Walk Sexy or Suffer

The habit that harms

If we humans" really are just big water bags consisting of 60% fluid, as people who know about these things say we are. Then have you ever wondered, as I have, why all that blood, lymph, interstitial fluid and whatever doesn't just collect in our ankles and feet?

Q: Why aren’t we all pear-shaped ?
Given that our old friend gravity likes to push everything earthward. And we have a big powerful pump situated quite near the top of our bodies but not at the bottom. How the hell does all that liquid get back up from our feet? And why aren't even more of us ...well, kind of pear-shaped?

A: Calf Pumps
Quite ingeniously, the action of the muscles at the front of your shins and your calves at the back, alternately flexing on and off as you walk. Help to massage the blood and lymph back up the body. While conveniently placed non-return valves in the veins and lymph vessels prevent it all running back down again. In this way, all that fluid carrying metabolic waste can be cleaned and recharged with oxygen and nutrients as it re-circulates around the body​

However,
yes I'm afraid there is an “however”, two actually.

However 1

• You have to use them. Sitting at a desk, in a car or on a plane isn’t using your calf pumps at all I’m afraid

However 2

• The efficiency of the calf pumps depends not only on how much you use them but on the manner or style of your walk. 

and this can cause actual harm? 
Yes!
When the calf pumps don’t work, and re-circulation is impeded then some way down the road you'll run into trouble. Get ready to say hello to;

• poor circulation
• varicose veins,
• swollen ankles,
• shin splints,
• DVT,
• restless leg syndrome,
• leg ulcers,
• impaired wound healing 
• neck and back pain

Maybe not all of them, but probably one or two. 

How exactly are we to walk in order to get the calf pumps purring along at optimum revs? 
Here’s the sequence as evolution has figured it out so far. (long version - for the short version just look at the pictures)

Stage 1
We join the walk cycle as the left leg reaches the end of its swing forward and the heal is about to meet the ground. The muscles at the front in the shin have just contracted to pull the front of the foot up. The calf muscles at the back have lengthened to allow the heel to point downward.

The fluid (lymph, blood interstitial fluid) in the leg has had a helping hand on its return journey upward by this squeezing of the shin muscles.

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Stage 2
The body’s centre of gravity continues to move forward. As the left foot flattens and spreads outward, the weight travels from the heal down the outside of the foot (the lateral arch) to the little toe. Then across (the transverse arch) to the big toe. Now the medial arch flattens also. 

At this point, the weight is entirely on the left foot. Both shin and calf muscle are active. The body’s centre of gravity is directly over the foot, and all three arches are flattened. 
(Unless you are wearing tight-fitting footwear, orthotics or some kind of fancy trainer with “foot supporting technology.” In which case your arches can’t move at all. Oops! Say hello to plantar fasciitis)

The fluid return dam is now fully locked ‘on’ and the upward pressure is building.​

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Stage 3
As the body’s centre of mass continues to move forward, the left shin bone starts to move with it. Hinging at the ankle joint and leaning forward over the foot. The Achilles’ tendon which wraps around the heal is pulled taught by a strong mechanical lever action of the tibia. The shin muscles should relax a little at this point. The muscles at the back in the calf, contract upwards even harder, away from the heal to make sure that the Achilles tendon is fully stretched. The fluid return dam is opened and fluid squeezed up the leg from the calf.

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 Stage 4 (correct)
The weight now transfers to the right leg as the body’s centre of balance shifts, allowing the left leg to move.

1. The left leg toe off is now powerfully assisted by the counter spring from the three flattened arches. (Not if you are wearing “foot supporting technology”) 
2. All that energy stored in the Achilles’ tendon is now released like a bony arrow from a bow. Lifting the heal and propelling the now weightless foot forward for another step. 
3. The swinging foot, hinging at the ankle joint should now hang, toes down as,
4. both calf and the shin muscles fully relax, 
5. releasing the fluid return dam and allowing powerful upward flow.

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That's it, a beautifully engineered cycle which has been perfecting itself over a few million years. Muscles at the front and back of the shin flexing and relaxing alternately in perfect synchronisation with each other. And the real marvel is that we don’t even have to think about it. Because as usual, the intelligent nervous system has written a self-running program. (see engrams blog for more details on how this works)​

What does it look like when it goes wrong?

The good news is that for most people its all good until stage 4. (If you discount the “foot support technology” believers) 

The parts that tend to go wrong are the five actions in stage 4. ​For your convenience, I have numbered and highlighted these in Red above, and below here:

 Stage 4 (in-correct)

1. The toe off just doesn’t happen. The foot does not hinge at the ankle and stays at 90º to the leg.
2. The energy stored in the Achilles is not released
3. The swinging foot doesn’t hang down, 
4. The shin muscle doesn’t relax. In fact it squeezes even harder to contain the energy stored in the Achilles that wants to propel the heal forward and the front of the foot groundward!
5. And the fluid return dam is never released.

Do you recognise that walk?
If you do, you might think that all you have to do is stop walking like that, but it’s a habit so it may not be that simple. Remember what I said a few paragraphs ago about the amazing program that orchestrates this myofascial symphony of movement. Well, it may be that over the years of walking like this your program has become corrupted and if it has then it’s likely that the bug will have spread to some of the other programs which move you too.  

