If you were constructing a Jenga tower, you’d do everything you could to keep its foundation stable so it stays upright — and the same thinking applies to your body. Toes, in particular, tend to get overlooked in the scheme of fitness, but they play a pivotal role in your stability. After all, they’re the lowest building blocks of your physical frame. Your big toe joint, especially, “is a totally underrated one,” Christynne Helfrich, a US-based physical therapist at virtual clinic Hinge Health, says. “Anytime [our bodies] do anything, those forces start from the ground up.” And your big toes act like levers, she says, bending back to propel you forward.
For pain-free movement, you need a substantial range of motion in your big toe joint, Michael Schumacher, a podiatrist and assistant professor at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York City, adds. And while the strength of that toe is important for powering each step, mobility is what often declines first and causes problems, he adds. A variety of things — including genetics, foot anatomy, too-tight shoes, overuse with certain kinds of exercise, and simply aging (*sigh*) — can stiffen up your big toe joint (a condition called hallux limitus) or cause painful rigidity (hallux rigidus).
And the effects of losing flexibility in your big toe can be bigger than you’d think. Just consider how a wonky piece at the bottom of that Jenga tower can cause the whole thing to topple with any movement up above. “There is that kind of domino effect of compensation, tightness, and even injury,” up into your legs, hips, or even your back, Dr. Helfrich says. Here’s why a mobile big toe is so key for going about your everyday life without pain, and what you can do to loosen up that joint if you’re dealing with a tight one.
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First, a little more about why big toe mobility is so important.
If you have full use of your feet, you probably haven’t given a lot of thought to the role your little piggies play in your overall fitness. “Your big toe significantly impacts gait, allowing for efficient weight transfer during walking and running and contributing to a smoother, more stable stride,” Rachel Tavel, a New York City–based physical therapist, says. You also need big toe mobility to effectively keep your balance unassisted, Dr. Helfrich says, which can help prevent falls. (Consider how your big toes naturally grip the ground a bit when you close your eyes while standing.) And more generally, any activity that requires you to flex that joint or push off the floor will hinge on healthy movement. Tavel says: “Think about going up stairs, kneeling, reaching for something on a high shelf — you need big toe mobility for all of these things.”
A stiff or inflexible big toe, though, can lead to problems with everyday activities, both imminently and down the line. Off the bat, a decreased range of motion in the joint can make it tough or painful to walk, stand for long periods, or use the stairs, Dr. Tavel says. It can also cause “problems with agility movements like sprinting or jumping,” says Kaitlyn Laube Ward, an ankle surgeon at Voyage Healthcare, and resident expert at ZenToes.
Perhaps less immediate (and often less obvious) are the potential ripple effects of big toe rigidity in other parts of your body. As you might have learned from that ‘Skeleton Dance’ song in primary school (“The foot bone’s connected to the… leg bone”), issues in one part of the body can translate to problems elsewhere: “Whenever we have discomfort, adaptation or compensatory movement patterns develop,” Dr. Ward says. Meaning, you might inadvertently put extra stress on your surrounding joints and muscles, upping your risk of issues like plantar fasciitis and ankle arthritis, she says.
Over time, having a stiff big toe may even lead you to adjust how you’re walking (whether you notice it or not), which can also lead to strain in other areas of your body. For example, if your big toe doesn’t flex easily, you might compensate for that immobility by lifting your foot a little sooner for each step to avoid a painful bend in the joint, Dr. Schumacher says. You’d (often subconsciously) achieve this lift by relying more on your hip to raise your leg — which could add tension to that region and subsequently trigger hip pain. Other little adjustments in your gait can pile onto your knees and back in the long-term too.
How can I tell if I have a healthy big toe joint?
You can get an idea by exploring both your passive and active ranges of motion, Dr. Ward says, both of which a physical therapist or podiatrist will measure too.
The former refers to how far you can pull your big toe back toward your shin or down toward your heel by using your hand (gently, without forcing it); the latter is the movement you can achieve in either direction by just using the muscles in your foot. Ideally, you’re looking for a 65-degree (or greater) angle when you bend your big toe back with your hand and roughly 30 to 45 degrees in the opposite direction, Dr. Ward says. Though your range of motion might be less when you’re moving your toe without the help of your hand, ideally you can do so without pain, she adds.
