My Chiropractor’s One Exercise for Flat Feet, Collapsed Arches, and Weak Ankles

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During my last trip to the chiropractor, I made sure to point out my foot that is flatter than the other one in hopes that I could get some advice.

Working on your back and neck is great (and necessary), but I started going after all for the purpose of sorting out my ankles, feet, and a couple smaller injuries.

So this collapsed arch has been something I’ve been wondering about for a bit now. I noticed that it dipped lower than the other side after I had my big injury a couple years ago.

There doesn’t seem to be any side effects from it, which is why I hadn’t really addressed it yet, but I figured if it’s visibly obvious to the eye, maybe it’s time to do a little preventative work so I don’t find myself with knee pain or something similar soon. 

I showed my chiropractor my two ankles by pulling up my pant leg and he noticed it right away. He asked if I had any symptoms that were related to that and I said no because I don’t believe I do.

Afterwards, I hopped on his table so he could try to manipulate and adjust my ankles but there wasn’t anything serious to be done. He did what he could just because of my concern, but he pointed out that my ankles were pretty secure and there wasn’t any significant adjustment for him to do. 

Honestly, I’m surprised at this because I have a history of spraining and breaking my ankles from the past. I would’ve thought he’d find a ton of work to do in that region.

Once we were done, he did have a recommendation for me though. He already knew that I played soccer so he probably figured I would like this one.

He asked me if I knew what a Bosu Ball (the half medicine, half flat surface ball) was, which I did, so he told me to practice balancing on one as much as I could. He said that it’s good for activating all of the stabilizing muscles in the foot, ankle, and lower leg.

What he recommended to me was to do one-footed balancing drills while standing on the medicine ball half. After doing this several times now, I have found that I really enjoy it as an exercise and that you can do it in several ways.

• If one-footed is too difficult or you don’t have the balance, try two-footed while keeping your feet closer together so you don’t make it too easy.
• If standing on the medicine ball side feels dangerous for your ankles, you can flip it over and stand on the flat surface side. Given, standing on the flat surface side will not work your feet and ankles as much because it’s hard and flat, but it will still practice your balance and stabilization, more-so higher up in the leg.
• To make it more difficult, perform other exercises while standing one-legged on the medicine ball like one-legged deadlifts or pistol squats to force your entire lower body to work on stabilizing.

I have found these exercises to be great, whether as a warm-up or cool-down to working out. I find them so effective because they test my ankle mobility and force my entire leg to engage in stabilizing my weight.

The feet have to engage by creating a strong arch, the ankles have to be mobile but also stable, and the lower leg muscles have to stay strong to keep you upright. Not to mention, if you are bending your knees at all or making the deadlift motion, your upper leg muscles will also be tested.