How to Strengthen Your Toe Point

In the performance world, dancers are thought to have a good "point" when they have a long straight line from the shin to the top of the foot. Part of having a good point is the way your foot meets your ankle, reminds podiatrist Dr. Thomas Novella in an article in the dance magazine "Pointe." However, having a stronger arch can also help. Try some basic exercises that will help strengthen the arch and possibly improve the look of your toe point.

Things You'll Need

  • Resistance band
  • Towel
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Instructions

    • 1

      Take off your shoes when you're at home, and consider using minimalist or "five-finger" shoes when you go out. Shoes with arch support don't allow the foot's arch to develop naturally -- something that needs to be strong and flexible to help you develop a good toe point. Even better than walking around at home barefoot -- walking around in sand, which conditions, strengthens and massages the bottoms of the feet.

    • 2

      Warm up your feet and ankles before starting a strengthening routine by circling your feet in one direction and then the opposite direction. Perform five to 10 circles in one direction, and then five to 10 circles in the opposite direction.

    • 3

      Stand near the back of a chair and lift one leg off the floor a few inches, just high enough to keep it off the floor. Stand up on your tippy-toes with the other leg, raising your heel as high off the floor as you can, and then lower yourself back down. Repeat the motion 10 to 15 times on that foot and then do the same exercise with the opposite foot.

    • 4

      Sit on the floor with both feet in front of you, and then grasp a resistance band in each hand and loop it around the ball of one foot. Pull lightly on the band to create resistance, and then point the toe of that foot and hold it for three to five seconds. Release the foot back to a flexed position and then repeat the movement a total of 10 times. Repeat with the opposite foot.

    • 5

      Sit in a chair and place a towel on the floor, with its bottom end near one of your big toes. Pinch the end of the towel under your toes, curling the top of the towel toward you. Continue curling the towel toward you until the top end is near your big toe. Then repeat the same exercise with the opposite foot.