Oh, The Sarcasm Of My Last Post and A Contest

Last Thursday I wrote a post with the title 'Fall Into A Habit Of Walking'. I thought it was a funny game with words since its fall and falling into a habit of walking sounded like a really witty title. I wasn't laughing the next day. I did walk on Friday morning like I said I would. But I also did the falling part. No, not that kind of falling. But the literal Falling Down The Stairs.

I thought I got to the end of the stair case and wanted to keep walking but there was another step left and I stepped into the air and then fell and twisted my foot. I can't tell you how dumb I felt. And how painful it was. This is what my foot looked like on Friday:

 See the bump on the outside of my foot. OUCH.

I became a certified Healthy Foot Practionioner in September and know what a delicate and complex structure our feet are. Leonardo da Vinci called the foot 'a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art'. Since my feet are a good example of what our shoewearing lifestyle does to this masterpiece (think crooked toes and bunions in my case and fallen arches, plantar fascitis and calluses maybe in your case), I felt extra angry that this had to happen to me.

So even more work for me. Why more work? Because my feet were in my very own rehab even before the stupid fall. Our feet are the foundation we stand on and since I don't want to have chronic back pain and a knee replacement when I'm older, I want it to be a good foundation.

Here are a couple of exercises that I do with my injured foot to get the blood flowing and the lymph draining in there. The exerices also innervate the many small and completely underused muscles inside the foot. And these exercises are key to healthy feet in any case - acute injury or not.

I lift my big toe keeping the others on the floor. With the swelling in my foot, this is hard work. I am taking it easy.

The swelling somehow causes my big toe to adduct (turn in). Like the beginnings of a bunion.Maybe your toes looks like that?

So I spread my big toe out (abduction).

See if you can lift your big toe while keeping the other toes connected with the ground. If you can, work on lifting up the other toes one by one. If not, keep practising. For the health of your feet and your whole body. Because 'the foot bone is connected to the leg bone and the leg bone is connected with the hip bone and the hipbone is connected with your spine' and so on.

Book recommendation:
Katy Bowman (2011) Every Woman's Guide To Foot Pain Relief   
DVD recommendation: 
https://www.alignedandwell.com/shop/fix-your-feet/

Contest:

The first person who can tell me how many joints are located in each foot, wins the book. (I got some copies as part of my training so I might as well make use of them and hand them out.)