Is Foot Mobility the Key to Whole Body Ease?

If you’ve ever come to any of my classes or workshops, had a bodywork session with me, or even just engaged in casual conversation, you have almost certainly heard me go on about feet. And how their health is absolutely vital to the fluidity, function, and feel of the rest of our body. I’m talking about everything – lower back ease, pelvic floor function, hip mobility, balance, shoulder and neck tension, digestion, lymph flow, circulation…

…I think you’re picking up what I’m putting down.

A Bit About Feeling Better By Starting with Feet

One thread of my movement teacher origin story is that when I began learning about functional, biologically necessary human movement – which involved a lot of foot strengthening and mobility – and shifting to a more barefoot lifestyle, I was able to resolve decades-long low back pain and foot pain. (This was also helped by John Sarno’s work on the mind-body aspects of recurring or chronic pain and his book Healing Back Pain – but that’s another topic for another day.)

I had recurring low back pain from age 14 to my mid-thirties, I wore arch supports as a kid, and in my 20s and 30s couldn’t spend more than a few minutes in my house without my cork footbed supportive slippers. Now at the start of my 50s my feet and whole body move with more mobility and ease, and are less subject to recurring pain than they were in my younger years. (Notice that I said less subject to. I’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as a perfectly pain- or tension-free body.)

A Few Foot Facts

• Our bodies contain around 200 bones. 25% of them are located in our feet.

• Of all our body’s muscles and nerves, 25% are also dedicated to the feet.

• Feet are our first contact with the ground. Especially when barefoot they’re responsible for molding to and sensing our environment and then translating what they read up to the rest of our body. (Biologically our bodies rely on this information and when the feet can’t do their job…there are consequences. I don't mean to sound threatening here, it's a pretty neutral statement about how our bodies simply adapt - for better or for worse - to the information and environments they are exposed to.)

Think About This

Feet have enormous capacity (and responsibility) but our society and culture call for them to be stuffed into shoes that cut off mobility, circulation, and sensation. Imagine what would happen to our hands if we put tight mittens on them about a year after we were born and left them there our whole lives! 

As I offer this information and these exercises, I want to be clear that I am not advocating for anyone to immediately start running around barefoot, to chuck their insoles or supports, or to dismiss their doctor’s advice. I offer resources to re-think what we’ve been taught or have absorbed from our culture, to consider how that fits into our individual lives and bodies, and if we decide to make some changes, then how we can safely and responsibly bring back more foot mobility.

Super Simple Foot Health Practice: Foot Wiping

• Take off your shoes and socks. (I do this first thing in the morning before putting on my cozy socks.)

• Stand on a textured surface. Waterhog mats or rough doormats work really well. 

• Rub and scrub every millimeter of the soles of your feet on them. Outside edge, inner arch, tips of toes, heels…everything! I like to do some twisting.

• Do about a minute each foot. Walk around a few moments before putting your cozy socks back on. Feel the Aliveness!

Shoes Are to Feet like Stiff Leather Mittens Would Be to Hands

Truly consider what I said above:

Feet have enormous capacity (and responsibility) but our society and culture call for them to be stuffed into shoes that cut off mobility, circulation, and sensation. Imagine what would happen to our hands if we put tight mittens on them about a year after we were born and left them there our whole lives. 

What would happen is that we wouldn’t be able to use all of the joints, muscles, and connective tissues of our fingers and hands. Our brains would understand the “hand” not as a collection of parts that could move independently of each other and together as a unit to widen, separate, grasp, squeeze, stretch, and do all the things hands do.


Another Way of Saying Move It or Lose It

Rather our brains would understand the mobile hand as more of a clumped-together unit with far more limited capacity. And then our brains would “help us out” by sending less energy to those parts – which translates to less awareness, strength, and mobility in our hands. 

This is the very-semi-scientific explanation for, “Move it, or lose it.” And if you’ve ever attended any of my movement classes or workshops, I base much of what we do on this principle. Which is why we do things to build awareness first and foremost. It’s like saying,”Brain, remember Feet? You used to know each other but it’s been awhile…let’s get reacquainted.”

How Do You Think About Your Feet? (or rather, DO You Think About Your Feet?)

Take a moment and think about how you think about your feet. Do you consider them solid blocks that you slide straight into shoes and operate mechanistically as levers and mostly forget about (unless they cause you aches and pains?) or do you perceive them as a fluid coherence of separate but beautifully integrated parts which mobilize and shape themselves to the earth you move across sending messages to the rest of your body to help you organize and relate to your environment?

Maybe somewhere in between? 🤷‍♀️

Your Mobile Feet Parts!

Let's start by getting clear on three things about our mobile feet parts:

1. Our toes should be able to move separately from our feet. This means we should be able to lift and lower them while the rest of our foot remains quiet.
   Practice: With bare or socked feet, practice feeling the heel and ball of your foot on the ground and lift all 5 toes at the same time. Notice if your foot wants to lift or shift (more than a bit) with this action.

2. Our toes should be able to move separately from each other.
   Practice: Lift just your big toe, and then pressing your big toe back to the ground and lifting all other 4 toes at the same time.

3. The front half of our foot should be able to move separately from the back half.
   Practice: Hold your heel stable with one hand and either grasp your forefoot (ball + toes) or lace your finger between your toes (for extra toe-stretch credit) and gently twist your forefoot back and forth. 
   

Remember, each one of our feet contains 26 bones and 33 joints.
As one of my teachers, Katy Bowman, writes in Simple Steps to Foot Pain Relief:

The primary reason our body even has joints is to allow for fluid movement. Could you imagine how hard it would be to use your arms or legs if your elbows or knees were missing? Your movements would be extremely rigid and stiff. The same goes for your foot: the less you use the many small joints within your foot by moving it in unique and novel ways, the less fluid control you have over stabilizing your body’s weight – also known as balance.