The Yamuna “Rolling Footsavers” get high praise from Aaron Pastor, who says the little rubber half-domes have saved his aprehensile leg-hands. (Keep in mind I am not a doctor.)
You stand on them and work your feet, positioning each foot down the inside line, outside line and mid-line. It’s a simple routine that’s explained on the instructional DVD it comes with. If you have any foot discomfort, the kind you get from imperfect shoes or simply being on your feel all day, these really can make a difference. At first, it will be painful.
The Footsavers are $40 on Amazon, but I’m certain you could make your own version from a solid rubber ball with a band saw.
Yamuna Body Rolling Footsavers [Cool Tools]
Hmm I might have to try these. I have a weird foot problem that is slowly making my big toes opposable. I now have a gap between my the toes that you could drop a quarter flat through and the edges wouldn’t touch. Evolution baby, yeah! It’s great for balance and shakin’ my ass on the dance floor mostly, but is pretty painful most other times. I’ve been to the doctor and he said that they could break and set the bones to stop it, but I’d be trading one type of foot pain with for another. It’d be pretty funny if a half a rubber ball fixes the pain.
A popular remedy amongst my dancer friends for plantar fasciitis and other foot aches and pains has the sufferer roll his/her foot over a tennis or golf ball. It works very well for relieving the pain. Apart from the DVD I don’t see that this is any better, although much more expensive… I am not a doctor either.
if you want to strengthen the connective tissue and little muscles in your feet, wear sandals and go barefoot as much as possible.
After reading this I started eying an unused trackball on my desk. Put it down on the floor, kicked off my shoes and ahhh…. DOn’t know how long it’ll last, or if there’s any actual benefit to doing this, but so far it’s pretty dang comfortable.
“aprehensile leg-hands” omg lulz!
But maybe I’ve been at work too long…
dude I AM not a doktor
#5: You laugh, but when I’m able to climb poles barefooted you’ll be jealous
I do something very similar with clients using a Pinky solid rubber
ball from the local toy store ($1.99). A 2.5″ SuperBall(tm) works but
they’re hard to find.
http://www.amazon.com/Toysmith-ToySmith-Pinky-Ball/dp/B00009RGTW
I teach a series of exercises to open up the fascia and educate the
nervous system by rolling the foot across the ball along the
transverse arch, longitudal arch, and in front of the heel. It’s
essentially the same stuff I learned from my Pilates instructor who
got it from the Franklin Method of somatic education:
http://www.cntrfblnc.cm/Wlcm_/wlcm_.html
Vilain,
If you have a link that specifically addresses the subject of the post, you can include it. Otherwise, it’s treated as spam. Thanks.
Comment away until you’ve actually tried them.
We used to use the pinky balls years ago. They’re great, however limiting compared to the foot savers.