What Is the Point of Toes? Their Role in Balance and Movement

Toes look like leftovers, but they do their most important work in the split second your foot leaves the ground. They matter far less for standing still than for moving, shifting your weight and balancing on one leg. That is why toe strength becomes a real safety issue later in life, when a stumble can turn into a fall.

How Your Toes Push You Forward With Every Step

The heel lands first, and the foot rolls forward. Your weight then moves across the ball of the foot, and as the heel lifts, the toes grip and bend upward. The last push comes through the big toe before the foot swings forward again.

Large forces build up under the big toe at that push-off moment.¹ A long muscle runs from the calf to the big toe and pulls it down against the ground to drive you forward. The big toe works as the foot’s main launching point, not a passenger.

You notice this when you stub or bruise that toe. Pain stops you from loading it at push-off, so you roll off the outer toes or shorten your stride, and you limp. Stiff-soled shoes can help in the short term because they limit how far the big toe has to bend. A toe that is badly swollen, deformed, or still very painful after a few days deserves a medical look, since a fracture can be present even when you can still walk.

Running changes the balance of work. In walking, the toes stay in contact with the ground for the final stretch of each step, so push-off is a gradual roll rather than a jump. Running has no such gradual roll, and many runners land nearer the middle or front of the foot, so the toes and ball of the foot take load sooner and for a larger share of each stride. Faster walking and running ask the big toe for a stronger, quicker push, which is why toe soreness often shows up first on hills, in sprints or on long hikes.

Human toes are unusually short for our body size.² Shorter toes mean the muscles that curl them need less force and do less work with each step.³ Over thousands of steps, short toes likely make walking and running cheaper in energy terms.⁴

How Toes Help Hold Up Your Arch

A thick band of tissue runs from the heel to the base of the toes. When the toes bend upward, as at push-off, that band is wound tighter and the arch rises.⁵ Body weight works against it: the arch sits lower when you stand than when you sit, because your weight flattens it.⁶

You can feel the arch-tightening effect yourself. Stand barefoot and lift your big toe, either with your hand or by flexing it. The arch rises and the foot stiffens.

That stiffness matters at push-off. A tightened arch makes the foot behave like a firm lever, so force from the calf goes into the ground and drives you forward. A foot that stayed floppy would soak up much of that effort, like pushing off from soft sand. At landing, the same foot is softer and more flexible, which helps it adapt to the ground and cushion the impact.

Small muscles inside the foot also curl the toes, and their size is a key part of toe strength.⁷ Training these muscles can make the arch more compact, which suggests it is better held up.⁸

Do You Need Your Toes to Balance

For standing still, barely. In healthy young adults, toe strength showed no link to steadiness while standing still on one or both feet.⁹ Holding the big toe still made no difference to sway when standing on both feet.¹⁰ Quiet standing seems to rely more on the ankles, hips and the wide base of two feet.

One leg and movement are different. When the big toe was held still, people swayed more standing on one leg, with eyes open or closed.¹¹ They also had poorer control shifting weight forward and backward.¹² The big toe acts as a brake at the front edge of the foot when you lean or move. Everyday moments lean on this: standing on one leg to put on a sock, reaching for a high shelf on tiptoe, or stepping onto a curb.

A simple home check shows the effect. Stand on one leg near a counter with your eyes open, and notice your toes pressing down as you wobble. Then try again with your toes lifted off the floor; many people feel less steady.

Toes also sense the ground. Touch sensors in the sole and toes report pressure and position to the brain, and boosting that sensory feedback is linked to better balance.¹³

Weak or Misshapen Toes and the Risk of Falls

In older adults followed for a year, about 1 in 3 fell.¹⁴ Those who fell had weaker big toes and weaker smaller toes than those who did not.¹⁵ A bunion, where the big toe angles toward the others, more than doubled the risk of falling.¹⁶ Bent or clawed smaller toes raised fall risk by about a third.¹⁷

Oddly, deformities don’t obviously change how people walk. Older people with bunions or toe deformities walked at normal speed and stride, but their weight spread unevenly under the front of the foot.¹⁸

Nerve damage adds risk. Diabetic nerve damage shrinks the small muscles of the foot, and pressure then rises under the ball of the foot, raising the risk of foot ulcers.¹⁹ People with diabetes and numb feet should check their feet daily and have toe changes seen by a doctor or podiatrist.

In an older parent, a few signs are worth getting checked:

A big toe drifting toward the second toe, or a bony bump on the inner edge of the foot, which suggests a bunion.
Toes that curl under or no longer touch the floor when standing, which suggests the muscles are not holding them in place.
New stumbles, especially on stairs or when turning, whether or not the feet hurt.
Pain or corns that make them avoid pressing on their toes, which can quietly change how they walk.

Asking for a foot exam can be a simple addition to a fall review.

Can You Strengthen Your Toes

Training that targets the small foot muscles increases toe gripping strength.²⁰ For older adults, building toe strength alongside treating deformities may lower fall risk.²¹

Towel scrunches and toe pick-ups are a good start. For scrunches, sit with your bare foot flat on a towel laid on a smooth floor and curl your toes to pull the towel toward you. Repeat until the towel is bunched under your foot, then smooth it out and go again. For pick-ups, use your toes to lift marbles or a sock from the floor into a bowl.

For a seated press, plant your foot and push all five toes firmly into the floor, hold for a few seconds, then relax. To spread the toes, fan them apart as wide as you can, hold briefly, and let them relax. Spreading can be hard at first because many people have little control over individual toes, and that control often improves with practice.

Start seated before trying standing versions, and hold a counter when a standing exercise challenges your balance. Stop if an exercise causes sharp pain, and ask a physiotherapist. Expect weeks of regular practice before you notice a change.

How Shoes Shape Your Toes

Shoes much narrower than the foot are linked to corns, bunions and foot pain in older people.²² Shoes shorter than the foot are linked to bent smaller toes.²³ Choose shoes with room to wiggle all toes and about a thumb’s width beyond the longest toe.

To check fit, measure or try on shoes late in the day, when feet are at their largest after swelling during activity. Stand on the removed insole; your toes and the sides of your foot should not hang over its edge. The longest toe may be the second toe rather than the big toe. Feet can widen and lengthen with age, so re-measure rather than assuming your old size still fits.

Toe box shape matters too. Pointed toe boxes squeeze the big toe inward toward the others, the same direction a bunion bends. A toe box wide and tall enough to let your toes spread flat is kinder to the forefoot.

Time barefoot on safe surfaces lets your toes grip and feel the ground, which ties into the touch feedback they give for balance. People with diabetes or numb feet should keep their feet protected rather than going barefoot.

Why Human Toes Look So Different From Other Animals

In the human brain, the big toe has its own control area, separate from the other toes.²⁴ Monkeys control all their toes together, which suits gripping branches.²⁵ Horses went from three toes to one hoof as they adapted to running on open grassland.²⁶

The big toe is the clearest case. In apes, it sticks out sideways like a thumb, which helps with grasping branches. In humans it lines up with the other toes, which makes it a strong push-off point for walking. Our thumb kept its grasping ability, so hands and feet ended up with different jobs.

People who lose toes can walk again, though they often shorten their stride and push off less. Losing the big toe affects push-off and one-leg balance more than losing smaller toes.