Toe spreaders sounds painful hey? You can also called it passive toe stretching, still doesnt sound pleasant! If you have been following my instagram recently you will know at every opportunity Ive got my toe spreaders in. Ive talked about my numb toes in previous posts so I won’t bore you with the details again, you can read it here if you want.

Toe spreaders are designed to passively stretch your toes. Most of us wear shoes for the vast majority of the day, in our shoes are toes are all pushed together and squished which in turn compresses our nerves and tendons in our toes. Eventually we lose the function of our toes, we can’t move them as we should be able to, in some cases (mine) we can’t feel our toes, or they are just painful. The toe spreaders counteract the squishing of the shoes to create space between the toes releasing those nerves and tendons and help us get back our mobility and sensation.

Toes that lose mobility and strength will create further problems up the chain. Think of your feet as your foundations, if these foundations are dodgy then what sits above them will be dodgy. Weak and stiff toes will affect balance as well as foot and lower leg function. We can’t walk properly if our toes aren’t  flexible enough to move, this can put strain on the ankles, the knees, the hips and the lower back. Addressing the toes could help with many other injuries you have and the great thing is you don’t have to move a muscle. You can just pop the toe spreaders in and sit back and relax.

I also have a fab pair of toesox sandals which have the toe separators as part of their design and they are so mega comfy I wear them all the time and wore them walking around Morocco for a week too. Im glad the weather is warming up so I can wear them more.

If you want to learn more about improving your foot function, strength and mobility check out our foot foundations download.