Foot Alignment — Building Your Foundation

By Barbara Loomis

1. Feet forward, using sidewalk crack to check alignment.

2. My “duck feet.”

3. This duck’s foot alignment is better than mine is in the second photo.

4. Foot mechanics — left foot aligned and right foot creating stress riser in foot. I’m wearing my Correct Toes in the photo to get them in their correct position relative to each other and the ground. Mention you saw my white legs in this article, and receive $10 off your Correct Toes.

Would you drive your car with the wheels out of alignment? If you tried, you probably wouldn’t get too far without causing unnecessary wear and tear to your vehicle. Well, what about the human vehicle? We walk with our “wheels” (feet) out of alignment all the time. When you walk with your feet turned out, you create what is known as stress risers.

Stress risers amount to wear and tear in the body. As a Restorative Exercise Specialist (RES), I’ve learned that wear and tear on the joints isn’t the only problem. The result of this degeneration of tissue can be arthritis, inflamed nerves, low bone density, joint and muscle pain, and foot problems. Restorative Exercise™ is based in biomechanical science and Newtonian physics. The program was developed by my teacher Katy Bowman, a biomechanical scientist. She developed this model of biomechanical preventative health when she noticed a relationship between poor physical alignment and common diseases such as cardiovascular disease, joint degeneration, osteoporosis, and foot issues.

Basically it’s all about using your body the way it is designed to be used in order to decrease cellular degeneration. Cellular degeneration equals accelerated aging.

Restorative Exercise encompasses the alignment of the whole body starting with the feet. If the feet are out of alignment, everything else is thrown out of alignment. Just as in a house, you can’t build a structurally sound house if the foundation is off. Let’s say your feet are turned out when you walk, so-called duck feet. As your center of mass passes over your foot, your weight is putting stress on the inside of the foot near the big toe (see photo #4).

Your foot responds by building up more of a “foundation” to support your weight, and the result is a bunion. Another factor in bunions, of course, is tight shoes, but don’t discount the effect improper loading of the joint has on the body structure. It doesn’t stop at bunions though, because your knees, hips, and spine also have to adapt to the inappropriate foot position. Your joints won’t load correctly when your bones aren’t aligned.

The first exercise I give my alignment clients is to keep the feet forward. One way to do this is to find a straight edge, like I did on the sidewalk (see photo #1). It may feel like your feet are pigeon-toed and your knees may want to fall in, but this demonstrates that the deep lateral rotators of your pelvis are weak and you need to rotate your femurs (thigh bones) out. It’s a very subtle movement, and sometimes you can feel your arches lift when you do it correctly. The movement doesn’t come from your quadriceps, so make sure you can relax your kneecaps. If your kneecaps are pulled up, your quadriceps muscle is too tight and will pull your patellas into the space behind them, causing inflammation and irritation of the joint. You can practice lifting and lowering your kneecaps as you stand.

Now that your feet are forward and thighs externally rotated (rotated out), place your feet pelvis (not hip) width apart so your leg bones are vertical and keep your weight back on your heels, just enough to lift your toes so your ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, and ears are in a plumb line. Practice those few things to build your strong foundation. Please don’t be discouraged! These habits take some time to break — it’s like training a puppy. Stay on top of it; you won’t be disappointed.

Barbara Loomis, LMT, RES, has over 14 years of training and combines ancient healing techniques with the science of biomechanics. For more information about her classes and private sessions visit www.nurturance.net.