Day 92- One, two, buckle my shoe. My healthy shoe.

You remember that bit that Eddie Murphy did in his first movie, Delirious? About his mother throwing her shoe at him and his brothers for disciplinary purposes? 

I won't post the video here, because it's chock full o' swears, but look it up---it's funny. 

I don't throw my shoes, nor anything else, at my kids, but I do think about shoes. A lot. 

See, summer isn't endless, and I can't wear my monkey toe shoes and sandals all year long here in the Pacific Northwest. I've got to think about covering up my tootsies while still remaining in alignment and not torturing my feet. 

Yes, there are always Earth shoes. I've got several pair and love them, but they aren't always the look I'm going for. 
                           
And there are some seriously cute ballet flats out there, as long as your toes can move, for Pete's sake. 

                                       
I'm a casual girl. Hopelessly casual, in fact. For me, dressing up is like rubbing sandpaper across my buttocks. I'm no Fancy Nancy. 

So while I've got my Earth shoes for "dressing up", I want shoes for casual Friday. And Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. 

On Sunday, I have to look fairly respectable since I teach Sunday school at our synagogue. That's when the Earth shoes will come out.

But for every other day---it's going to be: 

And:

and even:

                                                

I know, right?

I'm sure the sphincters of every fashion-minded person reading this are sucked up tighter than Tutankhamun's skin, but I can't help it. I've been wearing comfortable shoes for most of my life, and now that I know so much more about wellness and alignment and how badly we're messing ourselves up with our shoes and daily habits, well...I don't just want comfortable shoes any longer. 

I want comfortable AND healthy. 

When I was a teenage skate punk, I lusted after low-top Chuck Taylor Converse All-Stars, but falsely believed that because I had "high-arches", I needed shoes with arch support. So I never had a pair. 

Sniff. 

Last year, I threw caution to the wind and got some, and ended up loving loving loving them. 

I'll probably buck up and buy a pair of comfy ballet flats, as well. You know, in case I get invited to the Oscars. 

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful, 
Dani

Day 90-Dwight is Right

A couple of years ago, a hula hoop student of mine hobbled into hoop class, barely able to walk. When asked 'why?', she replied, "Oh, CrossFit. It's killing me."

I asked, "Um, are you telling your instructor when it hurts?"

To which she replied, "Yeah, once, but he said that 'pain is weakness leaving the body'."

Pain is weakness leaving your body. 

I was floored. Speechless. But, if you know me, you know I spoke anyway. And I said, 

"Bullshit. Pain is your body's warning system."

Pain IS your body's warning system.  

If you place your hand on a hot stove burner, do you leave it there while your skin crisps and sizzles like thin-sliced Canadian bacon? No, you jerk your hand away the second your brain registers the PAIN IN YOUR HAND. If you didn't, then you would burn. A lot. 

Pain would save you from doing this. 

Pain signals us that something is wrong. Emotional and physical. Today, I'm only going to discuss the physical part. Although when dipshits like the CrossFit instructor say things like that, I do get emotionally pained. 

I cried tears of joy when I found this on the IntraWebs this morning.

But I digress. 


If your neck aches, something is wrong. If your hip hurts, something is wrong. If your shoulder pains you, something is wrong. These pains are your body's way of saying, "Hey, man! Knock it off! Do something different and fix this because I'm telling you, it's not working!"

Ignoring these everyday aches and pains is folly, and I frequently see folks who have let those easily ignored warning signs go too far, until they are in serious, acute pain. Usually, they end up twisted in a chiropractor's office or lying on the couch with ice on their backs, their bodies pumped full of anti-inflammatory medicines or pain killers. 

Been there. Done that. It's dumb. 

When, after a day of working, your feet hurt, what goes through your head? Gee, maybe I've got the wrong shoes? Maybe I was standing in poor alignment? Maybe I need to stretch those muscles? 

If your shoulder is bothering you, do you consider examining and changing your daily habits and movements? 

Or do you just look the other way and learn to live with those warning signals? Think about it another way: 

If you were sitting in your house, and the smoke alarms started blaring, would you narrow your focus on the book you're reading and ignore the loud, incessant buzzing?

No, you wouldn't.
 
But some of us do it with our bodies every day. 

For years. Chronic pain is not a birthright, but many carry it as if it were theirs. 

Are you? 

Did you know that it's likely that you can fix/correct/heal/ease what's ailing you, perhaps easier than you may think? 

But first, you have to listen to your warning system, or you won't just burn your hand. You'll burn the whole house down, and then, where would you live?

Listen, 
Dani

Day 27-But they make my butt stick out all cute-like!

I've always been a flat, wide-toed-shoe wearing gal. I actually do not have wide feet, but I enjoy a big toe box, or no toe box, for my tootsies to move around in. There was a brief period in my life when I had to wear heels for work, but it was short, thank the stars!

