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Anatomy of the pointed foot
Learning how to use all of the muscles in your feet and ankles is essential to all dancers, whether you do Classical Ballet, Contemporary Dance, Jazz, Latin or Ballroom styles. This is because all of the muscles in your feet and ankle are designed to do a certain job. If they are all working correctly then your feet will feel great and can function at their full capacity.
However, in many dancers these muscles do not work exactly as they are designed to. Often isolated weaknesses in the feet can go unnoticed for some time, as the body is very good at substituting other muscles to fill in for those that are not pulling their own weight. However, over time the muscles that are substituting begin to get fatigued and may start developing overuse injuries or get sore from working too much. It is like someone trying to work a day shift and night shift for months on end. It will be ok in the beginning, but is not a great long term strategy!
When we look at how it all should work, you should be able to pointe the ankles primarily with your big calf muscles - Gastrocnemius and Soleus. These are large powerful muscles that can generate a lot of force. The deeper muscles in the calf are called Extrinsic Foot Muscles and have long tendons crossing the ankle. These muscles are designed to control the position of the ankle and stabilise you when the foot is flat as well as on demi-pointe and full pointe.
The Intrinsic Foot Muscles are all of the small muscles that start and end within the foot. These muscles are the ones that control the arches of the feet, and point the toes correctly. If one or two muscles are not performing correctly, others get overworked. For example: If the big calf muscles and the intrinsic foot muscles are not working effectively, the extrinsic foot muscles may become overloaded as they attempt to perform all three roles. This result may in irritation, pain and sometimes clicking in the tendons that pass around the back of the ankle.
This "How to improve your pointe range safely" program is designed to help you train all of your foot muscles correctly so that you can get the most out of your feet, and enjoy a long and injury free career in dance!
