Overpronation, Orthotics and Calf-Stretching

Okay, you've discovered your feet (Blog #4), the Foundation of Movement, and are beginning to grasp, conceptually, Oat Philosophy.  But before we expand, its essential that I, with regard to YOU, build on your seminal understanding of Fitness.  Another quill in your quiver, the following should aid in avoidance of injury, while, at the same time, ensuring that each exercise you perform--each movement--is mechanically efficient and sound.

I begin with mechanics--BIO-mechanics--for just as the human type aid an engine, the kinetic variety ameliorate Power.  Again, we turn to our new pal, the Foot.  Often--so often, that I feel comfortable "generalizing"--when I assess a client's gait, I notice that they collapse, to some degree, at the in-step, or arch, while weight-bearing.  The greater the collapse, the greater the "pronation"--a fancy word for the amount of medial (inner) motion during foot-strike.  As in most things, a multitude of contributors may cause the inefficiency (Is your digiti minimi soft?  Can you see your shoes but for your stomach?), though a common culprit is tightness in the calf--in the soleus and gastrocnemius--superior to the foot.  Two types of flexion, "plantar" and "dorsi," occur in the ankle.  Shorten the S-and-G complex, and--BOOM!--you plantar-flex (point your toes).  Lengthen the calf, by actively drawing the toes toward the chin, and, with little or no fanfare, you become the danseuse of the dorsi ballet.   

But problems develop.  When we fail to stretch prior to activity, or, worse, avoid activity, the calf becomes fibrous, limiting "dorsi-flexion."  A healthy gait-pattern includes the striking of the heel upon "landing"; but if motion is limited, if the calves are unable to present the heel to the floor, weight transfers to the arch.  In time, it flattens, a deflated human tire.  Ever drive on a flat?  Bent rims, mis-alignment, poor mileage....  

Like Beemer, like Bod....  A flat arch--excess pronation at heel-strike--engenders torque above the ankle.  If your in-step collapses each time you bear weight, it follows--does it not?--that compensatory rotation will occur at the knee, hip and spine.  Bent rims, mis-alignment, poor mileage....  

There are remedies.  First: read and follow Blog-4; Second: on a daily basis, whether in preparation to rob a bank or plant parsley, STRETCH the calf muscles.  Find stairs, something flat and elevated, position the forefoot near your edge of choice, and, without bending the knee, lower one heel.  All that weight, anchored by toe and stair, breaks the bond of oppression!  Sing the Bill of Rights.  Switch feet.

Congratulations---you're on the Steel Cut Lane to Self-Reliance, a Force of NATURE, rubber-stamped with Pure Joy.  Still, as fine as you feel, a flat foot is the Humpty Dumpty of ailments, and, as such, requires support, not only of family and friends, but of "inserts," comprised of rigid plastic, to make you efficient mechanically.  Should you run to the doctor for a shoe-insert?  Whoa!  While each foot is unique, and may require an extremely inflated (and dubiously effective), "prescription" orthotic, for my money, Superfeet are the reader's best bet.  Superfeet (the name of the product) are indestructible inserts perfectly suited to support so efficient that, around the time they wear out, you will feel emotion.  I love them.  They are the BEST product available to address hyper-pronation of the foot.  The only time Steel Cut Oats panics is when he finds himself in shoes de-coupled from his smelly green Superfeet.  That said, if you suspect your arches are flatter than a cadaver's E.K.G., visit a professional--a doctor or physical therapist--and, if they confirm your suspicion, run--don't walk--to the footwear department.  Never was a product more amply named, nor so well-suited to forging Cut Steel.

Makten, S.C.O.

Next Blog: Advanced Single-Leg Standing (The Shipwreck Chronicles)

Note: Superfeet retail for around $30---1/10th the price of the "prescription" equivalent--and are available at R.E.I.

Foot Strengthening

Question: What body part bears the burden of hundreds of pounds of stress-inducing forces, hundreds and thousands of times per/day? What part of the human anatomy contains 80% of the joints, 30% of the bones, and over one-hundred muscles, ligaments and tendons? Answer: the FOOT.... Lowly, oft-covered, sometimes malodorous, this miraculous slab is WHERE IT BEGINS. Where body meets SOIL. Yet, sadly, few recognize its importance. We take for granted the foot, fail to compass where without it we would be.... Need I mention the extensor digitorum? The peroneous brevis? The abductor digiti minimi? Pecs.... Glutes.... That's all I hear---big, glam muscles! Yet, functionally speaking, it's the unheralded and ignored--the hidden vanguard of the Podiatry Army!--which deserve top-billing.... The effect of foot-tone can't be overstated. Strong feet improve balance, absorb shock, and lessen the burden on everything superior--which is EVERYTHING!--to the bunyons. Often, I hear complaint of fatigue, of that slow, progressive "wilting" universally common among adults at day's end, and always I riposte that fatigue can be had, that it's abnormal to ache after expending little energy.

