Introduction Intrinsic foot muscles, particularly the abductor hallucis muscle (AHM) and abductor digiti minimi muscle (ADMM) contribute to balance and posture. While the Towel Curl exercise (TC) improves standing balance by targeting AHM, the role of ADMM in TC’s impact remains unclear. This study aims to introduce a modified TC targeting ADMM and explore its effect on standing balance.

Materials and Method Twenty-six participants were divided into two groups: one performed the general TC (GEN), and the other performed a modified version targeting ADMM (ADM). Participants of the ADM were instructed to use only their little finger side to gather the towel. Both groups performed 30-second single-leg standing tasks with open and closed eyes on a force plate. To quantify standing balance, the center of pressure was analyzed for total length and rectangular area.

Results Under closed-eye, single-leg conditions, the ADM group significantly reduced rectangular area after the exercise (pre: 200.71±95.53 cm², post: 145.19±64.61 cm², p=0.02), and showed a marginally significant in total length (pre: 34.04±10.21 cm, post: 26.99±7.72 cm, p=0.05). Conversely, the GEN group exhibited no significant changes in total length (pre: 35.21±11.76 cm, post: 34.57±12.61 cm, p=0.813), and rectangular area (pre: 179.67±61.12 cm², post: 186.49±78.01 cm², p=0.787).

Conclusion The modified TC, targeting ADMM contributed to improving standing balance compared to the general TC because it activated the ADMM, which was underestimated in the general TC. This suggests that ADMM likely plays an important role in standing balance.