You can also try a weight-bearing test, Dr. Ward notes. While standing, lift one heel off the ground and keep your toes planted, so you’re shifting weight into the ball of that foot (while leaving the other foot flat, for balance). The higher you can lift your heel while leaving your toes on the ground, the more mobility your big toe joint allows, Dr. Ward says.
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How to improve your big toe mobility
Some good news: Regular ol’ walking can be a great mobility exercise for your big toes, so long as you wear supportive shoes with a wide-enough toe box to avoid any squishing, Dr. Tavel says. As noted above, the bend of your foot that happens with a typical stride naturally flexes your big toe backward.
But if you suspect your big toe is seriously lacking in range of motion, spend a lot of time in high heels, or get occasional pain and stiffness there, you’ll want to do some stretching and mobility exercises to “maintain healthy movement patterns and protect other joints in your body from compensating,” Dr. Tavel says. The important thing is to go easy with these practices. When you’re manipulating your big toe, “I always say, it’s not like you’re driving a standard transmission and jamming it from first to second gear,” Dr. Schumacher explains. “It’s a gentle kind of motion… just to keep the joint moving.”
Another word of caution: If you’re feeling more pain when you get into mobility work, struggling to move your toes, or not sensing any improvement from these exercises, pay a visit to a podiatrist or physical therapist. A lot of factors can influence a rigid big toe — like bunions, improper footwear, and nerve issues, for starters — and an expert can help you tease out what’s happening if it’s persistent, Dr. Tavel says.
Below, you’ll find four expert-approved moves to increase big toe mobility, all of which are easy to try at home:
All our experts suggest a little manual manipulation to loosen things up. A simple way to do this is to sit in a chair or on the floor (in whatever way feels most comfortable), hold one of your bare feet in your hand, and use the opposite hand to grab your big toe (again, in whatever way feels intuitive here); then, give it a slight tug away from the foot to create space in the joint, Dr. Tavel says, and slowly move it up and down through its complete range of motion, holding at the end of the range for a few seconds in both directions. (You just want to avoid moving it side to side, notes Dr. Schumacher, as your big toe joint doesn’t naturally do this motion like your thumb does.)
If you’d rather avoid touching your toes, or you want a greater stretch, Dr. Tavel recommends using a wall for support. First, with bare feet, stand facing the wall and put both hands flat against it for balance. Then, while keeping one foot flat on the floor, raise your other foot slightly to press the bottom of the toes against the wall (leaving the rest of your foot on the ground), so the wall is gently pushing your toes backward. Then bend your knee and lean toward the wall to deepen the stretch. She suggests holding that position for 20 to 30 seconds before relaxing, and then repeating a couple more times.
Because we tend to bend our big toes backward while walking (a.k.a. dorsiflexion), it can help with mobility to also extend them in the opposite direction (plantarflexion). Though you can certainly do that as part of the manual manipulation above, Dr. Ward says you can also use a step to help you out: While holding onto a staircase railing or wall for support, with bare feet, stand with your toes on the edge of a step and then slowly lower your heels (while gripping with your toes to keep them in place), dropping them past the bottom of the step as far as you feel comfortable. You should feel the stretch along the tops of your toes (and in your calves too). Hold that bottom position for 15 to 30 seconds, and repeat a couple times for maximum effect.
Strength exercises for your toes and feet can also enhance your big toe mobility in a more active way. A common one is the towel scrunch, says Dr. Helfrich, where you dampen a hand towel, place it on the floor, and try to use just your bare toes (one foot at a time) to grip and pull the towel toward you (while you’re sitting in a chair). Another idea? Put a handful of marbles on the floor, and use your toes (again, one foot at a time) to pick them up and put them into a cup, Dr. Helfrich suggests.
There are also even simpler toe workouts – that require zero props – that you can do with shoes on (so long as they don’t have high heels), says Dr Helfrich. Try just lifting your big toe while keeping the rest of your toes planted (harder than you think!) or doing the reverse and only raising your pinky, or spreading all your toes apart while pushing into the ground. “The beauty of it is that these are pretty easy to do anywhere,” she says, while you’re sitting in a chair, say, at work, on a train, or at the doctor’s office. Particularly if you’re someone who sits for most of the day, a little toe mobility work can keep that joint loose and ready to propel your body forward each time you stand up.
This article originally appeared on SELF.
