An individual with a longer second toe doesn't necessarily therefore, possess a Morton's Foot. And, a Morton's Foot may not show an extended second toe.
The normal condition for any foot is that the first metatarsal bone is the longest. This allows the "tripod" weight distribution, of the body weight. The tripod points are the heel, the head of your first metatarsal bone, near the big toe joint, and the head of the fifth metatarsal bone, near the little toe joint.
In ballet, the weight distribution is a touch different, because the dancer stands "poised to move". The weight is slightly more shifted to the leading from the foot. The heel carries weight, but can release it easily. When the second metatarsal bone is the longest, the weight from the body presses down in the head of that bone.
It's thought that this problem plays a role in pronation of the feet, or rolling ankles. If a person does not exercise or do anything whatsoever to correct this pronation and build strong foot muscles, the ankle muscle functions are compromised and this condition will worsen with time.
The lower quads will also begin to have the strain of this anomaly and the misalignment only will travel up the body to modify the hips, low back, and so forth and so on.
Having one of these symptom in a dancer's body presents an advantage for an individual, but only if she/he understands their foot type. A dancer works hard in every single class to develop foot muscles correctly. Their ballet teacher is going to be observing and reminding them when the ankles are rolling and also the arches are dropping.
A dancer with flat feet learns to activate the arch muscles, contain the turnout, and will also help make amends for their feet tending to roll in. If the feet roll, strain will eventually cause a knee injury.
Pointe Ballet Shoes
Sizing for pointe shoes, or toe shoes, has to accommodate the longest toe. A pointe ballet shoe must fit snugly enough to support the toes when the dancer is en pointe, yet must have room for that foot to spread out whenever you do a demi plie. A professional toe shoe fitter is a superb help. She or he might even ask you to get up on certificates, and draw an outline of the feet with your weight in it.
Each of the feet may be a little different in shape - length, width, heel width, and the toe lengths. I always wished that pointe shoes sold just as one, not really a pair. I possibly could easily have bought another size for every foot. Maybe eventually Freeds or Capezio or some other leading pointe ballet shoe manufacturer will get radical and do that. Dream on.
Once you start dancing in pointe shoes, any technical weakness resulting from having this foot type that you might not have access to completely corrected, can become an issue. To avoid this complication, learning pre pointe exercises and doing them for some months will help you greatly.