This was not the job:

But I bet she's not allowed to wear Birkenstocks while working. 

Anyway, I've worn comfy, neutral-heel shoes almost my entire life. I always liked to be comfortable, but I also always knew that heels weren't good for the human body. 

Which blows my mind why we think these are healthy:

Now hold on. Before you climb up a pole, scissor your legs, toss your hair and get mad at me, my Dansko-wearing friends, please listen: I have Dansko clogs. I wear them when I cannot get away with these:

These look like they have a heel, but actually don't once you thermo-mold them to your paws. It's cool.

Or these:

I try to get away with them as often as I can, but the culture we live in doesn't let me wear them with this:

Okay, those of you who know me know that I would totally never wear this, but you get my point. 


But here's the rub, and thanks to my fabulous teacher for putting it so well: Those clogs are not healthy. They are comfortable, but not healthy. 


Follow? 


Let me illustrate further: 

There's comfort here, but... eh? Not so healthy.

A clog is still a heel that is still pushing you out of alignment. I know not everybody's going to wear my freaky monkey-toe shoes and pad around in flip-flops in 40-degree weather. I know. 

What I want for you to think about is how much are you wearing those heels? 
Want to see what happens to your body when you wear them? 

Image: copyright Restorative Exercise, Inc.
Image sourced from Every Woman’s Guide to Foot Pain Relief

Look at the pelvis, lower back and ribs when she tries to correct for the heels. 


Frickin' ow!


Current events in foot hatred:

Ohhhh. Owwww......!!! STOP!!

I'd tell you you look hot, Baby, but you just look ridiculous...

I am currently enjoying reading "Every Woman's Guide to Foot Pain Relief" by Katy Bowman, as part of my Restorative Exercise schooling, and when I first picked it up I thought "Huh, she's preaching to the choir with me! I always wear comfy shoes!" 


Sometimes, I'm not as smart as I think. 


Actually most of the time. 


Could I teach you more about this, because it matters? The book is terrific. You would do well to check it out. I think every woman who feels like she should wear heels should read it. If you're a man who wears heels, no judgment here, Buddy, but you should know that you're throwing your alignment out of whack every single day. Go back to the car metaphor. What happens when your tires are out of alignment? They wear down funny, blow out and then the rest of the car compensates until it breaks down. 


Why are you any different?


I care about your well-being, and I want you to be a well being. 


Talk soon, Kitten, 
Dani

Day 24-Your little piggies need you now.

I need you to pay attention today. Everything I say matters a great deal to YOU and I don't want you to miss anything. I'll make it short, but I want you to chew on what I'm about to say for quite a while. 

The 52 foot bones make up for almost 25 percent of all the bones in your body. 

For reals. 

Look at the picture. 

The human foot has 26 foot bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments, 19 muscles and tendons. These intricately designed structures have the potential to be as dextrous as your fingers. When I was a kid, I could scoop up peanuts with my toes and put them in my mouth! I could hold a stemmed wineglass steady in my toes and bring it to my mouth to drink. Of course, I wasn't drinking wine, but a stem glass was easier to hold than a tumbler.

How often do you consider your feet? When they ache? When you need a pedicure? 

Where would you be without them?

(I'm pausing dramatically and frowning a little so you can really digest the gravity of this issue.)
 

I'm going to gradually enlighten you about your feet. I want you to reconnect with your feet. I want you to love, love, LOVE your feet. And then I want you to start taking care of them like you take care of something you love.

So, for today and until I write about your feet again, consider this: Your fingers can do many, many wonderful things. Play piano, pick your nose, knit, draw, flip the bird, type, write, craft, build...on and on and on. 

Forget pulling out your wedgie with these suckers!

BUT...if I put thick, heavy mittens on your hands, how much of that stuff could you do? Make it leather mittens that prohibit the movement of your fingers up and down, side to side? Dang it, that pretty much reduces us to crouching in the corner, banging our heads against the wall until an orderly comes to feed us our pudding cup, no?

Try this, please: with your shoes on, move your toes up and down. 

How's that? 

Now take your shoes off and move your toes up and down. Do your feet move with them? Can you move your toes independently of your feet and then, independently of each other?

No?

What if that seriously reduced dexterity and movement was occurring in your fingers? You'd poop yourself, I bet. I know I would. 

And good luck wiping with mitten hands. 

Don't fail your feet. If you do, and they fail you, here's what's next:

And I'm pretty sure Zappos doesn't have free delivery on these. Yet.

We'll talk more, much, much more about your feet and how you can reclaim what you were born with. I just wanted to really, truly consider your feet for a few days. 

In tough love, 

Dani