Safety first!
Read safety
basics here
| What it’s good for | Strengthening the calf muscles (back of your legs below the knee), which is important for proper walking, running, or pushing up on to tiptoes (eg, to reach something) and tip-toe walking. Also helps sharpen your standing balance |
| How often to do it | Daily |
| Equipment you’ll need | window sill, kitchen worktop, back of a chair or anything else similarly sturdy to rest your hands on for balance support. Even a wall will do. |
- Stand at a window sill or kitchen sink etc, feet hip-distance apart and toes pointing forwards
- Rest all your fingers on the surface (or flat against the wall}
- Keep your legs straight and push up on to your toes, to lift your heels as high as you can off the ground
- Try to stay there for a count of 5, looking straight ahead
- Slowly bring your heels back down
- Rest for a second, then repeat
Aim to repeat the exercise 10 times
TIPS
♦ If you find it hard to keep your legs straight, pull your knees up as you rise up on to your toes
♦ Try to feel that your big toes are supporting you, so you don’t roll your feet to the outside edges
♦ If you can’t manage 10 times at once, keep going until you can’t do any more, then rest, and do the same number again later in the day
Varying the exercise for more challenge
Once you can do the basic heel raises, work on improving the aspects below to build even more calf muscle strength and improve your balance
The progressions
1. Push up high, not forwards, so you are not leaning over the chair /sink etc at all
2. Add a second set of 10 raises after a rest
3. Use three fingers of each hand for balance instead of all of them
4. Reduce the number of fingers for support, then use just one hand
5. Toe walks
- Start at one side of a clear room (remove obstacles first!)
- Push up on to your toes and, keeping your legs straight (knees pulled up), take small steps on your toes to the opposite side of the room
- Turn round and repeat, keeping the steps controlled and heels high the whole time
New Comments