One of the most overlooked and misunderstood areas of the body is the muscles of the feet. The feet are the only contact point between the body and serve critical role in providing a solid foundation for us to move in a standing position. While most people easily recognize the need for strengthening the feet with any foot related problems like plantar fasciitis, Achilles injuries, bunions and various other foot injuries, many struggle to link weak feet to problems like knee pain, hip pain and back pain. Anyone with injuries to their knees, hips or back will know how important the glutes are to correcting problems in these joints, but did you know the glutes are heavily reliant on what the feet are doing? In this article, I will explain exactly how easily weak feet create problems up the entire kinetic chain and finding ways to improve foot stability can be a game changer to your overall stability and strength.

In one of my recent articles about core strength and spinal stability I discussed how important it is to use exercises to keep the core stable and stiff, as opposed to exercises that encourage motion and movement. You could say that the core is really “anti-movement” when it works at its best.

One of the most interesting features of the core is its close relationship with what happens at the feet!

In the book “Barefoot Strong” by Dr Emily Splichal she explains how there are 2 ways in which the feet and core are connected during movement.

1. Co-activation patterns
2. Fascial integration

Co-activation means that the firing of one muscle leads to a simultaneous firing of another muscle. It could be a muscle right next to the one firing or a muscle further up the kinetic chain. The reason the body does this is to improve stability of the body for more efficient movement.

Fascial integration is where the body uses fascia to connect various muscles together in one big chain known as a myofascial sling. These slings when they are working well, help us move efficiently, produce more force, and create more speed. They help integrate the small stabilizer muscles of the core together with the large prime mover muscles that coordinate movement.

There are actually four of these slings.

1. Anterior sling
2. Posterior sling
3. Lateral sling
4. Deep longitudinal sling

This also helps to explain why training the core with isolated exercises on the floor does not guarantee they function correctly when you are moving in a standing position. To ensure the core works correctly you need to develop your skills and strength with these positions using exercises that demand this.

Years ago we did much more manual labour and would have done this during the day all the time, unfortunately modern living has made us lazy and inefficient and now we need to spend time learning these movements in the gym.

You can read more about these slings and their specific actions in more detail in the article – How to strengthen the core via the slings

All of these slings are activated in a standing position meaning that the feet are a crucial part of this process working effectively.

This is where you see a close relationship with activation of the muscles in the feet and hips.

To fully appreciate how this works you need to have a basic understanding of the feet and hips first.

The Main Function Of The Feet

With over 100 various muscles, the feet and ankles encompass 15-20% of all the muscles in the body!

Our feet and ankles are meant to withstand incredibly high forces and should provide more in terms of shock absorption than perhaps any other body part. Unfortunately, we begin to gradually lose this ability once we start wearing shoes and not paying enough attention to moving well. Over time, the feet, ankles, and toes become inhibited leading to problems at other joints. The more we expose our feet to trendy shoes with all types of padding and support we make the stability of the feet worse and exacerbate the lazy and weak feet muscles.

I have covered the role of the feet in much more detail before in the article titled exercise solutions for weak feet that I highly suggest to read if you want to get a better understanding of different foot types and exercises specific to them.

The main thing you need to know for this article is that there are 2 critical functions that the feet are responsible for and they are.

1. To ABSORB shock and impact when our foot hits the ground.
2. To provide the ability to PUSH off the ground when we walk, run or jump.

The foot needs to act like a spring being soft flexible foot to cushion the stress of each step we make, and then instantly become stiff enough to provide enough power to move us forwards or upwards. This is also known as being able to lock the foot at one point and then being able to unlock the foot at the very next part of the movement.

Problems arise if we lose either one of these two things, and ultimately lose our spring. This is where injuries will occur at other joints.

Below are two videos with great ideas for improving foot stability.

The big toe in particular is essential to the stability of the foot and the entire kinetic chain, and plays a vital role in enabling you to walk efficiently. It carries about 40% of the weight of the body and is the last point of contact with the ground when walking. Your big toe acts as a pivot point, helping you push off the ground during movements like running, jumping, and squatting.

