Today’s guest is Romain Tourillon. Romain is a sports physiotherapist and researcher specializing in the foot–ankle complex, with clinical leadership at the Swiss Olympic Medical Center, La Tour Hospital (Geneva). His PhD at Université Jean Monnet Saint-Étienne examined foot muscle strength and sport performance.

It’s important to train the lower legs in athletes, but the question is what type of training is best, especially when it comes to working the toes and forefoot, versus more general calf and shin work.

In this episode, Romain discusses his research on forefoot biomechanics and performance. He shares training that boosted MTP (big-toe) flexion strength ~28% in trained athletes and explains how stronger forefeet enhance sprinting, cutting, and jumping via better force transmission and stability. We also cover injury prevention, targeted foot/ankle exercises, challenges in measuring toe strength, and where 3D analyses may take the field— with practical takeaways for coaches and athletes throughout.

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Timestamps

0:00 Building a PhD Protocol from Real-Life Training

4:46 Using Everyday Objects to Innovate Foot Training

8:16 Surface Texture and Proprioception in Barefoot Work

11:27 Breaking Down Romain’s PhD Research on the Forefoot

16:22 Gym and Home-Based Protocols for MTP Flexion

22:11 Measuring Toe and Forefoot Strength Accurately

31:20 Mobility of the Forefoot and Its Role in Force Production

37:31 Results: How 8 Weeks of Forefoot Training Changed Performance

43:54 Explaining the Improvements in Cutting, Jumping, and Sprinting

53:01 Linking Forefoot Strength to Ankle Stability and Injury Prevention

58:23 Isolated Toe Training vs. Global Foot and Calf Training

1:15:09 Designing General Foot-Ankle Programs for Teams

Romain Tourillon Quotes

"One of my philosophy as a rehab coach is also you know to I would say be able to do all the exercises that I can give to your athletes. Also because you understand a little bit the feeling and the intensity or the way that you have to do it."

"There is no good or bad exercise, there is just some parameter that you really have to focus on but you can really have different kind of way of targeting things."

"From proprioceptive things we know that the foot and ankle really have the ability to change its biomechanics regarding to the surface that you are in contact with."

"We know that if it helps you, your brain will know that and after you've put an ankle which turn off a little bit just to have a kind of economic things."

"The idea of the PAG was really to... I would say investigate the role and the function of the forefoot flexion strength."

"Those muscles are pretty sensitive to angle and to dorsiflexion. So changing the angle of the ankle, so putting your ankle into dorsiflexion or plantar flexion, change the force length relationships of the extrinsic to flexor."

"We don't have an ISO. It's what I say. We don't have an ISO kinetic for the toes. So we don't have any gold standard."

About Romain Tourillon

Romain Tourillon, PT, PhD, is a sports physiotherapist, researcher, and educator focused on foot–ankle biomechanics in health, injury, and high performance. He leads the foot–ankle service at the Swiss Olympic Medical Center (La Tour Hospital, Geneva) and consults with elite athletes. Romain earned his PhD at Université Jean Monnet Saint-Étienne, with work centered on metatarsophalangeal (MTP) flexion strength and its links to sprinting, cutting, and jumping performance. His publications and talks translate cutting-edge research into practical assessment and training methods for coaches and clinicians.