Yes, I said---LITTLE. It's estimated that on any given day the average human expends 12% of the energy to leap, lope and climb--run, romp and dash!--before hitting the mattress. This I know, for I, too, in another time's space, had less than concrete and impervious peroneals! Feet doughy, I took a pounding in the knees, the hips, as dormant digiti placed the burden above.

Then, I came around. I was in Fred Meyer, perusing tabloids, when after two hours of learning about celebrity nannies, I felt a familiar soreness in the back, a compression of knee, and it struck like a mongoose---your feet are the PROBLEM! Mush, your feet are MUSH! Strengthen the feet, I told myself, and add a kind of "bumper" to shield your Shrine. Instead of taking for granted, as MANY DO, that as we break 30 pain is the "norm," that gimpy knees, back spasms, and mounds of ibuprofren presage arthroplasty and round-the-clock care, I decided to call modern medicine's bluff. The nightly ad-sewer, blaring the message of PILLS, that you, friend, are SICK, and need PHARMACEUTICALS, to enjoy a FULL LIFE, made me feel for the duped. Apathy, a spy, consorted with Ignorance, to fool a generation. And so it began.... I, incipiently Steel, could nonetheless serve as an example of HEALTH, the Body's Natural State, and communicate to the world the fundamentals of Power.

That, friend, is history. Mine. Shortly thereafter, having toned my feet, I enjoyed the results aforementioned, and now stand for hours, on the go or in place, on feet that support the rest of my body. Indeed, if there exists a panacea, a foolproof elixir, to orthopedic problems, foot-strength is IT. Nothing is so simple, so available, so lopsided in the return/effort ratio as the endurable regimen I herein describe:

Exercise #1) Single-leg Standing---exactly what it says. Lift one foot. Ah, sounds easy. But what you'll find, when you do it, is a wobble at the ankle, a little hip-shimmy, and---tick, tick, tick....---after 10, 20, 30 seconds, an ache, that is the end of the slumber party, spreading from your arch to your heel and toes. Good, this is GOOD. The effort required to maintain the position is activating, in addition to your foot, the stabilizers of the back, muscles of the pelvis, and your six-pack-to-be. DON'T SLOUCH!! To receive all this exercise has to give, you want to lengthen the spine, stand tall, and remember your Planes of Motion (Blog 3). This exercise is a Frontal Plane stabilizer of ankle and knee, and, to prevent the hip from "dropping out," requires a contraction of the abductor minimus!! Maximus, too!! Moreover (deep breath), this baby doesn't require a trainer or gym.... When do I do it? Typically, before I leave the house--an "out-the-door" exercise--but also, subtly, when I wait in line--at the bank, the store, the soup kitchen.... I would be disingenuous were I to claim, here and now, that I eschew S-L Standing while brushing my teeth! The thing is, once you become AWARE of your feet, and accept Foot Philosophy, you'll enjoy a "stealthy stork." Watch television? Rise during ads--rise and be counted!--a minute here, a minute there. To be a Foot Soldier in the Podiatry Army requires nothing, save a commitment to strength.

Exercise #2) Single-Leg Standing with Upper-body Movement---This raises the bar. Yes, standing by itself activates foot muscles, but as your feet "turn on," as endurance increases, you'll want a greater challenge. Here, a variety of movement in multiple planes works several areas, extending from the foot to the abdominal core. To intensify muscular contraction--in the "A.C." especially--it's important to remember to concentrate movement. What movement?

1) Windmill your arms

2) Throw an imaginary ball (both sides!)

3) Shadow-box (in the Transverse plane) across your body. 4) Rapidly move your limbs up and down.

5) Shift back-and-forth, heel-to-toe.

The key--and this can't be overemphasized--is to use the full range of motion--RE-E-E-EACH!--and to remain in CONTROL. The effort to move only that which you intend to move deepens contraction and isolation of muscle. The further you reach, the greater the gravitational influence on your arms--they weigh MORE out there!--and the greater the recruitment of abdominal and back fibers, the "anchors," if you will, of the Stork Ballet.

Nice work. The foundation has been poured, it's beginning to be obvious, and you are wishing you'd known what you know now when the scholarship was in-play. For those who remember the Hamel Camel, there's still the Senior Games, and for those young of body, raring to go, you've yet another tool in Victory's Quest.

Makten, Steel

Next Blog: Over-pronation, Orthotics and Calf-stretching....