A common postural problem seen with big toe dysfunction is the gradual shift into a forward weight bearing position. This forward leaning position creates the recipe for a permanent change in how we move or simply hold ourselves up in an upright position. For the brain will begin to learn from repetition that this is the new way to move.

In order to walk efficiently you need at least 65* of big toe dorsi flexion which activates the calves, hamstring and most importantly the glutes.

If you don’t have enough big toe movement, you are using the muscles at the front of your leg to pull you forward rather than the muscles at the back to push. Which can transfer problems further up the chain into your lower back. 

This is a very common problem associated with SIJ dysfunction problems.

Now that you understand the feet a bit more let’s look at the role of the hips and glutes.

The 3 Critical Roles Of The Glutes

The hips are designed to be very mobile, having to withstand both direct loading stresses and large rotational forces with weight-bearing activities. It is especially vulnerable to injury in sports that involve pivoting or twisting movements, such as soccer, football, tennis and golf. Because the muscles around the hip joint attach directly on to the joint capsule, they have a large influence on the range of movement.

The hips need to be very mobile but at the same time be one of the key muscle groups that provide stability and strength to move efficiently. They are often referred to as the engine room of the lower body. The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the body as seen below.

There are many ways to strengthen the glutes but not all of them activate the fascia connection with the feet. You can see a breakdown of 15 different glute exercises in this article – Pros and cons of the 15 best glute strengthening exercises

The Gluteus Medius is a key part of the hip extensor, abductor, and external rotator while it also stabilizes the pelvis in the frontal plane. There is three distinct heads of the gluteus medius muscle that perform a unique role as the body moves:

1. The posterior fibres - These fibres contract at early stance phase to lock the ball into the hip socket. The posterior fibres therefore essentially perform a stabilising or compressing function for the hip joint.
2. The middle/anterior fibres - These run in a vertical direction, help to initiate hip abduction, this is where the clam comes in which is then completed by a hip flexor muscle known as the TFL. The glutes work in tandem with TFL in stabilising the pelvis on the femur, to prevent the other side dropping down.
3. The anterior fibres - These allow the femur to internally rotate in relation to the hip joint at mid-to-end stance phase. This is essential for pelvic rotation, so that the opposite side leg can swing forward during gait. The anterior fibres perform this role with TFL.

Watch the video below to see an explanation of this.

What this means is that to truly strengthen the glutes you will need an exercise that performs ALL of these three key functions in order to restore optimal movement and strengthen correctly. Many of the isolated exercises will not address these different roles, so while you think have gained strength the muscle is still dysfunctional.

How The Feet Drive Glute Engagement

Proper big toe function ensures that you will be able to engage your glute muscles effectively.

But how does this work exactly?

Within milliseconds of your foot touching the ground it sends a signal to the hip to prepare for single leg stability. Any delay in hip stability will result in poor leg alignment which can result in knee problems like patella-femoral pain, ITB friction syndrome, even ankle sprains and various hip injuries.

Here's how it works:

1. Toe Flexion: During movements like walking and running, your big toe flexes as your foot pushes off the ground. This flexion creates tension in the plantar fascia, the connective tissue on the sole of your foot.
2. Fascial Connection: The plantar fascia is connected to the deep fascia in your leg, which, in turn, connects to the fascia surrounding your glutes.
3. Glute Activation: As you push off the ground and engage your big toe, the tension travels up the fascial lines, signalling your glutes to activate more efficiently.

The feet drive the reflex stability of the hip and in particular the big toe acts as the catalyst for optimal glute engagement. If you struggle to activate your glutes during walking try to actively dorsiflex your big toe just prior to heel strike as this helps to increase the stiffness of the foot in preparation for impact with the ground.

How do I try to improve this?

Well, there is not one single exercise but several I may use to develop the strength and stability that I need. I may use a combination of foot specific drills and hip activation drills as seen in the videos below.

All of the single leg stance exercises are the best to develop the strength required for the feet and hip. With the feet they demand control of pronation and for the hip they demand control of three key functions we discussed earlier. This helps to stabilize the hip, act as a hip rotator, and lock the head of the femur into the socket, creating a very tight and stable hip joint during gait. This prevents the ball and socket joint from rattling around during walking and running.

