Our feet support our whole body! When we release the fascia of our feet, the bones of the feet are able to articulate with ease. Our gait changes, we find walking easier and stress is actually alleviated from other areas of the body. For this reason, clients often experience a decrease in headaches, hip pain and back troubles after taking up a regular ball rolling practice!
We often point to the area that hurts as the problem, but we must remember everything is connected. Pain signals are often sent from the weakest link, so the tender spot that is bugging you might not be the source of all your problems. When we view the body through the lens of tensegrity, we look globally to see where we can create more space, balance and ease.
The feet are our foundation for our skeleton when we are standing, so they effect everything that is balancing on top of them!
My favorite density of ball for opening the fascia on the bottom of my feet is called a Pinky ball. There are brands like Yoga Tune Up Balls and the Franklin Method that have developed entire models based on this idea of ball rolling. There are a lot of videos available online if you find this interesting!
Also, I would like to add a side note that opening the psoas muscles and hip flexors can also have a profound effect on the feet and on our gait!!! I find that computer users often end up with super tight hip flexors from sitting all day. They end up with a shortened stride that then inhibits the bones of the feet from articulating fully. So, after you roll out your feet, so yourself a favor and do a nice lunge to stretch that iliopsoas muscle!