Short Foot Exercise: Dr. Emily Splichal on Foot to Core

Based on Episode 62 of the Just Fly Performance Podcast, a conversation between host Joel Smith and Dr. Emily Splichal.

The short foot exercise gets prescribed as a foot exercise, and Dr. Emily Splichal thinks that framing is why it so often fails to transfer. A podiatrist and human movement specialist, Splichal treats the foot less as a structure to strengthen than as the bottom of a chain that has to talk to the core, on time, before anything above it works properly. Done that way, the short foot stops being a remedial drill and becomes the way an athlete connects the ground to their center.

Key Takeaways

• The short foot is a foot-to-core exercise. Its value is the sequencing, not the foot contraction on its own.
• Root all five digits, do not curl them. Splay the toes, then drive the distal tip of each one down.
• The connection runs on a fascial line. Intrinsics to posterior tibialis to adductors to pelvic floor and diaphragm.
• These are local muscles. They respond to isometrics and produce tension and stiffness, not gross movement.
• Timing beats strength. Foot type determines how fast an athlete can unlock and relock, which is what dynamic movement actually demands.

How the short foot exercise is actually performed

Splichal’s description is specific, and the detail that matters most is where the pressure goes. This is not curling the toes under.

Short foot is an exercise where you could call it gripping your toes down into the ground, or you’re rooting your toes to the ground, connecting to the ground. If you stand on your foot, splay your toes, and then push the tip, thinking like the toenail or the distal tip of the digit down into the ground, all five digits, that’s the exercise that technically activates or sequences with the core.

Note what she claims for it. The point of the exercise is not a stronger arch in isolation; it is that this specific action sequences with the core.

Why it is a core exercise

The mechanism she describes is a continuous fascial line running from the sole of the foot up into the trunk, which is why she treats the foot and the deep core as one system rather than two.

There’s a deep front fascial line that runs from the bottom of your foot, and it actually connects into the intrinsics, and runs through the posterior tibialis, which is the most powerful locking muscle of the foot, into your adductors, into your pelvic floor, diaphragm, psoas.

She also classifies the muscles involved, which explains why the exercise is done as a quiet isometric rather than as a movement.

Local muscles are deeper muscles. They have a higher concentration of proprioceptors. They respond to isometrics and create tension and stiffness.

The gap she sees in most programming

This is the practical criticism worth sitting with. Splichal’s complaint is not that coaches ignore the foot, but that they treat it as a standalone body part and stop one step short.

That’s really what’s missing from a lot of programming out there. They’ll do footwork, they’ll do foot mobility, they’ll release on a golf ball, they’ll do some sort of foot activation, and then they don’t necessarily sequence the foot with the pelvic floor.

Her fix is to coordinate the foot work with breath, so that the diaphragm, pelvic floor, and what she calls the foot dome are working together rather than in sequence-blind isolation.

Because the pelvic floor is part of your diaphragm, you coordinate that with your breath, and then you get diaphragm, pelvic floor, foot dome, essentially the posterior tibialis and the intrinsics, to all co-coordinate, and that’s really what you’re building your foundation off of.

Foot type decides the timing problem

Splichal assesses feet less by strength than by how quickly they can change state, because that is what dynamic movement demands.

When it comes to anything dynamic, it’s all about time. So the timing of the locking of the foot, the timing of the unlocking and the relocking.

A rigid, supinated foot is slow to unlock and slow to load, and she associates that profile with impact-related problems including stress fractures, IT band syndrome, and shin splints. The opposite profile, an everted or overpronated foot with a navicular drop, sits in an unlocked state and struggles to become rigid again when it needs to be. Either way the corrective is not simply more foot strength.

If you get the foot strong or you get the foot mobile, then you always, regardless of foot type, have to make sure that the foot is talking to the core fast enough.

Frequently asked questions

What is the short foot exercise?
It is an isometric foot exercise in which you splay the toes and press the distal tip of all five digits into the ground, rooting the foot rather than curling the toes. Splichal describes it as the action that sequences the foot with the core.

Should you curl your toes during a short foot exercise?
No. Splichal describes rooting or gripping the toes down through the tip of each digit, with the toes splayed, rather than clawing or curling them under.

Why is the short foot exercise connected to the core?
Because of the deep front fascial line, which runs from the bottom of the foot through the intrinsics and posterior tibialis into the adductors, pelvic floor, diaphragm, and psoas. Splichal treats the foot and deep core as one continuous system.

Why are these exercises done as isometrics?
The muscles involved are local muscles: deeper, densely supplied with proprioceptors, and suited to producing tension and stiffness. Splichal says they respond to isometrics rather than to gross movement.

Does foot type change how you train the foot?
It changes the problem you are solving. A rigid, supinated foot is slow to unlock and load and is associated with impact injuries, while an overpronated foot sits unlocked and struggles to stiffen. In both cases Splichal’s priority is whether the foot can talk to the core quickly enough.

Related on SimpliFaster

• Korfist and Fichter on Foot Strength and Wave Sprints
• 360 Breathing: Quinn Henoch on Bracing
• Frontal Plane: Michelle Boland on Lateralization
• The Forgotten Plantar Flexor: Training the Soleus

About the authors

Dr. Emily Splichal is a podiatrist and human movement specialist whose work centers on foot function, barefoot science, and the connection between the foot and the deep core. She is known for translating podiatric and fascial research into practical training for coaches and athletes.

Joel Smith is the host of the Just Fly Performance Podcast and the founder of Just Fly Sports, a former collegiate strength and track and field coach focused on speed, power, and athletic development. Listen to the full episode with Dr. Emily Splichal on Just Fly Sports.