Toe Strength for Soccer: It's About Cutting, Not Sprinting

Soccer is not a sprint. It is a thousand small changes of direction with the occasional sprint in between. That distinction turns out to matter for your toes, because the research on toe strength and athletic performance splits along exactly that line.

What the research found — and what it didn't

The most relevant study we have found measured toe strength in 17 collegiate American football players two different ways: with the toes curled down (metatarsophalangeal joint plantarflexed) and with the toes lifted (dorsiflexed). It then tested them on the pro-agility and 3-cone drills — both change-of-direction tests — and on straight sprints.¹

Toe push-off force with the toes lifted correlated significantly with both change-of-direction tests. Toe strength with the toes curled did not. And neither measure correlated with sprint time at all.

The authors' reading: the ability to change direction is more strongly affected by toe strength in the dorsiflexed position, and athletes may improve it by training in that position.

Why that maps onto soccer

Every cut, every check-back, every pivot to receive on the half-turn is a change of direction under load. In those moments the toes are lifted and driving into the ground — the dorsiflexed position the study isolated. It is also the position most foot exercises never train: a towel scrunch works the toes curled down, which is the measure that did not correlate.

That is the specific thing Toe-Rx's grip step does. You lift the toes, then press them down into the floor against the resistance of the foam. Lifting is dorsiflexion. Pressing from there is push-off. We did not design it around this study, but the movement matches.

The study that argues the other way

We would be misleading you if we stopped there. A study of elite sprinters found they had thicker foot muscles than non-sprinters — but the thickness of one muscle, the abductor hallucis, correlated positively with their 100 m personal best. Bigger abductor hallucis, slower time.²

The abductor hallucis is the muscle that pulls the big toe outward. It is what Toe-Rx's open step works. For sports built on straight-line speed, that is a reason for caution. Soccer is not built on straight-line speed, and the change-of-direction study did not find a sprint effect either way — but we are not going to hide a finding because it is inconvenient.

A separate trial found that raising toe flexor strength in competitive distance runners changed neither their joint mechanics nor their running economy.³ If you came here to run faster in a straight line, this is not the tool for that.

What foot training has been shown to do in general

A 2022 meta-analysis of 16 studies found that intrinsic foot muscle training improved dynamic postural balance.⁴ A 2024 study in young healthy adults found ankle and toe muscle strength related to functional stability.⁵ One small training study — eight weeks of toe flexor work in 12 men — reported faster 50 m times afterwards, though the meta-analysis rated its methods the weakest of the studies it included.⁶

A 2024 systematic review of foot muscle strengthening in healthy athletes concluded that its role in sport is still inconclusive.⁷ That is the honest summary.

What nobody has tested

None of these studies involved soccer players. The change-of-direction finding is in American football, cross-sectional, 17 people. It shows that toe push-off strength and agility go together — not that training one improves the other. No trial has taken soccer players, trained their toes, and measured whether they cut faster or got injured less. We will update this if one does.

When to use it

Not before a match or training. Holding a stretch for 60 seconds or more has been shown to temporarily reduce maximal force and power, with the effect growing the longer you hold.⁸ A 3–5 minute toe spread sits well past that line. That research was done on large muscle groups, not toes, so treat it as caution rather than proof — but there is no reason to schedule it in the hour before you need to sprint and cut.

After a session, or on a rest day. Five to ten minutes per foot, sitting down, on bare feet. Every other day is enough. Full instructions and photos are here.

• Open. Work each toe into its slot and sit with them held apart.
• Circle. Rotate the tips of your toes with your hand, ten each way.
• Grip. Lift your toes, then press them down into the floor, squeezing as they close. Fifteen to twenty repetitions. This is the dorsiflexed push-off — the working part.

Choosing a size

Toe-Rx is not one-size-fits-all. Three sizes — Small, Medium and Large — in two firmnesses, Soft and Firm. Wearing the wrong size is uncomfortable and can lead to injury. Start from your street shoe size, not your cleat size — cleats are fitted tight, and the difference matters. If you are new to it, start with Soft. Sizing guide and all six options are here. If the pair you receive pinches or slips, contact us and we will exchange it.

What else helps

• Cleats with room in the toe box, at least for training days.
• Time barefoot at home, which costs nothing.
• A sports podiatrist, if something hurts. The 2023 meta-analysis of foot muscle training found no significant improvement in pain. Whatever this work does, that is not it.

If you also run, the running page goes deeper on injury prevention, where the evidence is stronger than it is for performance: Foot strengthening for runners.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

References

1. Yuasa Y, Kurihara T, Isaka T. Relationship between toe muscular strength and the ability to change direction in athletes. Journal of Human Kinetics. 2018;64:47–55. PMID: 30429898. Read it
   17 collegiate American football players, cross-sectional. Shows association, not cause.
2. Tanaka T, et al. (2019). Elite sprinters' foot muscle thickness and 100 m performance.
   Cited from two review articles (references 7 and the Frontiers review below); the original has not been read directly. Confirm the full citation before publishing.
3. Day EM, Hahn ME. Increased toe-flexor muscle strength does not alter metatarsophalangeal and ankle joint mechanics or running economy. Journal of Sports Sciences. 2019;37(23):2702–2710. PMID: 31608832.
4. Wei Z, Zeng Z, Liu M, Wang L. Effect of intrinsic foot muscles training on foot function and dynamic postural balance: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE. 2022;17(4):e0266525. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0266525. PMID: 35442981. Read it
   16 studies, 627 participants. Seven of the studies were in long-distance runners.
5. Słomka KJ, Michalska J. Relationship between the strength of the ankle and toe muscles and functional stability in young, healthy adults. Scientific Reports. 2024;14(1):9125. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-59906-7. PMID: 38643231. Read it
6. Hashimoto T, Sakuraba K. Strength training for the intrinsic flexor muscles of the foot: effects on muscle strength, the foot arch, and dynamic parameters before and after the training. Journal of Physical Therapy Science. 2014;26(3):373–376. doi:10.1589/jpts.26.373. PMID: 24707086.
   12 men, 8 weeks. Rated the methodologically weakest study in the 2022 meta-analysis.
7. Ahmed M, Zaki S, Alam MF, Sharma S, Al Salman AA, Altaweel A, Alkhadrawi N, Nuhmani S, Khan H. The impact of intrinsic foot muscle strengthening exercises in asymptomatic athletes with normal foot structure: a systematic review. Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health. 2024;27:101597. doi:10.1016/j.cegh.2024.101597. Read it
8. Revisiting the stretch-induced force deficit: a systematic review with multilevel meta-analysis of acute effects. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 2024. Read it