Free Your Shoulders for Walking

Sit forward on a kitchen chair with your feet on the floor shoulder width apart. Bring your attention to your sternum. The sternum, also called the breastbone, is that part of you that someone would thump on if they were doing CPR. Are you slightly slumped as you sit? In other words, does your sternum point toward the ground even a little bit. Are your shoulders rounded forward, a lot, a little?

Cross your right arm over and take hold of your left shoulder. Cross your left hand to hold your right shoulder and loosely hug yourself. Notice that your elbows come close together and might even be one on top of the other. Begin to move your crossed elbows toward the ceiling. Do this many times and notice what is moving. Are your shoulders moving? Does your sternum move? Let your whole back participate in the process.

A version of this lesson can be found in this excellent movement guide.

Now, rest in sitting.

Next, move your crossed arms toward the floor. Exaggerate the feeling of slumping by increasing the motion of rounding in your shoulders and low back. Do this slumping movement that brings your elbows closer to the floor, do this many times. Find a way to make the motion smooth both in the taking your elbows toward the floor and bringing yourself back to sit in a more neutral posture with a loose hug. Then rest.

This time, take your crossed elbows to the left. It doesn’t matter how far you go. What matters is that you’re going “in the direction of.” Do that many, many times and feel how the movement is asking your spine to turn and rotate. Notice how far you can turn easily and comfortably. Rest in sitting.

Resume taking crossed elbows to the side, but this time go to the right. Once again, it doesn’t matter how far you turn, focus on the smoothness and quality of movement in your spine. Pay attention to whether you’re slumping while you turn or whether you’re over-arching, either of which might interfere with free movements of the spine. After many turns and a sense that you can go smoothly to one side or the other, rest in sitting.

Finally, connect all the points by taking your crossed arms in a circle. Continue hugging your shoulders and moving so that your arms go up and to the right and down and around to the left. Make a few circles clockwise and a few counterclockwise.
Resume sitting in the chair with your hands lightly resting on your legs. Where is your sternum pointing at this moment? Has there been a small shift in your posture, one that you can distinguish from your previous observations while you were sitting?

Do this lesson a few times during the week to increase your awareness of where your sternum is when you are sitting and moving. Then, when you get out and walk those long distances, you’ll be able to notice if your sternum is slumping. If you find it falling, gently point it in the direction of the sky.

Standing up straight is not the same as lifting your sternum skyward. Moving your sternum is a subtle way of insisting that you bring your attention to an idea of your sternum pointing upward and forward, as though someone had hold of your shirt and gently pulled you along.

Note: It’s all too easy to lift the sternum by pushing forward on the mid-low back. That use of the back muscles to keep one in an upright posture is one that creates a great deal of tension and contractions in the mid-low back, and if this pattern becomes chronic, it can create many imbalances in the way the spine can be use in all activities. The next movement lesson included here will help you integrate your upper body with your pelvis.

Shin Splints, Go Away!

When I’m out at the weekly half-marathon training walks for the group I hang with (Foot Traffic University), I listen to what folks are saying to each other. This week, I was hearing a lot about shin splints, a common problem for walkers. Having suffered through shin splints for many years, I finally figured out how to avoid them and it’s an unusual day that the problem crops up. So, a few thoughts . . .

Shins galore . . .

First, “shin splints” are what we refer to when the front of the lower leg is tight and cramping and slowing us down because it’s downright uncomfortable. In my experience, I get them when I don’t warm up enough. By that, I mean I head out of the starting gate too fast. I get excited and in my enthusiasm I’m keeping up with everyone else who is starting too fast. It hurts. And, we keep pushing and then we’re hurting. Honestly, in the long run, it slows you down more than a good lengthy warm-up might slow you down.

Second, I apply my “reverse psychology” on the shin splints. Instead of stretching, which is supposedly an attempt to lengthen the tightened muscle, I shorten them even more. On my walk with the dogs this evening, I was picking up the pace just to play around with a different gait, and my shins felt a little tense. I popped over to the curb and put the front of my foot on the curb and dropped my heel toward the street. The dogs got a great sniff-fest and I got a nice 30-second lengthening of my calf, which shortened my shin even more.

