Day 25---In honor of the 25-percent...of bones of your body that reside below the ankle.

Remember yesterday? When I went on about how I want you to start thinking about your feet, and their lost dexterity, and the rampant neglect we're all guilty of, and how they matter so very much to your entire well-being? 

I wasn't drunk. I really meant it. 

Change the health of your feet (and I'm NOT talking pedicures, here) and you can change the health of your hips. Your pelvis. Your spine. Your bones. 

I'm SOOOO Happy You Took Care of the FEET!

That's all pretty important stuff. 

How would your car fare if you drove around on four flat tires all day, every day? Well, I guess you'd use more gas, since the tires wouldn't really be rolling over the road surface. Then, the wheels would wear down and begin to wear unevenly, which would start to throw them out of alignment. Then, the axle bearings, being thrown out of alignment, would wear out and need to be....oh, blah blah blah! Put in the terms of your body, it means bunions, hip replacements, knee replacements---wait! This is starting to make sense.

Why am I shaking an annoyingly pedantic fist at you? 

Because I care. I've been lucky enough to spend almost my entire life, since the age of 14, in "sensible" shoes. However, that still didn't eliminate foot and structure problems, because I didn't know enough. I know more, now, and I want to share it with you so you feel better, too. 

Okay, I've climbed down now. Today's walk happened after a lazy morning of hitting some fairly lame garage sales...

Apparently, people in Poulsbo think my toe shoes are funny...

when I got to take my little family to my new favorite walking park. Sadly, it was seriously boggy due to the monsoon rains that have hit here this last week. 
We had fun, though, and got our daily does of fresh air. 

 And salmon berries...

My toe shoes came away with mud between them, which I secretly find super cool. Walking in them really helps with the connection between me and the ground, so I slip a lot less than if I was in hikers or tennies. 

More next week on loving your feet, and learning the first few steps in changing the health of those tootsies foh-evuh!!


I'll see you tomorrow with some drivel or a silly poem. I'm heading to Sequim to take advantage of a class on pelvic floor health taught by none other than Katy Bowman, the head of the Restorative Exercise Institute and the reason I'm so psyched about your feet. 


Ciao, Bellas, 
Dani




 

Day 8-Talking the Walk

Today’s walk was fairly short---I spent all morning at my Exercise Rehab office downtown, trying to wrangle some new scheduling software. It was productive, but I was chomping at the bit to get outside and get my daily walk in. It seems to be a unanticipated benefit of Walk the Year. I can’t wait to walk. Hmm…how ‘bout that?

Since my brain had already worked pretty hard this morning, no brilliant ideas for books or profundities snuck into my head while I strolled. So, I won’t be able to pass any of my Jack Handy-esque Deep Thoughts your way today, but I can teach you something about walking. As in, the actual mechanics of good walking. I think I’ll do this every once in awhile. It’s good for me to verbalize what I know and have learned, and it’s good for you to perhaps learn something concrete about this absolutely perfect form of exercise. 

As long as you’re not on a treadmill.

That’s what I said. Get off your treadmill.

I know, I know, it’s irresponsible of me to dissuade you from exercising, right? Well, what if I told you that the same motion on a treadmill as the one you do outside uses fewer muscles? Wait! Don’t we want more muscles to burn more calories and help keep us in better alignment?

We do.

The “tread” on a treadmill moves in a constant circular motion so that you don’t walk into a wall. Unfortunately, as the “ground” rolls away from you, you’re not using all your muscles to “push off” in a natural gait pattern. You are simply lifting your leg (and using too much of your hip in the process!) and letting it fall again. This strain on your hip flexors, not to mention the complete under-utilization of your butt muscles (which are already seriously under-used due to your desk time), results in other parts of your body OVER-COMPENSATING which leads to…ahem…pain. 

Show Them Roundies Some Love! Get Off Them and Move Better!

Next time you try going it on the treadmill, pay attention to what your body does, and how it feels during and after. Then compare those feelings after a walk around your neighborhood or through the forest. 

For reals. 

I hope you enjoyed using all your muscles on your walk today, 

Dani