If your flatfeet are causing you problems such as foot pain or ankle pain, then you definitely need to see a physician. Chances are that your doctor will firstly recommend non-surgical options to help with your condition, aside from giving painkillers.
Of course, you would not want to go straight into the operation theater, right? Even though orthopedic surgeons can operate on your flatfeet through procedures like Achilles tendon or gastrocnemius tendon lengthening to reverse the flatfeet, surgery comes with serious risks.
So, the first line option that you should do are non-surgical methods. These include certain stretches and exercises that help strengthen the arch of your feet.
Among these exercises, one such example is the short foot exercise (SFE). Multiple studies have shown the benefits and effectiveness of short foot exercises on improving the height of the foot’s arch.
The Short Foot Exercise
The short foot exercise is a simple exercise that you can do at home, without any equipment. Well, it does if you count a chair as an equipment.
Step 1: Find your neutral foot position
To do to this exercise, you’ll need to firstly find the neutral foot position which is also known as the foot tripod. This tripod consists of three points on your soles: the base of the big toe, the base of the pinky toe, and the heel.
Once you’ve identified these points, stand up on two feet. Try to balance your weight so that it’s halfway between the base of the big toe and pinky toe, and also halfway between the front of the foot and the heel.
This is the neutral foot position. If you’re struggling to balance the feet, play around by tilting your feet inwards and outwards, shifting your body weight to the front and back, and adjusting the distance between the feet.
Step 2: Sit Down
Now that you’ve found your neutral foot position, let’s do the same while sitting down.
Get a chair that enables you to sit with your thighs parallel to the ground, and your legs perpendicular to the ground. Your thigh and leg should form a 90-degree angle.
If you can’t find a chair that’s perfect, that’s okay too. Just make sure to nail that tripod foot position for this exercise.
Step 3: Bring your toes closer to the heel
Now the tricky part is the exercise itself.
In the neutral foot position, bring the toes close to the heel while keeping your foot on the ground. Visualize this as if you’re pressing the toes into the ground and towards you.
When done correctly, you should notice or at least feel as if your feet are shortening a bit. You might also notice the arch of your feet rise ever so slightly. Hold this position anywhere between 5 to 10 seconds.
One thing to note is to not claw your toes when bringing them in. If they are clawing, then you’re activating the wrong muscles. We want to activate the intrinsic muscles that make up the arch. So, keep those toes flat on the ground as much as you can.
For an observer, this exercise sure looks like not much of work. But trust me, it’s literally harder than it looks.
If you can’t immediately do the short foot exercise, that’s okay! In fact, you can get muscle cramps if this is your first time doing this exercise.
It takes some practice and muscle awareness to get used to contracting those intrinsic muscles in your feet. After all, when we walk, we don’t consciously think of using those muscles.
Step 4: Progression
Progression for the short foot exercise is relatively simple, but simple doesn’t always mean easy.
For difficulty level 1: do the exercise while sitting and train one foot at a time.
For difficulty level 2: do the exercise while sitting and train both feet at the same time.
For difficulty level 3: do the exercise while standing and train one foot at a time.
For difficulty level 4: do the exercise while standing and train both feet at the same time.
For difficulty level 5: do the exercise while standing on one foot, at a time.
Step 5: Reps, sets, and frequency
As we mentioned before, each repetition should last anywhere between 5 to 10 seconds. Try to aim for 10 repetitions with 10 second rests in between. That concludes 1 set. You can do 1 to 3 sets per session.
If your training difficulty involves focusing on one foot at a time, then complete 10 repetitions for one foot, and 10 for the other. That counts as 1 set.
If your training difficulty involves focusing on both feet, then just count the whole 10 repetitions as 1 set.
Just like any exercise, you would want to give your feet the rest that it needs. So, if you’ve done 1 session for today, make sure to take a day off tomorrow.
How quickly would I notice results?
As difficult as this exercise can be, it won’t immediately improve your flat foot.
Just like any grind, you’ll need time. Evidence have shown that you would need to be consistent for at least 5 weeks for the arch to rise at a noticeable level.
The good news is that for most people, 5 weeks is an achievable goal.
Evidence for the Short Foot Exercise (SFE)
The short foot exercise actually has science to back it up. A group of researchers from Japan wrote a systemic review about the effectiveness of short foot exercises. They complied 299 research papers on the topic and narrowed it down to 9 studies about short foot exercises that met their standards.
Of those 9 studies, 6 actually measured the outcome for the medial longitudinal arch. 4 out of 6 of the studies reported a significant improvement of the arch in flat foot.
They summarized that for short foot exercises to be effective in treating flatfoot, the exercise must be done for at least 5 weeks. They did not, however, found a specific number of repetitions, sets, or frequency in which the exercise should be done.
However, it was also still unclear to them the mechanism of how the exercise benefits the medial longitudinal arch.
Other benefits of the short foot exercises
1. Improving knee pain
Given that the foot is the base of our body, improvements in it will radiate to upward structures.
In a research article published in the Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation, researchers instructed patients with patellofemoral pain – basically knee pain – to do short foot exercises as a form of physiotherapy.
After about 6 weeks of training with short foot exercises, the researchers noticed a significant reduction in knee pain among the participants. This experiment proves that SFEs are effective in reducing knee pain and improve overall quality of life.
2. Improving balance
If you’re a flat footer with a specific problem with balance, then short foot exercises are excellent for you.
Korean researchers published a paper in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science, which experimented on the effects of short foot exercises on dynamic balance.
Dynamic balance, as opposed to static balance, is the balance that you need for movement like walking and running. This is especially important for athletes.
They concluded that short foot exercises were effective in improving dynamic balance, because this exercise was able to strengthen the abductor pollicis muscle and the flexor hallucis brevis muscle. These muscles are important for weight-bearing and maintaining the shape of the medial longitudinal arch.
3. Practicality
There are numerous methods out there to improve the medial longitudinal arch. For example, aside from the short foot exercise, people have gone towards barefoot training to treat their flatfoot.
Running athletes like Alan Webb have successfully restored their foot arches with barefoot training, so it’s not something to be overlooked.
However, the downside to barefoot running is that not everyone has the means to do it. For example, older adults who have joint pain and frail bones are at a higher risk of injury when training barefoot. Moreover, not everyone has the luxury of time and place to do barefoot training effectively and safely.
Another example of a treatment for flat feet are orthotic insoles. The upside to these is that they’re a quick fix that doesn’t require much effort aside from spending the time to look for the suitable insole for you’re feet.
We’ve written a whole article on how to choose insoles, but we also understand that there are readers who don’t have the extra cash to spend on high-quality orthotics.
So, in contrast to barefoot exercises and orthotic insoles, short foot exercises are a practical method of flatfoot treatment that requires little to no cost and is doable for all ages.
You can do it at home while watching television or even while typing away at your desk job.
