autostretching0140

THE TOES 2.

Your difficulty is:	Moving your big toe away from the other toes.
Tight Muscles:	Muscles that move big toe inward: 1 adductor hallucis 2 fle.ror luilhicis breris. fibular part 3 fle.ror hallucis breris. tibial part (see Notę 4)
Equipment:	Chair or stool.
Starting Position:	Sit on chair/stool. with right foot resting on left knee and right knee out to side. Grasp right foot with right hand. and right big toe with left hand.
Stretching:	1. Hołd right foot steady with right hand. Puli big toe forward and out-ward with left hand, so that stretch is felt in toe and under foot. 2. Try to press big toe against other toes; resist with left hand: hołd for 5 seconds. 3. Rclax: puli big toe forward and outward to limit - maybe a little bit morę. 4. Repeat until you feel you can stretch no further and muscles feel tight. Hołd this finał stretch from 15 seconds to a minutę or morę.
Stimulation:	1. Releasc grip of left hand. 2. Move big toe outward to limit. 3. Resist slightly with left hand. 4. Hołd position a few seconds.
Common Errors:	* Not enough forward puli on big toe - too much strain on joint. * Right hand does not hołd foot steady.
Notes:	1. This stretch is important for all 'civilized' people who wear the wrong ki nd of foot wear. 2. This stretch may also be done with toe bent upward at various angles. 3. In rarc cascs. big toe points away from the other toes. If so. the same stretch may be used. except that left hand pulls big toe forward and closer to other toes. This way. the muscle marked (3) is strelched. 4. This exercise may also be done standing up. Left heel kccps right big toe still by pressing down on floor. Right foot is then pul leci back-ward. To add effcct, right leg is gradually turncd outward (heel inward), so that distanee betwcen big toe and other toes inereases to limit while right foot is being pulled baekward. See alternative illustrations (right).
Normal Mobility:	Big toe should be able to point away from other toes.

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