Ever hear anyone exclaim with enthusiasm “Today is feet day!!” right before their workout? I haven’t. No one is very excited about working their feet. I’ll wager most of us don’t ever consider our feet until there’s some sort of pain or problem down there. The thing is, it’s only every single step of every single day that we might need our feet work well for us. As long as we live on a planet with gravity and we don’t want to walk on our hands, then we might want to consider whether or not our feet are doing the job they should be doing.
If when we walk, run, or step and our feet aren’t working well, then it’s very likely that something upstream from the feet may be compromised too. It’s analogous to a house built on a bad foundation. Lazy or immobile feet might affect the ankle which might affect the knee which might affect the hip, the back, the spine, the shoulders…
On that note, here’s a fascinating video (I’m fascinated by odd things sometimes.) from Canadian chiropractor Dr. Andreo Spina of Functional Anatomy Seminars (FAS). I’ve been turned on to Spina via Boulder trainer Mike Terborg and Boulder/Denver-area chiropractor Dr. Nick Studholme.
I’ve noticed improvement in a long-standing big toe issue by doing some of this work. I’ve also found some of these exercises very challenging as have several of my clients. Some of these drill may seem impossible at first but I and others have found that with a bit of mindful work, we can get these foot muscles to work in a few days to a week. It does take some focused work but maybe just a few minutes a day.