After reading that we should be able to control our toes in a similar way to our fingers, I have been trying to "splay" my little toes over the past few days, I can now just about move the little toe on my right foot slightly away from the fourth toe if I really concentrate, but barely a flicker from the little toe on my left foot.
Apparently wearing shoes hasn't just atrophied the muscle, but the mind muscle link isn't there as shoes just disable the movement. At first it felt like I was re-wiring my whole legs as my mind tried to find the muscle that moves the toe, at times I was tensing every muscle in my legs just trying to feel the muscle I wanted (but have never used). I would have given up after my first couple of attempts as it felt impossible, but it was such a strange sensation I kept trying and am now making a little bit of progress.
Not sure exactly what benefits it will bring, other than a spot in a freak show.
Haha! Trying it now, right foot wasn't too bad but I think I've broken my left foot, trying to move the pinky toe seems to have paralysed all the other toes! 😄
yes - but I hardly wore shoes until I was 6 and still go barefoot much of the time.
I can splay my right little toe a bit more than my left little toe. It's certainly a bit easier too (I'm right handed/footed).
Well I never, turns out yes I can with both.
Only took maybe a week practising every morning to start getting the ability back. Can splay all my toes, but there's not really any independent control, but I haven't practised every morning for a while now. I walk barefoot outside for brief periods of time more or less daily, even if just the garden, and wear minimal/barefoot shoes daily.
Benefits are stronger feet, less need for cushioned supportive shoes.
Pay more for less or pay less for more or pay more for more, but less often less for less.
Always been able to, but then I've always worn shoes that fit my feet properly. The majority of Westerners, particularly women, don't, and this is due pretty much entirely to fashion. For some reason, having foot-shaped feet became unfashionable probably sometime during the Renaissance, so shoes were made that were decidedly unnatural, and people have been squeezing their feet into such footwear ever since. For women this has been an even bigger problem, as women's footwear (and most other clothing) is designed around male sexual ideals, rather than female comfort.
European feet in particular are larger and wider on average than in other parts of the world, so the fact most foot wear is designed to be proportionally narrow really is quite perverse. You should be able to move your little toe independently quite naturally; it's part of being able to walk upright properly. But very few people ever walk barefoot; granted it's too cold and wet to do so most of the time in Northern Europe at least, and modern urban environments aren't exactly forgiving on feet, but at least try to do so at home. If you really can't move your little toes independently, it's probably because you're wearing bad footwear.
The downside to having healthy, foot-shaped feet is that footwear choice is limited to a few companies who recognise that a foot should actually be shaped like. Spoiler; Adidas, Nike etc aren't some of them. There does thankfully seem now to be a trend towards proper decent footwear; brands like Vivobarefoot, Keen, On and Brooks seem to be better at producing wearable footware. I do hope this continues.
Yes to both, slightly more on the right, but I’m reasonably ambidextrous, although I can’t write with my left hand I do use both hands for a wide variety of things.
I hadn’t given much thought to independent movement of various toes, to be honest, it’s the first time I’ve actually attempted it. I can pick things up off the floor with my toes, like socks or other items of clothing, handy if something misses the worn clothing basket, and my feet are bare.
Intrigued to know why the sudden interest in training your toes to perform contortions ?.
Perhaps you're looking to embark on an exciting new career in a circus sideshow
'Roll up, Roll up. Step this way to see the man with the amazing toes'.
Not sure exactly what benefits it will bring, other than a spot in a freak show
Actually you joke but I'm pretty sure my painful right hip derives from the fact that my big toe on the right foot doesn't 'grip' the floor like my left foot does, the foot always wants to roll outward on the heel.
Physio has me practicing by gripping a stretched out resistance band with my toe whenever I do squats/deadlifts etc. and my form immediately improves.
I can splay them on both sides, but it's much easier if my feet are flat on the floor, as my other toes are then braced. If i try with my foot in air then all the toes go in all directions!
I can also 'cross' my little toe so that it sits on top of the fourth toe, but only on the right foot.
Just to balance the foot shaped feet brigade. There are lots of foot shapes - not all are wide and spade shaped.
Mine are very Roman/Greek. A very long big toe tapering down to a very short and tucked under little toe. My kids were born the same so it's genetic not trained.
My family think I'm some kind of freak for being able to independently wiggle my toes. None of them can even move the big one on its own.
Just to balance the foot shaped feet brigade. There are lots of foot shapes - not all are wide and spade shaped.
Of course, but shoes are generally not foot-shaped. Some people are fine with most shoes, but many people squash their feet into unsuitable/badly designed footwear. And regardless of your actual foot shape, you should be able to splay your toes naturally. Many modern shoes have a taper at the front, but much more central than an actual foot is. So toes are squashed up to fit into this unnatural shape.
Mine are very Roman/Greek. A very long big toe tapering down to a very short and tucked under little toe. My kids were born the same so it's genetic not trained.
My family think I'm some kind of freak for being able to independently wiggle my toes. None of them can even move the big one on its own.
Sounds like you just have healthy, normal feet.
yes. My little finger on my left hand works really well independantly but not the right. Something to do with decades of guitaring.
Yep – I have always been able to move the little toe on each foot independently of any other toes. And yes, I have performed my trick many times when drunk.
One thing about that picture of foot shapes above, when populations don’t wear shoes their toes are splayed, shoe wearing populations the toes are together in contact. So to me that isn’t a representation of normal healthy feet but a representation of feet shaped by shoes.
It's not just toes.
Place your hand flat on a desk. Lift one digit at a time, starting with your thumb. Your ring* finger will only lift about a quarter of the way of the others. But if you lift middle and ring fingers together it goes all the way.
Something to do with fingers not having muscles and these two having to share a tendon.
*ring, or annular as guitarists who use the PIMA notation refer to it.
It's not just toes.
Place your hand flat on a desk. Lift one digit at a time, starting with your thumb. Your ring* finger will only lift about a quarter of the way of the others. But if you lift middle and ring fingers together it goes all the way.
Something to do with fingers not having muscles and these two having to share a tendon.
*ring, or annular as guitarists who use the PIMA notation refer to it.
Sort of, fingers have muscles but the tendons are interconnected.
I stubbed my toe once, well all five on the left foot simultaneously actually, and it realigned the metatarsals and pushing all the joints to the right.
This means the big toe and the one next to it have their two joins mashed into one fused lump
The next two aren't too bad but the metatarsals were fused until I broke the fusion in a separate incident so there is now a bone spur that rubs painfully inside the foot.
But the little toe, and the subject of this thread, is sort of pushed off the edge of the foot so the joint isn't properl;y connected to anything and can move independently.
Okay, I have to move it independently by hand, and it hurts a lot to do that, but does that win as the most independently moving little toe?
