I know many of us can still hear our childhood riding instructors bellowing “heels down” as we trotted around the arena.
No matter what we did they would always creep back up-why isn’t toes down a thing? We can do that!
So with the addition of heels or ballet pumps, spending more time sat down we are constantly shortening our lower leg muscles. I know loads of you spend ages stretching your calves on the stairs etc. to no avail.
I’ve got a really simple solution that might just help. You see the function of the lower leg starts on the bottom of your foot. The Plantar Tendon runs underneath your foot and attaches to the Achilles tendon and into the soleus muscle (one of your calf muscles). Any tightness on your Plantar tendon will cause tightness up the whole chain. And let’s face it we walk around on our Plantar Tendon all day so it’s pretty safe to say it needs some TLC.
This just needs a ball. Any ball will do tennis, golf etc. or you can use the spiky physio balls.
Just roll the ball around under your feet, in all directions up and down, side to side. Focus on any sore spots; stretch the arch of your foot out over the ball just for a few minutes each foot. Not only will this loosen up your lower leg so try it before you ride, it also feels really nice at the end of a long day on your feet.
