I THOUGHT my feet were in good nick until I started a contemporary dance class a couple of years ago. My pirouettes were rubbish, my turns were deplorable. How did I improve? I worked on my feet!

We usually take no notice of our feet, except when something goes wrong and we have injury and pain.

That usually pulls us up in our tracks, we can’t walk properly or run or even get out of the chair well when we have foot pain.

Sadly, foot problems are very often the result of many years of neglect. We imprison our feet in shoes most days from an early age, for several hours at a time.

The foot is held in a semi rigid position in such a way that the deep small muscles in that area are not required to move very much. They weaken. Think about the structure of the foot: the heel and the ankle and upper foot are composed of chunky bones which fit together like a jigsaw.

There are about 15 joints in that area alone. Then we see the metatarsals, which are the long bones running through the length of the foot, then the toes, or phalanges. The big toe has two joints, all the others have three apiece. What a lot of joints in the foot, did you realise that?

Here’s my point: wherever there is a joint in the body, there is movement potential. The muscles that surround the joint have the role of either assisting movement or stabilising the joint so that effective movement can happen elsewhere in the system.

Like the rest of the joints in our body, the foot has both of these types of muscle, some to stabilise it and some to move it. What’s the importance of that?

Think about this rusty chain analogy: if you have a metal chain where some of the links have seized up from rust and can no longer move, then the other links in the chain have to work harder, move more and sustain more force in order for the chain to be effective.

You could say that the same happens in our body. If the joints in the foot are immobile and lacking in strength, then somewhere else in the body has to do more work in order for you to walk, stand, run, balance etc.

A common pain area is the heel, where we might suffer from plantar fasciitis, or the knees, where they are having to over compensate in stabilising the body.

The hips may suffer or the back could be taking on too much strain if the ankle is not mobile enough to hold the body in good alignment or posture. In a nutshell, work the feet to strengthen and mobilise the joints and the rest of your body will work more effectively.

Try standing by the wall for support. Stand tall and lightly squeeze the buttocks. Rise up and down on your feet several times. Now repeat on one foot only. Keep practising!

Patricia Issitt is a movement therapist and Pilates instructor based in York. Find out more at yorkpilates.com