I walked on and felt that, sure enough, there was some relief, but the tension wasn’t all gone. So, I stopped again a few blocks later and this time I turned my toes inward and my heel out and dropped my heel toward the street like that. Then, I turned my toes outward and my heel in and dropped my heel down again. Each time, I moved really slow and did not go as far as I could have gone. I was just playin’ around. Voila, that time it worked and my shins let go of the tightness sensation and my walk was bouncy and fun and my dogs loved me for it.

So, what about the message that you should stretch those places that are tight to loosen them up? It makes sense, but is that really how the body works? For example, many people with tight muscles go the massage therapist and the person works their muscles really hard, really gets down in there and stretches them out to release that holding. The problem is that within 48 hours, those muscles are back as tight as ever. Then, less frequently, I hear the story of the massage therapist who moved really slowly and waited for the muscle to let go on its’ own. The pressure wasn’t as deep and the urge to force the muscles to let go was significantly decreased. In those cases, I’ve met some really happy massage clients who for days afterward were feeling the effects of that letting go.

My strategy is based on my practice of the Feldenkrais Method. In this work, we don’t go against what the person can do in an effort to show them what they should be doing. In fact, when they come in and it’s easier to turn their head to one side and the other side of the neck hurts, I don’t turn their head to the side that hurts. I turn their head to the side that is easy, the way their head is organized to go. I help them make that turning even easier, simpler, less effortful. Without fail, when we are done they can turn their head easier to the side that was hard in the beginning, but we didn’t get there by stretching.

In summary, instead of stretching out your tight shins, go make them shorter. Make the muscle fiber shorter, which relieves the muscle of working, lets it relax, and then it will be softer, more pliable and more resilient. And, none of this has to cause pain or be forceful. It may take some practice and stopping more than once to drop a heel off a curb, but you’ll be glad you did. And, by all means, go easy on that calf muscle.

Walking can be fun and you shouldn’t have to hurt to get somewhere. Your potential to do what you want to do expands when you go gently with yourself. Gentle isn’t the same as slow, but that’s discussion for another posting about pacing for the distance.

And now, to the walk . . .

Get a Wiggle On . . . for the whole 6 miles!

The Spirit of Portland, right there.

Today, the walkers in the Foot Traffic University program (okay, and runners, too) completed the first walk-of-the-year along the Willamette river, 6 miles total. We had stupendous views of our city and the trees blossoming, the river roaring, and the nearby hills protecting. We love our city, that’s clear.

Things talked about on this walk . . . water, shoes, feet that hurt, holding the head up when moving forward otherwise you will slow down your stride, if you can walk 6 you can walk 13, dogs, significant others, kids, jobs, getting out the door and doing something . . . the list was endless, really.

Seriously, this is the point in any training program, the 6-mile mark, where you need to take stock. Listen to your body and see if it is telling you to back off, take a day off, speed it up. Yes, believe it or not, you might want to try going faster. Sometimes you can be uncomfortable because you haven’t found your stride yet. Especially if you are a newbie at this, you might think you need to go slow or that to speed up will mean you hurt worse. But, not true. Sometimes, it feels better to get a little speed going. Secret: if you wiggle your hips you can go faster!!! True.

Get a Wiggle On . . . gets some chocolate.

When I got back to the Foot Traffic store, I had the chance to visit with Stacey Miller, Foot Traffic walker and Oregon Bake House owner. She gave out chocolate samples on our walk today and wow, they hit the spot. I’m in love with the lemon truffles myself.

I’m infatuated with Maeby, Sean River’s dog. When I heard she got lost when she followed someone onto the MAX train and rode all the way to Hillsboro, I immediately thought to myself, “Waaaah, I want my mommy.” And, if one of my lovely dogs had gotten lost, I’d have freaked out. Apparently, the train driver finally realized that the dog didn’t have an owner and called. Keep those tags on your dogs! No, this is not an ad for the Oregon Humane Society, but it could be.

