this simply with toe crunch exercises.

But neither of those exercises will create lasting changes if you still wear bad

shoes that have an elevated heel, rigid toe spring,

and a narrow toe box that

squishes the toes together. All three of those features encourage

further

flattening of the foot. Even though they feel comfortable,

they're not great for

your body. Instead, when you get your foot into its neutral

position in a shoe

that's completely flat, no heel raise, no rigid toe spring,

and a wide toe box, like the Drop Zero 2 barefoot trainer

that I helped develop

with TYR, the foot's natural support system,

those muscles I talked about,

can help support the function of the arch, no matter the height.