Foot exercises for wearing heels?

J

janineanne

New Member
This seems like it should be a common topic, but I searched quite a bit and didn't find what I was looking for.

When other girls were learning to walk in heels, I was still wearing tennis shoes. When I did finally develop an interest in looking more girly, I could never get the hang of it; they were awkward in every way, and my feet tend to blister at the mere sight of a hard shoe, no matter how well it seems to fit at first. I've been fortunate enough to work in a profession where dressing very casually is the norm, so I've been able to continue my athletic shoe wearing ways, suffering through the occasional special occasion in a pair of uncomfortable shoes.

Now I'm dancing, and I want to be able to wear heels. I really need to, as we regularly go to formals where even the nicest flat dance shoe would look funny with a dress. I never go above 2" so I really don't think this is too much to ask, but my feet are not so sure. :)

I've been doing this for a while now (we've been dancing for about three years, and I've been fighting with shoes for at least the last two. I've made some progress; the heels don't feel weird anymore, and I can walk in them just fine. I've also eliminated the blisters by wearing socks, which is not my preference but for now it woks. But what's left is my feet just not being used to being worked at an angle.

In my practice shoes (split-soled Bloch sneakers) I can dance all night. In my WCS sandals, which have a very square 1.5" heel, I can go several hours. In my latin shoes, which have about a 1.75" heel, maybe an hour. Eventually the muscles in my feet get tired and sore, and in the latin shoes the balls of my feet start to get sore as well (even with pro soles and extra padding).

We're not talking stabbing pain here - nothing that would indicate an actual foot problem. They just get sore, like feet naturally do if you're on them for a long time. Except this doesn't take very long to develop.

I assume this is due to lack of tone in the muscles that get used while standing on an angle, but I can't seem to find any exercises that claim to help with this problem.

Any suggestions, advice or commiseration welcome! :)
 
Well, there's standing on the edge of the stairs with the ball of your feet and raising/lowering your heels. Honestly, though, it's not strength. I can go about an hour, max, before my Latin sandals start to hurt. I won't take them off at competitions until I'm done for the day if I can possibly avoid it, because otherwise I won't put them back on. They don't hurt as much as close-toe court shoes, but they hurt. They're not really designed to be comfortable for long-term wear, they're meant to be flexible through the foot and create a pretty leg line and keep you up on the balls of your feet more readily. I still find them better than 'street' heels, because those have inflexible soles, so there's a lot less flex through the foot just walking.
 
Yamuna has an entire protocol of foot fitness. I recommend it HIGHLY.

yamunabodyrolling .com/about/foot_fitness/ index.php
 
Very cool, especially the fact that they come with an instructional DVD. Do you have foot wakers or foot savers or both? If both, do you recommend one over the other?
 
I have Franklin balls (too hard to describe optp.com/ Franklin-Textured-Ball-Set_LE9001. aspx) which are magical for the feet, and have used the half-round rough textured thingys Yamuna sells. I'm a huge fan of the Franklin balls, have used them for body rolling, great for deep-tissue fascial release. But be careful if you use them for body rolling; the suction cups left marks on my skin, even through my clothing. Before I figured out where the "circular rash like ringworm" came from, I frightened two doctors, a nurse, and Teach. Pretty funny, all in all.
 
That is hilarious.

Having looked at both, I think that the Franklin textured balls are probably where I'll start (Thanks, btw.) They're round-ish and look like they roll. I think that might be of more help than semi-spheres that sit on the ground. And they're on amazon with free shipping. *ahem* Yes. I said free shipping. :D

But who knows? Will try and check back in.
 
janineanne said:
When other girls were learning to walk in heels, I was still wearing tennis shoes. When I did finally develop an interest in looking more girly, I could never get the hang of it; they were awkward in every way, and my feet tend to blister at the mere sight of a hard shoe, no matter how well it seems to fit at first. I've been fortunate enough to work in a profession where dressing very casually is the norm, so I've been able to continue my athletic shoe wearing ways, suffering through the occasional special occasion in a pair of uncomfortable shoes.

Now I'm dancing, and I want to be able to wear heels. I really need to, as we regularly go to formals where even the nicest flat dance shoe would look funny with a dress. I never go above 2" so I really don't think this is too much to ask, but my feet are not so sure. :)

In my practice shoes (split-soled Bloch sneakers) I can dance all night. In my WCS sandals, which have a very square 1.5" heel, I can go several hours. In my latin shoes, which have about a 1.75" heel, maybe an hour. Eventually the muscles in my feet get tired and sore, and in the latin shoes the balls of my feet start to get sore as well (even with pro soles and extra padding).

We're not talking stabbing pain here - nothing that would indicate an actual foot problem. They just get sore, like feet naturally do if you're on them for a long time. Except this doesn't take very long to develop.

I assume this is due to lack of tone in the muscles that get used while standing on an angle, but I can't seem to find any exercises that claim to help with this problem.

Any suggestions, advice or commiseration welcome! :)
Click to expand...

I can totally relate! I never wore heels either... I always wore comfortable shoes, and the go to shoe in my line of work is either clogs or athletic shoes. I had and continue to have alot of discomfort with heels in dance... both in balance and in pain. After trying tons of different shoes, I now wear 2 inch heels with heel protectors for competing, add ball of foot padding... I think they are called "teco"pads, and if I am dancing socially, I wear practice shoes, or 2 inch heels that are wider. After about an hour of dancing in a lesson, I switch to practice shoes. I think there are feet and ankle exercises that can help, but I just don't think I naturally have enough padding under the ball of my foot, I probably have some bone spurs, and I have high arches which puts even more pressure on the ball of the foot. My advice? Just work with what you have!
 
I ordered the Yamuna DVD and the foot wakers... I found the foot wakers very uncomfortable. They are firm with studs coming out of them and at the end I felt my feet were hurting more than being worked out. What was your experience with them? I think I am going back to good old fashioned ballet foot exercises!
 
LIke everything else, it took time to get used to. I do such exercises, with things that are firm/spiky/textured, often, so they don't hurt me at all.
 
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