Hello, and welcome to this 10 minute
self foot massage that will help you relieve pain,
improve awareness in your feet,
and will even help improve your balance.
This is great for you if you are dealing with foot pain,
circulation issues, or edema,
arthritis in your feet or neuropathy.
My name is Ann Swanson,
and I am a Licensed Massage Therapist.
And the only thing you're gonna need today
is a chair to sit in and a cork.
So go ahead and grab a wine cork if you have one,
if not something else similar
will do like a chapstick tube.
You can pause the video and make sure you have that.
And now that you're back,
make sure you click subscribe below
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about my Wellness Wednesday videos,
where I release a video every Wednesday
to help you relieve pain and be your best self.
Let's go ahead and get started.
So take a moment and sit in a chair,
sit tall, and place your mini foam roller on the ground
and then just pause.
Spread your toes, place them down big toes down
little toe and then all the toes,
relax your feet for a moment,
feel your feet on the ground.
(calm music)
Pick a nice slow breath here
and notice if one foot is craving a little more attention
if one foot is speaking to you more.
And if that's true,
you can take it to that foot and we'll begin with that foot.
So you're gonna go ahead and grab your mini foam roller
with your toes,
bring it over and just simply start by rolling it out.
It'll take a few moments to get the hang of it,
to get it at the right angle
where you can get into a rhythm and with it.
Rolling with whatever pressure feels good for you
up and down the sole of the foot.
We're getting to those muscles
as well as the plantar fascia loosening it up.
You can go to the side a little bit.
I really like to go to the outer edge of my foot
which according to Chinese philosophy and reflexology
there's some points up near the toe for your shoulder
and arm.
So take a moment.
You can just focus in on that area,
can't hurt,
and then move down to the lower part,
which according to Chinese philosophy
is associated with your hips.
It's nice 'cause we're also turning
the ankle out a little bit,
which has some great hip mobility while we're at it.
And then we'll move it over into the arch.
So the top part of the arch in reflexology
is more the neck area and then we move down the spine
as we go down the arch,
I have a really deep arch
so it's a little harder for me to get the cork in there.
You have to tilt it.
So we're tilting and moving our hip a little as a bonus,
and then we're gonna go to the heel.
So the center of the heel right here in the back
just rolling back and forth
(calm music)
and then going to the top of the foot
right under the middle toes and rubbing there
which feels so good
it'll even spread your toes a little bit.
This is associated with your upper traps,
your trapezius muscle,
those shoulder muscles that tend to get tight.
Go ahead and just go wherever felt good for you,
I really like the outer edge and just do that again.
But by releasing your feet
we're really focusing on your overall foot health
which is key for your health,
key for your balance,
your ability to walk.
So now what we're gonna do is take this cork
and in order to help our balance
we're gonna work on spreading our toes.
So between the big toe
and the pointer toe you're gonna
try to put the cork between there
I have pretty long toes
I can go pretty deep in there
but wherever you can get it to spread the toes,
do your best see if you can pick it up
and you're gonna try to let go of it
which can be a little hard.
You can, even, if it gets stuck,
you can even use the other foot
to help you get it out there
as we move from toes to toes
trying to get it in between the best you can.
You may not go as far as mine that's okay,
but see if you can get it in there and pick it up
working on our ability to spread our toes.
There we go this little one can be the hardest.
See if you can pick it up there
and we're gonna go ahead and take this cork, bring it over,
place it down for the other foot which might be jealous.
Take a moment between two sides.
Just pause here, feel your feet
notice the resulting sensations,
feel that foot that you just did,
feel the other jealous foot.
Take a nice breath.
And we'll begin with that mini foam roller going up and down
the sole of the foot wherever it feels good.
Just loosening up the plantar fascia,
that connective tissue on the sole of your foot.
It's really important to keep awareness in our feet
especially as we age,
where we start to lose the ability to feel our feet fully,
we can get neuropathy or even just that lack of awareness
in your feet can lead to balance issues, walking issues.
So we wanna maintain that.
So we're gonna go now on the outer edge
and focus on that if you haven't already my favorite part.
I went up and down just getting that whole outer edge
we'll make sure we get the whole thing
(calm music)
and we'll move on over to the inner arch,
tilting your foot inward to be able to get here
just doing the best you can.
If your foot ever makes the cork move out of your way
you just have to grab it, bring it back.
That's totally fine.
Get to the lower part
and then we'll go to the heel.
Focusing in on the heel,
try not to tense your foot as you're doing this,
(calm music)
well then go to the part right below your toes
in the center here
let see if that helps,
spread your toes a little bit
preparing us for our toe exercise.
(calm music)
So go ahead and see if you can grab it
and put it between your big toe
and your pointer toe the best you can
as deep as you can maybe,
pick it up and then bring it down
and grab it between the next few toes best you can.
This can take time,
it can take practice kind of a fun thing to do.
Just have the cork on the ground
gotta use this
and play with this when you need a break from work.
Keeping your mobility in your feet
so you can do things with your feet.
(calm music)
All right, just find what feels good now,
wherever it feels best for you focus in on that area.
Increasing circulation,
(calm music)
also increasing your agility and mobility in your ankles
which is really key to be able to catch yourself if you fall
as well as of course awareness.
Go ahead and place that mini foam roller down,
place your feet down, big toe goes down,
little toes go down and then all the toes.
Press the feet firmly down on the ground
and feel the resulting sensations,
vibrations,
flows.
Notice that glow from the increased circulation.
(calm music)
Nice deep breath in,
slow breath out.
(calm music)
And if you feel any better from doing this,
ask yourself why you don't do this more often.
If you enjoy this video
make sure that you click that subscribe button below
and click the notification bell
so that you can get more videos like this every Wednesday
for Wellness Wednesday,
to help you relieve pain in a practical way.
And I'd love to hear from you,
let me know how you feel in the comments below,
and I'll be sure to get back to you.
Thank you so much and be well.
(calm music)