Great to see everyone today! If you are shyly-curious, feeling left out, or had other obligations, we hope you come on out and visit us. Some of us are walking at a nice and easy pace and there’s always company along the route.

And now, to the walk . . .

Barefoot Ankles Exposed

Because of the new barefoot running trend, researchers are amassing the data that explains why barefoot is better for you than running with shoes on. While you may not want to walk barefoot, you can still take the results from the research and improve your own gait, increase your speed, and use less effort to get yourself through the 13.1 mile course you’re contemplating.

Dogs find a way to lean into their stance.

What they found was that folks who wore shoes spent more time with their ankle flexed (the toenail side of your feet is closer to your shin) and they measured a greater force on the heel and the ankle with each step. The force was greater than for those who were barefoot because those individuals spent more time with the front of their ankle open and they barely came down on their heel.

This completely matches one of my hunches. Too many walkers spend lots of time walking with their weight back on their heels, making it impossible to move forward in space without a lot of effort. You can tell you’re back on your heels if your posture is very upright, if your shoulders are way back or if you have to stick your head forward to counterbalance being so far back on your heels. Another easy way to tell if you’re way back on your heels is that you will feel like you could be nudged and you’ll fall backwards.

To really get what it is to have a forward-focused stance, you’ll need to consider that walking is falling forward. Walking is the act of moving forward into space and letting your legs catch you, one at a time. That sounds funny, but just stand up and begin to lean forward. Lean, lean, lean until you begin to fall and your leg will automatically re-position to catch you. Your brain is organized so you’ll catch yourself in almost every circumstance.

Here’s your assignment:
Go for a very slow walk around your block or along a familiar pathway. Bring all your attention on your walking style and see if you can feel whether you spend more time driving your heels into the ground or whether you feel a gliding sensation as you transition from heel toward your toe. Truly good runners and walkers put very little pressure on any one surface of their feet.

The beach is a great place for opening your ankles.

Once you know what it is you are doing, you can shift it around and then do what you need to do. You might decide that your real assignment is to simply focus on moving forward without holding yourself back . . . fall forward, wouldya?

And now, to the walk . . .

Good Posture: For Walking and for Life

When you were little, you likely learned to “stand up straight.” And, it seemed that meant you were to throw your shoulders back and suck your stomach in and keep your feet together and not breathe.

Consider an alternative. What if good posture is dynamic? What if good posture means you can fluidly and easily and quickly adapt your position to do what you want to do in that moment? That dynamic posture would help you reach and move in any direction, at any time, without a lot of preparation. You could breathe, you could relax, you could be ready for what would come.

Examining one's gait can come in many forms.

Walking requires that same readiness and dynamic posture. To be able to move in any direction at any time means you could adjust your step and maintain solid footing, you could back up and not slip on something dangerous, and you could get the most pushing power from being ready to move in any direction.

Quick Assessment: Stand barefoot on a hard floor. Notice where the pressure rests on the soles of your feet. Do you lean more on your heels? More on the balls of your feet? What about the inside edges, do your feet fall in? Or, do you lean on the outer edges and more toward the back? Discover your particular pattern. We are, each one of us, different and unique.

Now put your shoes back on and slowly walk the length of a block. Bring your attention to exactly where you come down on your foot and how the weight gets transferred from the back of your foot to the front of your foot. Go slowly enough that you can really feel if there is a difference between left and right. Most of us will have some pattern, but see what yours is.

Are you way back on your heels? This is the most typical gait and when you are in this posiiton, you are at a disadvantage. You need to push or pull yourself forward. When you are more forward in your gait, when your head and shoulders go along with that pattern and slightly lean forward, you can simply move forward and catch yourself. It’s not falling, but it can feel like falling forward. However, in this more neutral position, if you need to back up suddenly, you can still do that.

