Foot Function for

Spinal Support and Pain Relief

How to flow the toes, ease the insteps & expand the soles

for posture, getting grounded and comfort in footwear

Understanding alignment for heel stability, ankle mobility

& arch support in exercise, walking and well-being.

High Heel Healing

Heralding High Healing

Hi. I’m Herald, creator of the High Heel Recovery Clinic and author of the upcoming book about how to function in pumps, High Heel Healing: Self-Help for Shoe Whores.

For women to experience a release of foot pain from wearing high heels there are certainly foot exercises to either strengthen the tiny muscles of the feet or to create space between the tiny joints that lead from the ankle out to the toes. But the main thing that will relieve the discomforts of high heeled footwear is learning how the heel of the foot works in relation to the frontal foot tendons and the ankle joint.

Information on all pages of this Foot Function website will assist high heel shoe lovers, as will the page Heels Knees & Hips on my website Back Strength and Spine Support.

There are exercises I’ve devised using the heel of the foot within the heel of the shoe to teach you things you can do quickly before an evening out in heels. You can also perform them in sitting positions on a train or a bus or plane while en route to work. These are in addition to exercises on the stability ball using bare heels of the feet - ones which you would perform lying on your back on a mat as part of a home fitness routine.

Bridge Over Troubled Posture

This Suspension Bridge Exercise became the signature move during the time I presented High Heel Recovery Clinics in my studio from 2009 - 2011. I developed the exercise so that it could be practiced with or without a stability ball, and can also be adapted into a sequence of other stretches and exercises.

This unique pelvic bridge exercise differs strongly from typical bridging exercises because it focuses on creating a “tethering” of the hamstrings muscles on to the sits bones to suspend the pelvis off the table or floor. Most bridge movements call for a tucking of the pelvis and scooping out of the abs. If the hip flexors are being overworked from the pelvis tucking, the hamstrings will not be able to find a full length up to the sits bones which is how the strength for the legs and stability for the pelvis are established. This stability is as important as the core.

The tethering force of hamstrings back to the stability of the sits bones - which are the bottom points of the pelvis - is what initiates the connection of leg to pelvis - which is in two halves. These two hamstrings forces make it possible for the legs to feel as if they start above the butt. Then the lumbar spine is not isolated above a block of pelvis, but able to extend downwards through two stabilized pelvic halves. The lumbar extends through the sacrum and out the tail. Then you can stand with both stability in the pelvic joints and deep lumbar core stability.

You perform the exercise lying down so that you do not have the challenge of supporting the body weight upright, but you can translate the experience of strength up the back of the leg you receive while lying down into upright standing which will improve posture in high heels.

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Tone to the Bone

Getting the hamstrings-to-sits-bones-to-hips connection is the first step in being able to tone the upper-outer leg and hip area, more commonly known as saddlebags. The toning of the saddlebag area of the hip is about learning to access the relationship between the heel and the top of the hamstrings so the three hamstrings on each leg can be used fully - initially for stability of the pelvic bone and then stabilization of the hip joint and each pelvic half.

Once stability is acquired, the hamstrings muscle group can be spread out to the edge of the sits bones granting access to the outermost part of the hamstrings muscles or lateral hamstring. When the lateral hamstrings are activated, then the hard-to-tone muscles around the hip structure tone in a way that the hips become integrated into the entire leg line. You get toning of the saddlebag area of hip while making the leg line look longer as well.

Easy on the Knees

It’s important both for protection of the knee joints as well as being able to get to the tone of the backs of the legs and the saddlebag area that you learn not to push into the backs of the knees when exercising, not to mention when standing upright.

In my early years teaching on the Pilates reformer, I had a trouble figuring out how to help people who were prone to hyperextension - or locking - of the knees.

It’s not enough to tell someone not to push back when extending the legs - the key is in expanding the heels back instead of pushing back. It’s a challenge to employ - even mentally for some people that it’s not about straightening the knee joint, but lengthening the leg above and below the knee.

Heel-to-Hamstring-to-Hip Help

Here are two videos which partially address knee function in relation to the use of the feet:

Pilates Reformer Focus on the Feet - How the Springs, Soles & Heels Relate to the Spine and Sacrum

Using Spring Support of the Pilates Reformer to Understand How the Feet Support the Legs and Spine

Also, when the lumbar spine is extended out the tail in a subtle arcing motion, this helps with not pushing the knees back. The proper action of the knees which will protect the entire structure for optimal knee joint health is not easy, and really almost impossible to explain in mere written word. As this site and the accompanying blog site and video channel are added to, the knees will be better addressed with photographic and visual aides. Please subscribe.

There will be more exercises and stretches using a stability ball in the future which will help heal knee pain, hip pain and lower back pain.

No Squeezing Please

A lot of exercise programs promote squeezing the butt and hips to try to tone these difficult-to-get-to areas. My experience from years of teaching hundreds of women is that squeezing creates muscle tightness and muscle tension rather than muscle tone. Learn to focus on underlying skeletal relationships and navigate the body through the bones, and you integrate the legs into the hips, and the body achieves long and lean muscle tone.

High Heel Pain Relief in the News

Every few months, there is an article printed or posted describing how high heels can be detrimental to health and wellness,

whether it be through basic foot pain or from potential injurious effects to feet

that have long-term or even surgical consequences.

You'll see links to an assortment of articles, not only from fashion magazines, but from The New York Times,

Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and even Forbes.

There truly are people from all "walks of life" who suffer from foot pain and seek relief!

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Disclaimer: Please note: Not all exercises are suitable for everyone. Please consult your doctor or exercise professional before beginning any exercise program.
The instructions and advice presented within this website and accompanying blog and video sites are in no way intended as a substitute for medical or physical therapy counseling.
Backbone and Wingspan LLC as creator, producer and developer of this work disclaims any liabilities or loss in connection with the exercises and advice herein.