Foot Function and Health

From the bottom up; Poor posture and health

The potential causes for stress, exhaustion and unrefreshing sleep can wide and varied, but surely abnormal foot function is a bit far-fetched?

Granted, initially this does seem a wacky idea. How on earth can your feet cause you to wake up feeling worse than when you went to bed, or having all the symptoms of stress but no idea what caused it?

Believe it or not, the answer lies in hormones.

Tiny misalignments of one or two bones in the foot disrupt how the foot works with every single step. The average person takes 10,000 steps a day; that's 10,000 repetitions of abnormal foot function that goes unnoticed because it has been present since birth. After all, we never miss what we don't have.

Foot function controls the movement of the rest of the body throughout the gait cycle, the cyclical pattern of movement every time we take a step. Over time, abnormal foot function disrupts the entire sequence of motion throughout the gait cycle, silently and slowly changing muscle strength, tone, and balance and the angles and forces of joint movements. These changes cause poor posture to develop and place the body under low levels of constant chronic physical stress.

A constant source of low-level stress is the most destructive to human health. We are designed to cope with short, sharp bursts of stress, most commonly known as the "flight or fight" response, but long-term sources of stress disrupt the internal chemistry of the body. When this happens, a range of health problems are prone to develop, from asthma to sleep problems, diabetes to Fibromyalgia and mental/congitive fog to weight fluctuations.

Just like the emotional stress of moving house, a family bereavement or other difficult emotional situation, a constant source of physical stress from abnormal foot function creates an increased risk of developing chronic stress-related health problems. Whereas with emotional sources of stress the causes normally normally last only a few weeks or months, physical stress from abnormal foot function stays with us for life, or until foot function is properly controlled.

From the bottom up; Poor posture and health