Flex-Tastic Day One
I received these in the mail because I am a yoga teacher and the producer of these wanted some feedback regarding their new product. I decided why not blog about it? Like all other things I review – this is just my own honest opinion, unfiltered, unpaid so there is no relationship between me and the company.
So today is day one of trying these out. I am skeptical as they are specifically marketed as "Inspired by the healthy benefits of Yoga, the Flex-Tastic exerciser helps realign and relieve the pain of mistreated toes. Wear for as little as 5 minutes a day to restore foot health, relieve stress and tension in both feet and legs, and increase circulation".
I must be totally honest here, I don’t buy into products like these. Yoga toes, yoga socks, yoga sandals, the list goes on – these are just ways to get more money out of a market place and target group. If you have trouble during yoga keeping your feet in place then you aren’t using them correctly, same with your hands. For thousands of years yogis managed without sticky mats, yoga gloves, etc.
I decided to give these a try because I have been having circulation problems – I am a little limited right now in the amount of poses I can do (today during class my Ardha Chandrasana, Hasta Pandaguthstasana and Natjarasana were very wobbly if not downright pathetic). They come with a little booklet with exercises, which should include better instructions as well, because from the picture above it would seem I decided to put mine on upside down, oh well, not worse for wear. The booklet includes some very basic yogic exercises for the feet that I have been incorporating into my practice, especially when teaching women who wear high heels a great deal (bad for you ladies!).
It says to start with 5 minutes, I left them on for 30 while I perused some blogs. I can’t sit in chairs without my right leg blowing up – 15 minutes for dinner is all I can manage, so I try to keep my legs on an opposite chair.
These did completely lift and separate the toes, engaged the tendons on the top of the foot – they popped right up like they should in yoga if you are stretching the foot east-west, north-south, etc. My right arch has been getting this second long burning sensation that fades every once and a while – this didn’t help that – but it did stretch the front of the lower leg – right through the shin – that was nice. It did not seem to help easy swelling in the leg though.
When I finally took the toes out of their little sling they pretty much remained separated, not as much as they were when held in place, and they relaxed about 15 minutes later. I’m going to try these everyday for the next week and let you all know how it goes.
If you want to get a pair and try for yourself, I think they are less than $10?
Here’s the web site from the back of the box:
