Hello everyone and welcome to the Extra Kick podcast brought to you by Runners Connect. I'm Coach Laura and today we're going to be

looking down to our feet. The 26 bones of the foot consist of eight distinct types including

tarsels, medatarsals, phalanges,

cuneiforms, talis, neviqueur, and the cuboid bone.

The skeletal structure of the foot is similar to that of the hand, but the foot bears more weight, so it's stronger but less movable.

The foot means to be both rigid, but also able to move and adapt with each step in response to the ground. Another biomechanical

quirk of the foot is that the major muscles which control your foot motion and even

toe motions aren't located in the foot themselves.

The main muscles that scrunch up your toes, point your ankle down, or roll your

foot outward are all in the lower leg adjacent to your calf muscle.

Let's look at some ways to strengthen the foot.

First, eccentric foot muscles are already popular targets for strengthening in rehab programs.

Exercises like towel scrunches where you put a towel on the ground and scrunch it up with your toes,

Sarah band ankle exercises, and so on.

All have a place in strengthening your foot.

However, they don't stimulate the planter. foot muscles. But they do work the

planter intrinsic foot muscles. But they do work the

other muscles of their feet. Regularly exercising and stretching the feet and

ankles can help to ensure that muscles are providing the best for support. These

exercises also must include range of motion in the foot.

So let's look at something that stretches the foot and the calf.

We're going to talk about wall and book calf raises. This calf exercise helps stretch and strengthen

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