Our feet are our base. Each foot has 26 bones, 33 joints and over 100 muscles, tendons & ligaments. That means over a quarter of our bones lie below our ankles.
Our feet have so much potential for movement yet our cultural habits restrict so much of that movement. We walk on flat, level man made surfaces in supportive footwear which is often inflexible, has a heel rise and squashes our toes.
Here are some ways that we can get our feet to move more.
1. Go barefoot when you can – your home and garden is a great place to start. Your feet will love the added space and movement they are afforded by being set free :).
2. Create yourself a textured standing surface in the kitchen, bathroom or at your standing desk. This could be as fancy as a textured mat or as simple as a couple of stones from the garden, a folded towel or small cushion.
3. Choose the bumpy ‘path’ – walking on the grass verge as appose to the smooth path helps wake up those feet muscles
4. Separate your toes! There are lots of ways to do this; interlock your fingers and toes when you’re sitting, get yourself some ‘happy feet’ socks (google it you’ll find heaps!)to wear at night or get some Correct Toes (they sell them here)
5. Transition into barefoot shoes. These shoes allow your feet to move so so much more. Here’s a super directory for UK & European shoes that I created. I hope you find it useful.
www.theactivebalance.co.uk/ukbarefootshoedirectory/
Tanya is co-founder of Move More UK. She is passionate about seeing people thrive by moving more!
