Most of us do not pay enough attention to our feet. They carry our weight and propel us through life. Our feet get cramped into foot wear, (often bad, damaging footwear). We stub our toes, walk on surfaces that may be uneven and/ or abrasive. Let’s face it, in our lifetime our feet cope a pounding.
This wear and tear affects:
- the bio-mechanics of the feet.
- causes serious ankle problems.
- this then transfers to knee and hip issues.
- and finally imbalance and deviations to the curvature of the spine.
- This imbalance to the spine will, in time, produce major back pain
- and restrictions in mobility if not addressed.
Understanding the bio-mechanics of the feet allows a therapist to look from your back pain (for example) to the cause, and investigate if some issue in your feet maybe the trigger. Often this is the case. If so, then the issues in the feet need to be addressed before the back pain can be dealt with. This may well mean a visit to a foot specialist such as a Podiatrist who will assess your foot bio-mechanics, posture while standing at rest, and gait. The solution maybe orthotics, or the identification of muscle imbalances around the ankle, knee or hip joint. It may mean a combination of all of the above to affect a lasting result.
If the issue is one of muscle imbalances then the therapist will need to be able to identify which muscles are short and tight and need relaxing. Now this is the trick… The therapist will also need to be able to identify the opposing muscles which will be long and weak and on tensile load. This will then need a special approach to massaging that will help encourage these over stretched muscles to shorten. A strengthening programme to target these specific muscles or muscle groups will then need to be compliment the therapists good work. This is truly a ‘whole-listic’ approach.
When you find yourself a remedial massage therapist who can comprehend these principles and work within such a frame work, hang on to him/her.
Their skills will help you reclaim your quality of life. Massage works.
Yours in health
Victor Solomon