12 Best Yoga Poses For Flat Feet

Yoga Poses For Flat Feet. Especially for those who have flat feet, foot pain, and arch problems are common in daily life. Foot disease is very serious and can lead to disabilities if not properly dealt with it.

Yoga poses included in this article will help you get a good physical condition of the body by preventing inflammation in the soles of the feet, relief from muscle fatigue and muscle tension, and cleansing the kidneys and bladder without causing backache.

What Exactly Are Flat Feet?

Flat feet are a common anatomical condition that can be inherited or caused by other factors. Such as improper body movement, lack of physical activity at the right age, and so on.

Even though flat feet do not necessarily lead to any serious health problems. You should always care for your physique and seek medical advice if they bother you a lot.

The visible symptom of flat feet is the existence or the wrong shape of a foot arch. More often, this occurs on both sides. This will make your soles more susceptible to vulnerable diseases such as plantar fasciitis and heel spurs.

For those who have never suffered from these ailments, changes in walking patterns are the first signs of a flat foot. If you have flat feet, your walk will be characterized by movements with the toes pointed upwards and legs wide apart or difficulty lifting your knees.

The Symptoms of Flat Feet

• Pain in the soles of your feet
• Difficulty wearing high-heeled shoes and walking on rough terrain with them
• You might also have pain when you wear closed shoes, and have pain and stiffness when getting up from standing or first thing in the morning.

The main cause of flat feet is the weakness of the muscles responsible for the correct functioning of the foot arch. The prevalence of flat feet is higher in women, especially after pregnancy.

The Importance of Yoga for Flat Feet

Some yoga poses can strengthen and stretch your muscles to eliminate or reduce pain and discomfort caused by flat feet. Good exercises will help you shape your back, legs, and feet, strengthen the muscles, and improve posture.

Flat feet are often a consequence of other health problems such as obesity or a weak immune system.

12 Best Yoga Poses For Flat Feet

Flat feet are among the most common medical conditions, so yoga poses can help us correctly deal with them. The main goal of the following poses is to improve the posture and correct stretched ligaments and ankles.

Here are 12 Yoga Poses for the flat foot that you can perform to get rid of pain and prevent other physical disorders:

Bound Angle Pose

Bound Angle Pose is a seated forward bend that compresses the belly and tones the abdominal organs like the uterus, ovaries, and intestines. It also can help relieve low back pain.

To perform the pose, sit up tall with your legs straight out in front of you and your feet flexed. If this is difficult, place pillows or blankets beneath your hips to firm them up and prevent strain in the lower back.

How do you perform it?

• Starting at the base of your spine, allow yourself to fold forward over your legs.
• Take care not to lock your knees, and draw in your abdomen while pressing the tops of your thighs down with your hands.
• Keep your feet flexed as you move further into the pose by drawing them toward you.

To deepen this pose, lengthen the spine by lifting the top of the sternum and lengthening your tailbone toward the floor while pressing your thighs down.

At first, it might help to move more of your torso forward until you ease into a deeper stretch in which it may be possible to straighten your legs if that feels okay. Remain upright for as long as you like, then slowly sit back up with your legs still straight, and draw the soles of your feet together.

Benefits of this pose for flat feet sufferers:

This poses has many benefits for flat feet sufferers, such as strengthening the ankles, improving posture, and even helping to relieve menstrual problems.

The bound angle pose is a seated forward bend that compresses the belly and tones the abdominal organs like the uterus, ovaries, and intestines. It also can help relieve low back pain.

Chair Pose

The chair pose for flat feet sufferers is a yoga exercise that aims to work on the muscles and the ankles. This means that this pose helps with alleviating pain in these areas.

How do you perform it?

The chair pose can be hard to do by yourself, so here are some instructions on starting.

• The first thing you need to do is take a seat and raise your thighs upwards until they are perpendicular to the ground as if you were about to sit down in a chair.
• One of the most important things about this exercise is that the toes should be pressed together while also making sure they are pushed downwards towards your heels.

• After you have accomplished this, then turn your foot outwards at an angle of forty-five degrees.
• This can be done by keeping your toes pointing inwards until they touch.
• After making sure that the big toe is still touching, you can begin to twist it up towards your knee.

