The Big toe is an important joint that is commonly undervalued when considering exercise form and injury.

My Question to you is have you ever had discomfort when doing such exercises like a lunge, bulgarian or hack squat in your toes?

The Big toe serves as an important factor in shock absorption and controls pronation of the foot during running or walking. This is highly important as unnatural torque created by over or under pronation is carried through to the knee and increases the likelihood of knee-related injuries (Eg: ACL, PCL, MCL). The Big Toe also has an important control element of static balance.

The discomfort can be felt due to a lack of flexion through the toe but can be easily fixed. In this image you can see Pip from our transformation program doing a big toe flexion stretch with the ball. She simply has her big toe, along with some others up on the ball and is driving pressure down, trying to place her foot flat on the ground. This is a great beginners mobility drills which will make your lunges feel so much better!

Coach Zac