Rami's Blog

Like the Yin-Yang, Eastern Martial Arts and Western medicine are two halves of a whole. My mission is to preserve the ancient mind-body tools and pass them on to you.

 

Healthy Feet Guide

Today, we're putting all of the feet videos and exercises into one place for future reference. Healthy feet and good walking posture can make a huge difference in your overall health. Any of the common walking issues I discuss in this video can cause knee problems, lower back pain, even neck pain and migraines. Without further to do, here is a little feet health-plan for you to follow, everyday if you can, and a few times a week if you are short on time, or your feet don't have any issues.

  1. Begin with stretching your calves. Relaxed calves give your feet the full range of up-and-down motion while walking. This goes a long way toward letting your feet stretch themselves with normal movement throughout the day. 
  2. Now that you are ready to be up and around on your feet, why not go barefoot for a few minutes? If it's warm out, go walk through the grass, or find a beach with some nice sand. The point here is not only to stretch the feet, but also to stimulate them with different surfaces and feelings
  3. Once you are done with your barefoot stroll, it's the perfect time to take a hot foot bath. Not only will this clean your feet, but it will also gently relax all the muscles and ligaments in your feet, and even soften the hard skin or calloused areas.
  4. Now that you have clean and relaxed feet, it's time to open your toes with this exercise. You don't want to push too hard and hurt your feet, but you should be working toward getting your fingers all the way through the spaces in between your toes. This balances out the compression that our toes go through during the day from wearing tight socks and restrictive shoes.
  5. You have to get on to your day at some point! These exercises should only take you roughly half an hour in total to complete, but there is alway something you can do while you are out and about. Take a look at other people's walking posture and notice how it makes them move. Do you move like that when you walk? It's almost impossible to watch yourself walk normally, so noticing the tell-tale signs of poor walking posture in other people might help you notice them in yourself.

That's it! Happy Stretching, and Happy Walking!