Online Coaches Tip of the Week
Hi Tribe 365! It’s Shelly here with your coaching tip of the week!
This week I’ll be demonstrating some simple stretches and exercises you can try out to help manage foot/toes dystonia.
Although dystonia is primarily managed through medication change/review, you can try stretching out the dystonic muscles to ease any discomfort or pain, and try toes/arch isolation exercises to strengthen the small muscles of the foot in between dystonic episodes.
Have a go and let us know how you get on!
Query for Shelly – what if you have OA in big toe joints which restricts rom? Also I get a really cold right foot (my affected side) Left foot normal temperature
Hi Audrey, great questions! If you have painful toes from OA and can’t bend the toes back very far, you can try stretching the calf (one leg forward and one leg back, the leg that’s forward is bent at the knee, the one that’s back is straight) to help alleviate dystonic pain, if the location is in the calf. If the dystonia is in the foot and toes, you can try getting a tennis ball under the arch (or wherever the dystonia is) and roll the tennis ball along the bottom of the foot by putting some weight onto it. In terms of the temperature difference in the feet, this can sometimes happen if one side is generally weaker and stiffer than the other. Muscle pump and contractions contribute to body heat and so your weaker side tends to be colder. If this bothers you, you can put on extra layers of socks on the right foot and/or do some exercises for the foot and leg to help increase the temperature. Hope this helps! 😁
Thankyou
Thank you for the tip to stretch toes against skirting board – I hadn’t thought of that one