As soon as you have made this movement, then you should feel a stretching sensation on the side of your ankles as well. The best part about this yoga pose is that it can be performed in various ways.

For example, you can modify the pose by bending one leg at a time as well as keeping them on the ground instead of having them raised up.

Dolphin Pose

The dolphin pose is an excellent pose to reduce the pain in your arches. Your feet should be hip-width apart, with toes on the ground and heels lifted off the ground. The knees are bent so that they touch, but your hips shouldn’t be touching the ground. Sit on your sit bones.

Now, reach your arms behind you and clasp your hands together. Maintain this position for 30-60 seconds before coming out of it. This will help relieve tension in the feet and reduce swelling in them as well. You will also notice that the pains in your feet are much less after this. Repeat this pose every day for the best results.

Downward-Facing Dog

A downward-facing dog is a yoga pose that will help with the pain and discomfort caused by flat feet. This pose can be done in two ways:

Variation 1: You should start this pose by bending your knees, sitting on the ground, spreading your hands behind you, and pressing them firmly into the ground as you raise your hips.

Your palms should face away from each other as you stretch your spine upwards towards the sky. The head should be between the arms, and the buttocks pressed towards the ceiling to get a deeper extension of the spine and release tension from the shoulders and neck.

The arms should be placed at a shoulder-width distance apart, with both elbows bent outward. The legs should be spread so that they are straight and the toes are pointed.

Variation 2: The second variation is done like before, but you will be standing instead of sitting down on the floor. Start with your feet together and hands straight ahead of you on the floor. So that they touch it while allowing your back to bend over. Your legs should be stretched out behind you as well as your hands and arms.

This pose is another great one to relieve pain in your back, especially if you have lower back problems due to flat feet. The lower back can be stretched out, and the hamstrings and calf muscles, thus relieving any tension or soreness that may be causing discomfort for you. It also stretches out the abdominal muscles and the thighs, which can help with issues such as flat feet.

Extended Triangle Pose

An extended Triangle pose can help stretch tightness in the front of the ankle and foot. It also strengthens the core muscles, such as those that support the spine.

Begin by standing with your feet together and facing one direction on a hard-surface floor. Step one leg back and place your toes on the ground about two to three feet past your front foot. Make sure that you keep both of your knees straight.

How to Perform It?

• Place your arms out to the side at shoulder height parallel to the floor, palms facing forward for balance.
• As you bend into this pose, try to make sure that you push down through your back heel. While contracting your abdominal muscles as if you are pulling them inward toward one another.
• You can also put a slight bend in your front knee to relieve pressure on the ankle or bring both knees together if you feel that you are taking too much weight into the back heel.

Half Frog Pose

Half Frog Pose is an easy yoga pose for your feet to help relieve the tension and discomfort in them. It is also called Dhanurasana or Anantasana.

How to Perform It?

• Sit on the floor with your knees bent.
• And your feet flat on the floor as close to your butt as possible.
• Spread your knees about one leg-length apart, and keep your feet hip-width apart from each other.
• Slowly lower your torso over the tops of your thighs.
•  And roll onto the soles of your feet, stretching out the arches of both feet at the same time.
• Stay here for a few breaths if you need to relax in this position.

This pose is great for people who suffer from flat feet because it stretches the arches of both feet at the same time. It also helps relax and stretch the calf muscles, Achilles tendon, and lower back.

Heron Pose

The Heron Pose is a therapeutic twist that can help with flat feet. This yoga pose is done by sitting on the floor with one foot crossed over the other knee, then bringing the leg’s ankle in front up to rest on top of the thigh.

The knee of the leg behind will be on the floor. And you need to lean forward to hold on to your shin or ankle. Some people might also find it helpful to place a blanket under their torso or cross their arms for extra support.

You can hold this pose anywhere from 20 seconds to five minutes each time you do it. This pose will help strengthen the legs, and reduce flat feet pain and back and neck problems.

Intense Side Stretch Pose

The Intense Side Stretch Pose is a great stretch for those that suffer from flat feet. Bend your right leg at the knee so that it stretches out behind you. Your left leg should be straight in front of you with the heel pressed into the ground. Bend the left elbow to form a 90-degree angle.

