Strong feet is a strong body!
Strong feet is a strong body!
Imagine being the developer of your own (dream) home. You get carte blanche to build it from the ground up. Anything goes. Anything goes. Sleek design, smart gadgets, sustainable materials, the big picture.
You make a plan, work out steps and get to work. However, you don't have much experience developing and building houses yet so you think the foundation is not important. You just start building the walls.
You start out full of enthusiasm. You can picture it all: a beautiful roof, large windows, floor heating, maybe even a swimming pool. But because you don't have much experience yet, you think, "Oh well, the foundation? That will come later. First the eye-catchers."
So you start with the walls. Then the roof. And then suddenly ... your dream home slowly tilts.
Why? Because you overlooked the most important thing: the foundation.
Let this example be exactly what many people do to their bodies. We train our core, buttocks, shoulders and six-pack. You focus on the visible. But if your body is that dream house, your feet are the foundation. A house with a weak foundation? That's going to crack. A body with a weak foundation? That's going to create imbalances. Cracks in the walls are complaints to your ankles, knees, hips and/or back.
Do you want a strong and pain-free body? Then start with your feet.
Why you want strong feet
Your feet are - as I have made clear by now, so to speak - your foundation. You literally have to be able to lean on them all day long. Pretty important, then, that you have to be able to rely on them.
Each foot contains as many as 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments. That makes your foot one of the most complex structures in your entire body. And for good reason.
After all, your feet are:
- - Your ground contact - all the force you generate in a movement starts at the push-off.
- - Your shock absorbers - with each step you catch 2 to 5 times your body weight.
- - Your sensor system - your feet are full of proprioceptors: sensors that give info to your brain about balance, direction, pressure and position.
- - The starting point of your fascia chains - such as the Superficial Back Line that continues from your big toe to the top of your skull.
- - Your energy conductors - through fascia and nerve endings, forces, signals and information are transmitted to the rest of your body at lightning speed.
In other words, if your feet don't participate, then energy leaks out. Then the chain blocks. Then you can be as strong or flexible above your ankles ... you are building on an unstable foundation.
Why are your feet weak?
Most people think that good running shoes prevent symptoms. "The more cushioning, the better." "I need a corrective sole." "I really can't run without a thick heel."
But let's go back to the origins for a moment. Running shoes were once developed as a performance tool.A little extra cushioning. A lighter stride. A carbon plate that might save 20 seconds in a 10-kilometer race. Top. If your name is Eliud Kipchoge. Or run a marathon once a year. But what happens if you run on such shoes every day? Then your foot doesn't compete anymore.
Your foot is a complex body part. It is built with a powerful bridge that would be the envy of many a construction worker. In fact, the foot bridge is a powerful shock absorber and built in such a way that when pressure is put on it from above (gravity), this bridge becomes strong. In contrast, when you put (chronic) pressure from below on this bridge (hello thick sports sole), it actually disintegrates.
Compare it to an arm you put in a cast. After six weeks, your muscle strength is halved, your coordination gone. That's what we do to our feet when we put them in stiff, thick, cushioned shoes for years.
The fascia in your foot stiffens. And you literally lose connection to the ground beneath you.
High-tech shoes create low-tech feet.
Soles take over the work of your intrinsic foot muscles. Proprioception disappears. Proprioception is your body's ability to perceive where your limbs are in space without having to look at them.
In other words, your body always knows where it is, what it is doing and how to respond, based on information continuously picked up by sensors in your muscles, tendons, joints and fascia.
The foot = fascial highway
Under your foot there is a lot of fascia (connective tissue), you obviously know all about that by now from reading this blog. The fascia under your feet is called plantar fascia. It is extremely sensitive and needs a lot of attention. Simply because you put a lot of strain on your feet. The plantar fascia is the beginning of a very famous and important chain of fascia: the Superficial back line. This line starts at the bottom of your foot, winds up through your calves, hamstrings and back and only ends at the top of your skull.
If there is tension, adhesion or dysfunctional tissue somewhere in that chain (i.e., under your foot, for example), it automatically affects everything above it.
And then you might also understand better why people with:
recurring hamstring pain, low back pain, or even neck strain often have a problem that literally starts at the bottom.
Many people then go foam roll their backs or stretch their hamstrings, when the real problem - the source of tension - is simply under their big toe.
Fascia stores tension in chains, not in single spots. And so a "frozen" plantar fascia (stiff, dehydrated, full of trigger points) can cause a chain reaction all the way to your neck or shoulders. This is why it is essential not to forget your feet in your recovery, mobility or strength training.
Not: "where is the pain?"
But: "where did the tension start?"
And very often ... that's by the foot.
So if you have symptoms in your body, don't just look up.
Also look down. To your contact with the earth.
And most importantly, to how healthy, resilient and responsive your fascial foot layer still is.
How do you build strong feet?
Okay, you now understand that your feet are the foundation. But how do you make them strong, smart and resilient again? Here are some simple but powerful basics:
1. Walk barefoot more often
You really don't have to walk barefoot along a gravel path all day, but taking your shoes off at home is already a gamechanger. Let your feet feel, register and respond to the surface.
The more input your nervous system receives, the better your motor control becomes.
2. Train barefoot (or minimal shoes)
For strength training, mobility or warm-ups: throw off those thick soles. You'll naturally notice that you make more contact with the ground, your balance improves and your feet become more active.
Start slowly. your feet have to learn to work again, too. Not cold turkey on a concrete floor. Use these toespacers to "fix" your feet and create the original anatomy of your toes.
3. Break the dependence on orthotics
Insoles can provide temporary support for symptoms, but if you always get support ... then you won't learn to cope with anything yourself. There are certain medical cases where insoles are necessary but in most cases it is a bizarre business. After all, you have to replace them every other year and often they are not needed. Compensate for the leg length difference with insoles? What if the leg length difference is in your hips and can be solved? You hear, often complex but absolutely worth the search. Think back to that foot bridge. It had to be strong, without chronic pressure from below.
Exercise: plantar fascia release with a lacrosse ball
An easy way to loosen and sensitize your fascia under your foot again is with a lacrosse ball (or a hard massage ball). Here's how to do it:
- - Stand or sit and place your bare foot on the ball.
- - Slowly roll from your heel to your toes, along the entire length of the sole of your foot.
- - Find a sensitive point and keep pressing gently on it for at least 90 seconds.
- - Breathe calmly and let your foot "melt" over the ball, so to speak.
- - Repeat for 2-3 minutes per foot, especially after intense exercise or long days of standing.