If you have a limited range of movement available to lift your toes, then you're going to trip over them. This is often the result of tight calves. You might experience tight calves if you're a runner or do other high impact sports. Or indeed if you do no impact sports, but spend a lot of time sitting at a desk.

Let's talk anatomy for a moment - essentially, the muscles responsible for lifting your toes are in the front of your leg down your shin and they are not big muscles. Your calf muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus) on the other hand are responsible for pointing your toes and they are waaaaay bigger than those down the front of your leg (Tibialis anterior and Extensor digitorum longus)

If your gastroc and soleus are shortened either as a result of overuse or as a result of sitting in the same shortened position all day, this means that they have a smaller range of movement available to them. So, unless the Tibialis ant and Extensor DL are super-strong, they are not going to be able to be able to pull the foot towards the shin against the pull of the big shortened muscles.

Anatomy lesson over - let's speak about what you can do to improve your range of movement.

Firstly, my favourite - "self-myofascial release" or releasing your muscles with a foam roller and small hard ball.

It's always good with these releases to start at the bottom of your body and work your way up. So, we'll start by release out the muscles and the plantar fascia under the foot. Start with one heel on the ball - I tend to start on the outer side of the foot first. Press down on the ball with your heel and, keeping the pressure constant, roll the ball about two inches up your foot and one inch back (at a speed of about an inch a second, so two seconds up, one second back). Work all the way up to the ball of the foot and then repeat on the inner side.

You'll have noticed one or two spots that are more painful than the rest of the foot. When you've completed the rolling, return to each of those spots and press a little harder. Circle your foot on that spot, 3 rotations in each direction. Do this in as many spots as you need to! Don't forget to do the other foot.

Doing both feet will take you about 5 minutes - quite painful but in a good way. After finishing, take a moment to stand with both feet evenly on the floor and enjoy the feeling of being more grounded.

Once you've finished your feet, it's time to move onto your calves. Grab your foam roller. I like a knobbly roller that gets into the belly of the muscle. Fair warning, this is about a ten minute job.

Start by sitting on the floor with one leg resting on the foam roller just above your ankle. Cross the other ankle over the top to add extra weight and relax your feet. Rest your hands behind you on the floor and push your hands down to lift your butt off the floor. You want your body weight resting on the bottom leg on the roller. You'll move your body and leg so that you roll up two inches and back one. You'll do the outer side and lower half of the calf first, then the inner side and lower half, before moving on to the upper half of your calf. We're still looking for the extra tender spots. When you finish each half of the calf, go back to the tender spots and this time, resting on the spot, rock your calf from side to side over the tender spot about three times.

Repeat on the other leg.

If you really want to test if this is increasing your range of movement, try doing the foot and calf on one side of your body. Then sit with your legs outstretched and compare how much more range you have when you alternately point and flex your feet.

You should really do this every day, but even a couple of times a week will make a difference. You'll also notice that if you do it more frequently, it will hurt less. 

I use a lacrosse ball which has just the right level of hardness and a Triggerpoint roller which has nice knobbly bits (other foam rollers are available). In the next post, we're talking stretch and strength, so keep an eye out.

It's worth noting that this sort of regular maintenance work can help you to avoid future flare-ups of Plantar Fasciitis, which can be very painful. Is this you? Check out my two blog posts on managing initial flare ups and ongoing maintenance