The intrinsic foot muscles
are important for many reasons but good ways of measuring intrinsic muscle strength or of actually carrying out strengthening exercises are hard to manage .
If a person curls or grips with the toes ,this is thought by many to be more about the extrinsic toe flexors whereas if you flex the toes around the MTFJ ,without allowing the toes to bend at the interphalangeal joints ,then the intrinsics are used much more .
Some authorities recommend simply standing and pushing/pressing your toes down as a way of strengthening the toe flexors
or , if you do it on a pressure mat , of measuring toe flexor strength ( Karen Mickle
) .
If you are going to conduct a study into the effects of exercise on toe flexor strength
then you need a consistent method of measurement . If some testers say "push" and some "press" then results might be affected between /within studies .
I throw the discus for a hobby . Some coaches tell throwers to push the discus through
delivery because
it stops a radius shortening , pulling action and instead keeps the body long and extended . It could be the the command "push the toes down " will keep the toes extended with "press the toes down" giving a slightly less extended ,more extrinsic muscle dominated action .
"Push" rather than "press"
may also help with teaching the doming exercise
.
If you test the idea and do find a difference then you may have a publishable paper that will get you noticed .
Here is an exert from a relevant paper and a link to the full thing .
Background
Intrinsic foot muscle weakness has been implicated in a range of foot deformities and disorders. However, to establish a relationship between intrinsic muscle weakness and foot pathology, an objective measure of intrinsic muscle strength is needed. The aim of this review was to provide an overview of the anatomy and role of intrinsic foot muscles, implications of intrinsic weakness and evaluate the different methods used to measure intrinsic foot muscle strength.
J Foot Ankle Res. 2012; 5: 29.
Published online 2012 Nov 26. doi:
10.1186/1757-1146-5-29
PMCID: PMC3544647
PMID:
23181771
Importance and challenges of measuring intrinsic foot muscle strength
Achini Soysa,1
Claire Hiller,1
Kathryn Refshauge,1 and
Joshua Burns1
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