Most people don’t give much attention to their feet unless they’re in pain or they look a little funky. I think about the feet as something that can propel you forward or make it painful to move. The entire weight of your body is balanced on your feet, so if your muscles aren’t supporting the structure of your bones, your feet will take the brunt of the weight.
Do you know what your body really needs to wind down at night? I’ve explored so many ways to support my sleep and I’ve noticed that I need different things at different times.
Where are you at in getting good quality sleep? What have you tried and what do you have blocks around trying? I'm sure you know or have read about most of these but sometimes hearing the thing said for the 100th time finally allows it to sink in. It's always surprising to me when someone is actually ready to make a change and how they navigate things when that happens.
Stress affects us in so many ways. It can make us age faster, give us digestive issues, increase hair loss, keep us from sleeping well, alter the way we communicate with others, shift the way our body absorbs nutrients, lower our sex drive, make us crave foods/substances to numb out, gain weight and make us sick.
None of these responses are desirable, so it's helpful to have tools to calm our body down so that we can feel safe enough to relax again. This stops cortisol from flooding our system so that we can move back into rest and digest from fight or flight.
Hacking the low back can be a bit tricky because there are a bunch of muscles that attach in all different directions and only the spine as a bony support.
When you get your spine into a C shape (your torso moves back into a curl and your head and hips are forward) the natural curves of your spine are taken away. These curves allow you to be buoyant and have good rebound. Think of a gymnast tumbling on concrete versus a mat that protects their joints.
Pain or tension on the sides of the hips is a signal from the body that we're using our muscles to force stability because we’re not feeling that way emotionally, mentally or physically.
It can manifest as:
clicking in the hips
tension in the front of the hips (hip flexors)
low back pain
discomfort when standing for long periods of time
something feeling off in your gait (the way you walk)
feeling like your hip is jammed
knee discomfort
neck pain
jaw tension
So many of us have an imbalance in the pelvis that affects everything above and below. By evening out the rotation in the legs, we can stabilize the pelvis better and feel stronger when we walk. Since walking is something that we do all the time, I thought this exercise was a great one to share with you this month. It's best to observe your gait (walking) first, then do the exercise to accurately compare and contrast.
There's a lot that's misunderstood about the feet and what's best for them. Shoe manufacturers have shifted to more support and also more specific support to correct your imbalances. That's helpful in a way, but your body was designed to support itself and if it's "fixed" by a shoe instead of by your body, then you're not really getting to the root of the problem. That will keep you spending more money in the long run instead of working with your body and listening when it sends a signal of pain that something's not working the way it should.
I often get asked for my opinion on a specific gadget or tool to fix an issue in the spine. People will come to me with their MRI results afraid that surgery and cortisone shots are their only options.
June was the month of travel me and my husband. I spent every weekend on a plane, in a car, or on a train. Each destination was beautiful and full of family, friends, and sunshine! That was the upside. On the downside, I was feeling all sorts of discomfort from sitting more than my body is used to. After the first trip, I changed things up a little and made a mini workout in the seated position. If you travel for work or leisure, try out any or all of the following tips to get rid of discomfort.