Raising it as much as possible before lowering it towards the ground until it touches down, the hand should be touching the right calf. Which will stretch out this muscle and stretch out the back and hamstrings.

This pose helps to strengthen muscles such as those in your shoulders, calves, and thighs while stretching out the back, hamstrings, shins, and ankles. The muscles in your abdomen will strengthen as well, which can be great for those who suffer from flat feet due to the weight that they must bear on an ongoing basis. This pose should be done in a series of 3-5 repetitions to gain the most benefits.

Mountain Pose

Mountain Pose is often done before any other standing poses in yoga sessions. Because we have to prepare ourselves for good alignment during any movement, we do during our practice. However, this pose can be done whenever you need to take a moment for yourself. Whether at work or before bedtime.

It’s a pose anyone can do anywhere and anytime with minimal space required. The only thing stopping anyone from doing the pose is their own willingness to try something different and new.

How to Perform It?

• Keep your weight on the balls of your feet as your toes fan out from your heel.
• You want to keep the arch and heel of the foot in contact with the ground
• While you press through the ball of the foot.
• The intent is to gently push forward with the big toe mound and ball of the foot while grounding through the heels and arches.
• Stay here for five breaths, then release back into another Mountain Pose. Repeat three times.

Benefits of Mountain Pose

• Positive effects of Mountain Pose include improved circulation and an increased sense of well-being.
• This pose can reduce stress, anxiety, and fear while improving courage and stamina. It also encourages strength in the ankles, knees, and spine.
• Your posture will improve over time as you stay focused on keeping a flat back during your poses, especially when you are standing or moving about.

Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose

The Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose (Supta Padangusthasana) is one of the 12 asanas recommended in Sivananda Yoga. This pose stretches and releases tension from the feet, ankles, knees, hips, back, and neck region.

How do you perform it?

Lie on your back with both legs extended. Bend and straighten the right knee while pointing the right foot towards the ceiling. Keep the left leg completely relaxed and keep a gentle stretch on the sole of the left foot. You can place one or both hands behind you, as shown in picture 1, to increase the stretch in your thigh muscles.

Benefits of this pose for flat feet sufferers

• Improves posture
• Reduces fatigue and spasms in the lower back, hips, and thighs
• Strengthens thigh muscles; stretches thighs, calves, and ankles
• Increases flexibility of knees, ankles, and feet; improves ankle mobility.
• An alternate version of the reclining hand to big toe pose.

The alternate version is performed by bending the left leg at the knee and pointing the left foot towards the ceiling.

Reclining Hero Pose

In many yoga classes, the instructor will tell people with flat feet to “spread your toes” and not to furl them. This is because too much pressure on the toes could lead to a lot of pain. However, this anatomical gymnastics can do more harm than good.

How to Perform it?

It is very simple.

• Stand on a wall or yoga block and try to spread your toes as much as possible, push them outwards (as shown in the image).
• Hold this position for 2 minutes.
• Then switch feet and repeat the exercise with the other leg for another minute.

Warrior II Pose

The warrior II pose is a partial inversion and involves a high degree of balance.

How do you perform it?

Stand with your feet roughly 6-12 inches apart, and lift up your left leg so that the thigh is parallel to the floor. Extend your arms away from each other with palms facing forward.

Gaze at a point between your hands. Now, raise your right foot and balance on the left leg alone. Stretch out to increase the stretch on your hamstrings and thighs.

Benefits of this pose for flat feet sufferers

• Stretches and strengthens calves, thighs, and shoulders; improves upper back mobility; stretches groin muscles and hip flexors
• Strengthens quads, glutes, and legs; improves stability through the core
• Greater range of motion in knees and hips; improves posture; increases balance
• Reclining Bound Angle Pose
• The reclining bound angle pose is a relaxing asana that strengthens thigh muscles.

The Bottom Line

If you’ve been experiencing pain in your feet, ankles, or knees due to flat arches. If and want a workout that will reduce this discomfort, consider practicing some of these 12 best yoga poses for flat feet. These exercises are great for people with normal foot arches as well.

There is no need to suffer through the day feeling like you have cement blocks on your feet when there are many simple solutions to help! Let us know if you have any questions about whether one of these poses would be good for you by posting it below!