Having an injured or sore foot or feet can feel like one of the biggest barriers to maintaining a normal exercise routine, but it doesn’t have to be. Our feet are the foundations of our body, and are used in most exercises. From running to cycling, yoga and rowing, we use our feet for almost everything.
Keeping this in mind, it’s no surprise that many people experience foot or ankle pain or discomfort at one point or another. When you do have a foot injury, many kinds of exercises will most likely be out the window until you’re healed – but that doesn’t mean you have to sit still at home and wait! Here’s a quick guide on how to exercise when you’ve got a foot injury:
Weight lifting
This might be one of the easiest first ventures back into the world of working out, as they’re a little simpler to modify than cardio activities. Weight lifting workouts can be great if you have a foot injury, as your overall muscle mass can disappear if you start skipping exercises.
Try focusing on upper body exercises at first, ensuring you’re not putting any pressure on your feet. Start with a bench press or lat pulldown, and work your way slowly toward completing lower body exercises like leg curls and extensions (if they feel comfortable). Maintaining lower body strength is a great way to get your feet strength back quickly!
Swimming
As the most beloved low-intensity exercise, swimming is the perfect workout for people with foot injuries and pain. Swimming is a great cardio exercise that doesn’t put any pressure on the body, so you won’t have to worry about putting weight on your injury.
Try swimming laps doing your favourite stroke – just make sure to modify your style to keep your feet from contributing too much. As an example, with freestyle stroke, focus on pulling with your arms, leaving your feet and ankles relaxed. Try not to kick, as it could further injure your foot.
Modified cardio
Cardio and feet go together like bread and butter, but if you think outside of the box, you can still make do. If you’ve been on your health journey for a while now, reeling back the cardio because of a foot injury would be disheartening to say the least.
That’s why it’s important to make the effort to modify your cardio exercises so you can continue to feel your best self, even if your feet hurt! Some of the best cardio workouts to modify include heavy rope training and chair workouts.