Stretches for feet

The first exercise involves a tennis ball and a carpet or yoga matt so that the ball does not roll away. As an assessment bend forwards as if your hands want to touch the floor, legs straight but knees unlocked. Make a note how far you can reach. Come back up. Roll a tennis ball under your feet. Spend time on each foot, roll the arches, the heel, the ball of your foot. You can stand, use it as a balance exercise or hold on, or you can sit down. You can vary the pressure, it should be comfortable and feel good. After a couple of minutes on each foot, bend forwards again and notice how far you can go down now. You might be able to reach a little further. The reason for that is that the sole of the foot is part of a chain of muscles at the back of the body. This also works the other way - stretching the back of the body will also help your feet. So will moving your ankles. You might remember the slow pumping action of your feet as thrombosis prophylaxis (prevention) when you have been immobilised. Still good to do when you are spending too much time in front of a screen.

Stand on it and keep your legs straight but unlocked. Put the ball of one foot on the edge of the step and let the heel sink down. Hold the stretch for at least twelve seconds and breathe. For strengthening your feet you can lift up and go onto your toes, and then back down again. Switch over to the other foot. You can also stretch both feet at the same time.