Heel-to-Heel Inversion
Indications: who should do “Heel-to-Heel” Inversions?
Patients with painful and dysfunctional posterior tibial tendons will often benefit from a heel-to-heel inversions exercise. This situation is often encountered in patients with acquired adult flatfoot deformities. This exercise is performed with minimal resistance (gravity) so it can often be performed numerous times, allowing for a slow build up in strength and function of the irritated tendon.
How it’s done
Sit on a high stool so that the balls of your feet are barely touching the floor. Imagine two points on the soles of your feet: one under the base of your big toe and the second at the base of the small toe.
- Keep your heels on the ground and move the first point under the big toe as far apart from each other as possible, without lifting your heels off the ground.
- Then move the second point on both feet as close together as possible by curling the feet inwards.
Start by performing 10 repetitions and then take a 10-15 second break, then repeat this 5-10 times. Gradually work up the number of repetitions and sets that you perform until you can comfortably perform 12 sets of 25 repetitions.
Edited September 10th, 2015
mf/ 9.4.18