Part 5: The Feet

The foot takes the full weight our body with every step. The twenty six bones in each foot arrange themselves to both absorb forces and then alter their position to transmit power.
The hip is a ball and socket joint which has a huge variety of options available, and the knee is a relatively simple hinge joint. So we need to ensure that there is appropriate connections between the foot and the hip in order to get the best positioning.

To explore these connections, take off your shoes and socks and ensure that you can see your feet, ankles and legs. Stand in your normal standing posture and turn your whole body left and right in an easy twisting motion. Let your head turn over the shoulders, and observe what is happening in the right foot. Notice how it tilts on the floor as your body turns. As you turn right, the right foot tilts to the outside edge, and as you turn left it tilts so that the inside edge presses into the floor. As the foot tilts to this outside edge observe how the arch in the foot increases and the toes come closer to the heel. Going left the right foot presses on the inside edge and the arch lowers, and the toes move away from the heel. Exaggerate this motion and repeat it many times, then rest.

Then turn left and right again and notice both feet.

Turn to the right now, and stop, body facing right. Tilt the right foot onto each edge and observe what is happening to the right leg. Notice how the leg rotates as the foot tilts. Feel how the muscles around the hip joint are also those that tilt the foot. Repeat this many times, and than go back to the simple turning right and left.

Repeat this movement when you turn and stop, with your body turned to the left.
Rest for a minute. Now try this same movement to the left with your right foot held still and observe how this limits the movement in the body.

Stop turning and face straight ahead. Keeping your body still, rotate both your legs inwards together so that the arches flatten, and the pressure shifts to the inside of the feet. Then rotate the legs outwards, so that the arches rise and the pressure shifts outwards. Watch your feet so that you can see what happens. Notice that by rotating your hip joints, you can flatten or raise your arches.

Now stand facing a wall, and place both hands at shoulder height as if doing push ups ( if the wall were to be the floor) Raise heels up so that you are standing on balls of both feet, as if you were standing on your toes. Focus on the right foot, and locate the position where the join of a pair of thongs would sit on your foot, between the first and second toe near the ball of the foot. By pressing this point down gently into the floor, lift up higher and raise your eyes up the wall toward the ceiling. Then drop a little on to the toes and repeat the movement several times. Its just a small bounce on a specific point.
Now walk around and feel this place on the ball of your foot.

Now try this pressure under the 4th toe( more toward the outside) You should be able to feel a different transmission of push off through your foot. Vary the propulsion ( push off phase ) between these two different areas to determine which is more effective. There is considerable individual differences regarding this, and these differences depend on factors such as the shape of your foot and leg. Achieving the most effective propulsion from your foot requires attention, and as you tire, you may need to find variation. This is a way of sharing the load more around your body, just by varying the push-off.

Now walk around and sense how you push off.