Podiatry Patients Always Draw a Daisy
One of the exercises I give my patients to help strengthen and improve the function and stability of the forefoot is to place a Sharpie pen between the big toe and second toe and ask them to draw a flower. They always without fail attempt to draw a daisy starting with a center circle and add on 5 petals, 6 if they are dexterous followed by a stem and 2 leaves. This is completed with varying levels of artistic ability depending on how weak and imbalanced the intrinsic muscles are, foot deformities, arthritis etc. and eye to foot co-ordination, but it is still the daisy!
The daisy published with this blog is by a 20 year old female student who was complaining of right big toe pain. She goes to university in New York, and the long walk from her accommodation to go to lectures in flat trainers and converses has become increasingly uncomfortable. Both her mother and grandmother have ‘bunions’ so there is a congenital predisposition to having potential forefoot problems. Her forefeet exhibit ligament laxity with very slight medial rotation of the big toe and her gait is moderately apropulsive with little positive push-off from the big toe. She could be heading towards getting bunions, but with preventative measures now she can negate this. Good supportive footwear, stabilising orthotic insoles and muscle strengthening exercises for the forefoot e.g. drawing can help.
The choice of a daisy and not a tulip or rose goes back to early childhood when the first flower we ever drew was a daisy. In our brain it seems to be the imprinted default flower shape to draw. Maybe this is a subject to explore. Next time I am going to ask my patients to draw a tree or should I ask them to draw Donald Trump for a bit more of a challenge? I think I should have a go first. Maybe I will publish the results later after I contact my lawyer.
