Let Your Toes Extend!
You need mobility in three particular areas for your healthy walking gait. You need extension in your hips, flexion in the ankle, and one that is often overlooked is the extension in the toes. The final phase of extending your leg back behind you happens when the back heel leaves the ground and the toes extend back. If your toes don't have the ability to flex, then chances are you may spin your foot out or in to avoid those toe joints and that may contribute to the turn out o the foot or the instability in your ankle. Or, you might adopt another strategy of simply lifting the back foot off the ground too early which may result in you falling forward onto the next leg. To work on this simply practice pausing between steps, let the back heel lift as you bring your weight onto the front leg and keep the toes and ball of the back foot on the ground. You can spend a moment feeling the stretch and extension of the toes and if you pivot your heel side to side you can explore different stretches on each toe. Another way to develop toe extension is to squat on your haunches balancing on the balls of the feet, or lower down to hands and knees (quadruped) with the toes tucked, or even practice lunges with the back toes tucked. The more mobility in the toes and feet, the better your gait!
