Toe Yoga… For Pickleball? Five Quick Exercises To Help Fight Foot Cramps

We’ve covered a variety of common pickleball injuries before, from rotator cuff pain to Plantar Fasciitis, but sometimes nothing is worse than plain old cramps. Foot cramps, in particular, can feel totally inhibiting to the pickleball experience, as being unable to stand can completely take you out of the game.

Fortunately, our personal trainer, Brady Burman-Magday, was able to develop a quick toe yoga routine to help prevent and alleviate pain from foot cramps. You read that correctly: Toe yoga.

While it may sound silly, in practice, it is an effective way of stretching out your feet in a way that is difficult to emulate otherwise. These stretches help promote better posture, your sense of balance, and overall support for your body while moving around the pickleball court. 

Here are a few easy foot stretching methods to help you stay on the pickleball court all day long. All of the following exercises require you to be barefoot, so take off those court shoes, and let’s get stretching!

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Toe Raises

As Brady demonstrates in the video above, toe raises stretch out and strengthen the muscles in your foot, primarily your Flexor digorum brevis and Abductor hallucis, which are prone to cramps due to overuse and lack of targeted stretching.

1. Assume a kneeling position, keeping one foot out in front of you flat on the ground and the other leg tucked backward.
2. Starting with just your big toe, lift it upwards until it is extended as far as it can go.
3. Quickly return to the starting position, lowering the big toe to the ground.
4. Repeat this for 30 seconds.
5. Now, do the opposite movement: keep your big toe on the ground and lift the rest of your toes off the ground. Return them back to the ground, and repeat this movement for 30 seconds.
6. Spend a total of 3 minutes for each foot.

Spreading Your Toes

Spreading and Scrunching your toes is an easy way to gauge the flexibility in your feet. These exercises may bring on sensations of cramping at first, but once you add toe exercises into your routine, you’ll notice the pain slowly subside while doing them.

1. Sit upright with your feet flat on the floor. This can be done from a seated position on the ground or in a chair, as long as your feet are planted on the ground.
2. On one foot, spread all your toes out as far as they can comfortably go and hold this position for up to 10 seconds.
3. If you’re finding it difficult to spread your toes at first, feel free to guide them by using your fingers to guide them into a spread-out position.
4. Relax your toes, allowing them to come back to a neutral state.
5. Repeat this with your other foot, doing 5-8 reps total per foot.

Scrunching Your Toes

Scrunching your toes is effectively the opposite of spreading them, as you flex them downwards while bringing them together tightly. For this exercise, placing a towel underneath your feet is often best to give your toes something to grip onto.

1. Sit on a chair with good posture, keeping your back upright.
2. Place a towel underneath your feet. Make sure your feet are flat while pinning the towel to the ground.
3. Curl your toes and feet as though you were trying to grasp the towel with your feet.
4. Hold this position for 10 seconds before relaxing.
5. Repeat this with your other foot, doing 5-8 reps total per foot.

Close and Open the Soles of Your Feet

This exercise helps stretch out the rest of the muscles in your feet, as well as your ankles and calves, ensuring that every part of your foot gets stronger.

1. Start in a seated position with your legs straight out and your back in an upright position.
2. Keep your legs and feet together, making sure that the inner sides and soles of your feet are touching.
3. Pretend that the points at which your feet meet are hinges. Close the soles of your feet together, trying to get the bottoms of your feet to touch. Only push them as far as feels comfortable while keeping your heels touching the ground and your legs straight.
4. Hold this position for 10 seconds before returning to the starting position. Repeat this for 5-8 reps total.

Feet Rolls

For this exercise, you’ll need a tennis or stress ball to roll your foot across. In a pinch, a pickleball should work just fine, too! Rolling your foot across the ball will massage and loosen up your foot muscles – This is our favorite to conclude a foot yoga routine with.

1. Sit on a chair, keeping your back straight.
2. Place one of your feet on top of the ball.
3. Slowly roll your foot over the ball, starting at the heel and working your way up to your toes. Once the ball reaches the tip of your big toe, then roll it all the way back to the end of your heel.
4. Then, bring the ball to the center of your foot and begin rolling it sideways, from left to right. Repeat this motion while zig-zagging the ball up and down your foot – The idea is to have the ball roll over every inch of the surface of your foot.
5. Continue these motions for about 3 minutes per foot.