Pay some attention to your Feet
If you have ever stubbed your toe you know how debilitating that pain can be for minutes and if you really got a hold of it…hours of…
If you have ever stubbed your toe you know how debilitating that pain can be for minutes and if you really got a hold of it…hours of lingering pain.
What about when you are walking on the beach and all of a sudden it feels like Lava!
There is nothing worse than knowing that the sand it burning your feet but the salvation of the water is still far away.
Outside of these pretty rare and unfortunate events we rarely think about those things that are at the bottoms of our legs and filling up our fashionable and flashy footwear.
Do you Know Your Feet?
I want to do a very basic and simple introduction about the anatomy of the feet and ankles for you.
Out of the 206 bones that make up your entire body; 26 of them are in the feet(foot) and ankle.
There are 33 joints that make up the feet(foot) and ankle
Your Feet and Ankles have over 100 muscles tendons and ligaments that make it what it is
Of course there is blood vessels, systems of nerves and lastly Skin tissues.
Did you know there was that much going on in your feet or, are sitting there knowing this already and still not convinced that your feet deserve some of our attention?
Your Feet Are a Specialty
We have many parts and pieces in our body, some of them are so special or important to us that we have specialty careers that specifically and exclusively deal with these areas. We have Cardiologist for the Heart, Pulmonologist for the Lungs, Dentists for the Mouth, Optometrist for the Eyes, Dermatologist for the Skin, Gynecologist for the female reproductive system and Many More.
Your feet have their own Specialty field! When you need some answers as to why your feet hurt so much we have someone who specializes in feet just like someone who specializes in the heart . It is called Podiatry and you are doctor of podiatry medicine that has a primary focus of the feet.
Your Feet are probably a mess. Yea, I know I have no idea who you are but, I am speaking from my exposure to the general population and what I see within my bubble of clients, friends and family members.
There are some common things that can be happening in your feet that really start to take a toll on how you are moving and I want to address them in order to open your eyes to the possibility taking action to take care of your feet. There are 4 really simple areas that you would need to look at or have a doctor look at to determine you best route for the health and performance of your feet. Your issues can be easily broken down into 4 categories that are all interconnected and can have an affect on one another.
Structural
Gait
Weakness
Mobility
Structural
Means something or everything with the actual anatomical pieces of your foot and ankle, from how the bones are placed to the integrity of the joints and actions of the muscles. Some examples:
If you were born with extra toes the structure of your foot would be different from the popular norms
If you have a Bunion formation on your Big toes it not only shows you are already walking weird but once they start to hurt you will walk even more weird to avoid the pain.
Having Structural abnormalities in your feet can alter the movements you make to simply get around and they will start to affect areas well above the foot or ankle like the knees, hips and back either with a painful response or some more abnormal movements.
Gait
If you have never heard of the word “gait” before this can be a confusing piece for you. Gait is not something you open in order to walk through a fence but, actually the various movements that occur in order for your put one foot in front of the other and walk through a gate.
Here is a picture of some of the different points and terms used when someone is doing an analysis of your gait.
Someone who is analyzing your gait will look at the movements or lack thereof in areas of the feet, ankle motion, knees, hips, back, chest, shoulder and head…yes the entire body. They don’t just look at each individual part but also at how they are currently working together to get through certain movements.
While not all abnormalities in gait will originate in the feet(like in the video) you can see the way he is walking does have an effect on how he uses his feet. While fixing the problem in the hips might help his over all gait patter, he will still have a hard time learning to use his feet in a normal gait pattern because it is a foreign skill his body and mind must learn to do again.
Mobility
One of the overwhelming issues the general population usually has in other areas of the body is issues with mobility; why would it be different with our feet. Remember there are 33 joints and having to little or to much mobility in each of these joints will cause some something in another area to alter its function so you can get around and do the things you want to do.
Have you ever had pain under your big toe or in your arch?
Weakness
Weakness in the feet be can the accumulated result of all the above or simply like any other area in the body just weak and need to be stronger or there needs to be a re learning of how to use them correctly.
You ever walk barefoot on the beach and have fatigue around your ankle or in your arches; possibly even some muscle soreness the next day in the lower portion of your leg?
It might even be Your Shoes
Shoes have evolved from something that was used just to protect the feet from the elements of nature to a fashion accessory. Like the picture of that really weird pair of high heels in the beginning of this post…pain is the purpose.
Women’s High Heels
Men’s Dress Shoes
Work boots
The Wrong Sneaker
Old Sneakers
Your Trusty Sandals
Weightlifting Shoes
The type of shoes you wear most often can be the culprit themselves. They produce or reinforce positions over the amount of hours you wear them. The activity you do in your footwear also has an affect on how your feet will act, look and function.
A Ballerina’s foot looks so elegant and beautiful in their tights and slippers but, outside of them there might be a different picture.
If you are suffering from pain in and around your feet it would be best to get it looked at first the same way you would get repeating chest pains looked at by your doctor.
Respect your feet and they will respect you back.
If you are Looking for some quality education about your feet or the feet of your clients why not learn from the best in Dr. Emily Splichal at the Evidence Based Fitness Academy. the EBFA is apart of our Continuing Education Resource Network and we are more than happy to have them on board to provide quality information about our feet.
Originally published at fitletes.com
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