- The foot and ankle form a complex system, which consists of 33 joints controlled by muscles within the foot and leg.

Hello, I'm Cassy.

Thank you for joining me to care for your feet, toes, and ankles.

This is a great introduction class to exercising your feet.

We'll be working barefoot, so let's get started.

[upbeat music] If you're new to exercising your feet, don't do all the repetitions today.

Work up to a full class slowly.

Let's extend your leg and start with some simple ankle circles, making sure your circles are as big as you can, and go as slow as you need to to make sure you have a nice, good range of motion.

And start your breathing as well.

Count for four seconds in and four seconds out.

And now let's reverse.

Nice and slow, breathing it in [inhales] and out.

One of the ways movement helps to relieve pain is by reducing mineral buildup.

There's a type of calcium that can accumulate and crystallize within the joints, causing pain and inflammation.

But the good news is exercise and stretching helps.

Let's switch legs.

And breathe it in.

Count for 4, 3, 2, 1.

And exhale as we reverse.

4, 3, 2 and 1.

One more time the other way, [inhales] breathing it in.

And one more time the other way, exhale.

Good job, now point.

Let's just hold it here and make sure you're extending through your ankle and your toes.

Hold it here.

And flex.

Pulling the foot as well as the toes towards you.

[inhales] Breathe in and out, nice and slowly to get those muscles to lengthen in the calf and your Achilles tendon.

Now let's point quickly.

All right, each one, make it aggressive.

Point.

And now a little faster.

If you've got that under control, point.

[inhales] 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

And now let's flex it fast, pulling the foot up.

Up, up.

Go as slow as you need to, to accomplish a quick pull, and as you gain control, you can start doing faster repetitions.

Pull, pull, pull.

I call this the anti-trip exercise.

Lift that foot, 3, 2, 1.

And let's switch legs, point and hold.

Nice, long inhale.

[inhales] Nice, long exhale.

Make sure you're stretching through the toes, pointing all the way through those toes, reaching.

And again for 4, 3, 2, 1.

And exhale for 4, 3, 2, 1.

And we're standing up tall.

Now let's flex, pull those toes and the foot towards your shin.

[inhales and exhales] Good job.

Standing up tall, head and neck is up above your shoulders.

And now let's point quick.

Snap that ankle, pointing.

Quick, quick.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and pull it up.

And snap it up.

And only go faster if you can control it.

Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull.

All right, now let's slide that foot just above the floor and invert and evert.

This is not an easy one to control, so take your time, pulling the bottom of your foot across and moving the bottom of your foot away.

And we're not rotating through the leg.

Just like a windshield wiper sort of or a sweeper.

Good.

You might have to look and see if it's working the way you want it to.

And let's do the other foot, so.

Let it go in and away.

In and away.

And if you would like to deepen the stretch on that ankle, you could put a little bit of weight down through the side of the ankle if that feels good.

Good, all right.

Let's tuck and fold the toes.

This is a great reason to not have your shoes on 'cause you can't quite get a nice movement with the shoes on.

So tuck those toes under and be careful how much weight you're putting down through your toes.

Breathe in [inhales] and out.

[exhales].

And now let's fold them, trying to get the ball of your foot onto the floor.

That's the big pad under your toe, big toe.

One more, tuck and fold.

Good, let's switch feet.

You know, with regular work, you'll notice better balance as you loosen the joints and strengthen the muscles.

The sense receptors and reflexes are being exercised too.

Good, tuck and fold.

Tuck and fold.

Good job.

All right, feet flat on the floor.

We're going to pull just the toes up.

So you're pressing the ball of the foot down, okay.

Your entire foot is down.

It's only the toes that are lifted.

The more you practice without holding onto something, the better your reflexes will get.

So move slowly, increasing difficulty in small increments for safety and efficacy.

Now do some little lifts.

Down, up, down, up.

Down, up, and hold.

[inhales] Down, up, down, up.

Good, all right, now let's use the chair.

We'll press our hands down into the chair back, and let's extend one leg back, pressing the heel into the floor.

Now you might need to look and see if your foot has turned sideways.

You won't be stretching the calves as well.

So press that heel down right behind the toes.

Extend through the knee, meaning straighten that knee.

Get that front leg in front of you and press that heel down.

Very good.

This is a great stretch if you have plantar fasciitis.

In fact, holding this move for longer periods of time, say up to two minutes, can be really beneficial.

So press that heel down.

Lots of breathing; long inhales, long exhales.

Now I'm gonna shift my weight a bit so that I can bend that back knee to get the other calf muscles.

[inhales] Breath it in and exhale.

[exhales] That feels really, really good, so take your time.

No need to rush.

And let's switch legs.

Reach it back and press those heels down.

Make sure that your leg isn't so far back that you can't get the heel down.

And make sure you're pushing forward through your hips.

Sometimes I see people will lean forward with the shoulders, and then they're not really as effectively stretching the calves.

We want to reduce the angle between the front of your shin and the top of your foot.

So moving the leg forward from the hip, keeping the heel down is what we're after.

All right, now shift your weight just a little bit so you can get a bend in that knee while you're pressing the heel down.

Good.

[inhales] Breathe in, count your breathing.

That's a good way to help the time pass a little easier, and it's effective because you're working on your breathing muscles as well.

All right, now with your feet not too far apart, we'll do a little bit of a plié.

So let those knees bend; we're still stretching the calves.

And then while you're here, you can lift one heel and press it down.

Lift the heel, press it down.

And then the other one, lift and press.

Lift, lift, then together.

Lift and down, lift and down.

Lift, stand it up, and down.

Few up, 3, 2, 1.

And then let's hold, making sure that your weight is going down through the ball of your foot, the big pad under your big toe, as opposed to on your pinky toe side.

All right, few more, slow.

Up, down, up.

And then let's do about 10 quick.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6.

We're almost done.

3, 2, and that's enough for today.

It doesn't take a lot of time to make a big difference.

Consistency is actually more important.

So join me here daily at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit, first thing in the morning, to make the rest of your day more energetic and pain-free.

Until then, keep on moving.

- Announcer: Funding for Quick Fit with Cassy is provided by Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.