Experiment with this leaning into the forward part of your foot. Over-exaggerate so you can really get the feeling of it. Once you have the feeling, you can back off and find the “middle,” what isn’t pushing forward and what isn’t leaning backward. And, what we’re describing here is your whole body, but particularly what is happening at your feet and ankles.

Another way to determine if you are not adjusted in neutral for your walk is to look at the shape of your spine. Some people look like they are slumped over and yet they are standing up. It’s as if the posture they might sit in at their desk got carried out for a walk. But, since walking is falling forward, the spine needs to participate in a way that it can be long and fluid. That allows your shoulders to be loose, your head to be supported, your eyes to relax and your body to turn in any way you want to go with some simple adjustments of your shoulders, spine, or eyes.

Experiment, play, figure out what is new and different for you. It will feel strange at first. One thing that is sure. If you stay on your heels, you’ll see the wear on the heels of your shoes. Walkers should not be wearing out the heels of their shoes. That means too much force is coming down on the heels. Next week, we’ll talk about force in feet and ankles. In the meantime, go “listen” to your ankles and the soles of your feet. You will learn about you and in the “listening,” things will begin to change. Resist the urge to “make” them change. Just watch. See what happens.

Link: One idea for fixing bad ankles

Check out this article on rebuilding your balance after an ankle injury. The GREAT NEWS is that the nervous system can relearn even years AFTER an injury. Go stand on one leg, would ya?????

Walking in the sand strengthens ankles too!!!

How to Fix Bad Ankles

Movement Lesson: Flexible Ankles

Maximize the benefit of this movement lesson. Go slowly, notice, pause, really pay attention. Avoid music, talking, other multi-tasking activities.

Standing with your feet about shoulder distance apart and your arms hanging at your sides on a fairly firm surface. Bring your attention to the way your feet press on the ground. Specifically, which parts of your feet are pushing on the floor more than the other parts. Once you have identified the pressing places, notice where your feet are not touching as firmly.

You can do this anywhere, in line at the grocery store, in the water, at the kitchen sink . . .

Now, shift your attention to the areas of your feet that do the most work in holding you up. Are you leaning more on the back of your feet or more on the front of your feet? Is this leaning the same on both feet, or is one foot leaning more toward the heel and the other more toward the front of the foot. And finally, notice whether you are leaning more heavily on the inside or the outside edges of your feet. Rest by walking around for a few moments.

Return to standing with your feet about shoulder distance apart and your arms hanging at your sides. Begin to move gently and slightly to stand more fully on the left and then the right foot. Make such a small rocking that you can determine what is happening to your hips. How is the left hip accepting the weight of your body as you rock to stand on your left side? How does the right side handle this? Is one of them more comfortable when you rock to that side? Do this many times, then pause.

This time, begin to shift your weight forward and backward but so slowly that you do not lose your balance. You should be able to keep your toes relaxed and comfortably resting on the ground and you heels will remain in contact with the ground as well. Rock this way, ever so slowly and examine whether you feel more at ease going in a forward direction or a backward direction. When you have done this many times and you can feel how smoothly you perform the movements, then stop and take a rest.

Lots of ways to loosen your ankles.

Finally, explore moving to the right, backward, to the left, and forward, circling around the outside edges of your feet. Continue circling in this way and see if you are drawing a circle on the ground, or if there are holes or gaps in the circular nature of the movement. Do this many times and then reverse directions. Pay close attention to the way you move from one direction to another and whether there are glitches along the way, that is, places that feel “sticky” or cluttered. Pause again and rest by walking around for a few moments or by sitting down.

When you are ready, return to the initial movement of shifting your weight a little from side to side. Determine if the swaying has somehow been affected by the exploration you just completed. Is there a new smoothness in your ability to transfer your weight from foot to foot, do you find the same leg is more comfortable in holding your weight?

Stand with your arms loose at your sides and reflect on the contact your feet have with the floor. What is the pressure distribution at this moment in time? Walk around and notice what it is that seems more accessible in your ability to move yourself through space to where you’d like to go.

And now, to the walk . . .