You could use a stack of isolated glute exercises and foot exercises to improve this but to really finish the job you need to use exercises to tie it all together.

The best exercise I have found that achieves the goal of using foot stability and hip stability together is the hip airplane.

This exercise is a variation of the single leg Romanian deadlift. The major differences with this exercise versus the standard single leg RDL is the added rotational movement of the hip in the air and the proprioception demands needed to maintain balance. The RDL and especially the single leg RDL are known as great exercises for lower back pain and hip pain as it works perfectly to realign the femoral head back deep into the hip socket glutes by releasing the hip and strengthening the glutes.

With so many moving parts it can take some time to truly master this movement but the pay-off is fantastic, especially for someone with patella tracking problems. Why?

Due to the rotation of the hip in the air the body would normally begin to rotate inwards at the foot and the hip to follow. Unfortunately, the single leg stance prevents this from happening as you will fall over instantly. Instead, the body senses the loss of stability and begins to counter the rotation with an opposing rotational force to maintain the single leg stance. This torsion effect is what engages the glutes, the muscles of the foot and ankle, and most importantly the VMO muscle of the knee. The VMO plays a pivotal role in providing knee stability and is often very weak with those suffering with knee pain.

The proprioception part comes into it when you take your eyes off the horizon. With the traditional single leg exercises you can keep your eyes fixed on a point ahead which enables you to maintain good balance and control. This version takes that ability away from you and forces your ankle and feet to work twice as hard which is fantastic for improving knee stability and hip strength.

Lastly do not disregard the impact that incorporating foot stability activation into integrated movements like cable push, pull, squats and deadlifts.

Watch the videos below to see examples of this.

Do You Need More Help?

If you currently suffer with hip, knee, or back problems you will find our online programs shown below a great resource that take you through all of the assessments and corrective exercises to get you back to full strength and out of pain. All of these programs are downloadable videos that come with PDF instructions manuals. Click the image below of the program you need to find out more and get a copy.

Summary

I hope this article gives you a better understanding of how much influence the feet have over the rest of the body. As I said right at the beginning it is one of the most neglected and overlooked parts of the body and is often very poorly trained. By spending the time to improve your foot stability and incorporate exercises that demand it into your training program it can have a profound effect on your overall movement.

For more ideas and information on specific topics I may not have covered in detail be sure to check out our INDEX PAGE on the website that has over 300 of our best articles. These are all sorted into categories for quick reference so you can find what you are after more easily. You can also subscribe to our FREE fortnightly newsletter by clicking here.

If you live in Melbourne and need specific help with your exercise program please feel free to reach out to me for help and we can set you up with your individualised program by clicking the banner below.

About The Author

Nick Jack is owner of No Regrets Personal Training and has over 19 years’ experience as a qualified Personal Trainer, Level 2 Rehabilitation trainer, CHEK practitioner, and Level 2 Sports conditioning Coach. Based in Melbourne Australia he specialises in providing solutions to injury and health problems for people of all ages using the latest methods of assessing movement and corrective exercise.

References:

• Barefoot Strong - By Dr Emily Splichal
• Whole Body Barefoot - By Katy Bowman
• Born To Run - Chris McDougal
• The Vital Glutes - By John Gibbons
• Movement - By Gray Cook
• Corrective Exercise Solutions - by Evan Osar
• Diagnosis & Treatment Of Movement Impairment Syndromes - By Shirley Sahrman
• Core Stability - by Peak Performance
• Athletic Body in Balance - by Gray Cook
• Anatomy Trains - by Thomas Meyers
• Motor Learning and Performance - By Richard A Schmidt and Timothy D Lee
• Assessment & Treatment Of Muscle Imbalance - By Vladimir Janda
• How To Eat, Move & Be Healthy by Paul Chek
• Scientific Core Conditioning Correspondence Course - By Paul Chek
• Advanced Program Design - By Paul Chek
• Twist Conditioning Sports Movement - By Peter Twist