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Foot Judder Test
Here’s a test you can do now to see if your calf pump program has a bug in it. I call it the foot judder test.

Sit with one leg stretched out in front of you. Calf muscle resting on a chair and foot over the edge, so the heal is free to move. 

Flex the front of your foot up towards your head, hinging at the ankle as far as it will go. Now, slowly release the foot so that the front moves down and away from you again.

Was the movement away, smooth and even, or did your foot judder and shake as the shin muscles tried to release? If the later then you have a bug in your program. The shin muscles have forgotten how to let go in synchronisation with the calf muscles switching on. 

Don’t panic its fixable! 
I’m going to give some great exercises to help you debug your system at the end. 

How does it all go wrong?
How does the human gate pattern that has evolved over several millions of years to carry us over all the inventively difficult kinds of terrain and climate conditions that Mother Earth can throw at us, go wrong? Here, in the 21st century of all places!

We have ergonomically designed ffootwear​ (I think I mentioned that already, yes?) to support our arches and cushion our footfall. We’ve perfectly flat pavements to walk on and automatic stairs to ride on! We don’t have to “read” the ground ahead, looking out for tiger or bear footprints. Or climb over rocks and tree stumps where snakes and scorpions might be hiding. 

No! We’re done with all that nonsense! 

Nothing stops 21st century person getting where she or he or none binary gender type person want’s to go, and in a hurry if necessary
...... in a hurry even if not necessary
…....in a hurry even if we have to stomp and barge through all those other hurrying people trying to get in our way.

Oh! ........wait.........so you’re saying?.............


........Yes!

Getting the calf pumps working correctly with the relaxed shin release phase, as the leg toes off and swings forward is very difficult. Especially if you walk fast, stomp, barge, bustle and hustle……! ​

Why? 
Well, its to do with the fact that if you walk fast, you aren’t walking sexy. And as WALK SEXY OR SUFFER ​​is the title of this blog, I’ll definitely tell you why walking sexy is essential. ​

Why we can’t walk properly any more?

1. We’ve flattened everything!
Walking most of the time on perfectly flat surfaces, (as most urban dwellers do), does not present the opportunity for the ankles to be moved through their full range of motion. So in a “use it or lose it” kind of way, they eventually become stiff and incapable of hinging as they can and should

2. Boots (sexy or not)
It's also challenging if you wear boots that come up over the ankles. Because even if your ankles can bend, a tight leather sleeve keeping your feet at 90º to your leg doesn’t let them​ 

​



​​NO!

​ABSOLUTELY NOT!!

3. Flip Flops!

“Ah! That’s ok I hear you say because I only wear boots in the winter. In the summer I wear flip flops.”

EVEN WORS !

Because to keep flip flops from falling off, you have to grip with your toes and not let your foot point downward at all. 

4. Walking fast is not walking sexy and here’s why!
Try this experiment and see.
Stand with the weight equally divided between the two feet. Then without doing anything else, lift your right leg.
You fell to the right huh?
To stand on one leg without falling over, we have to first shift the centre of balance so that it’s over the standing foot.

1. We can do that like this…….

….and some unfortunate people who have arthritic hips which don’t allow full movement in the joint do have to walk like this. They’re the ones that you can’t get past when you are behind them on a narrow pavement.

Or...

​
2. We can do it like this……..

I’ve drawn this as a sexy Brazilian, Carmen Miranda type person, to show how it's possible to swing the pelvis sideways to bring the body mass over the standing leg without having to lean sideways. Thus taking up all the pavement or spilling the fruit that you are carrying on your head.

​Also, that’s who I visualise myself to be when I really want to strut my stuff. 

Hey, you can make up your own avatar, but she’s mine ok? 

Assuming that your hips work as they were designed, then, like it or not, there is a little pelvic swing inherent in a balanced human walk. It seriously doesn’t have to be Carmen Miranda, but a subtle shift across to the standing leg is necessary. Without the shimmy, you are falling from foot to foot, not walking. 

When we walk fast its very difficult to get the pelvic swing, there just isn’t time for it! This style of locomotion bypasses the psoas muscle (more on this in a later blog) and is hugely energy inefficient. It will send a percussive shock wave up through your stiff body with every heavy step that you take. And your joints, cartilages, muscles, connective tissue, will eventually, let you know that they’ve had enough.

Slowing down a little allows time for the pelvis to move your centre of gravity over the standing leg. The swinging leg no longer needs to find the ground as quickly as possible to prevent you from falling. The leg can relax. The foot can be ‘placed’ softly on the ground and can adjust to whatever surface it meets. If you suddenly notice something dangerous or unpleasant under your foot, you have the time and balance between stepping somewhere else. 

The pelvic swing also sends a gentle and very beneficial wave up through the spine, keeping it supple. The counter torque helping to power your next step.

Kicking that habit

FIXIT EXERCISES
Ok, enough What’s Why’s and How’s, on to the Fixit part. For those of you who stayed with me thanks for the company. For those who skipped straight here, hello again, let's get down to some practical stuff. 

1. Foot Judder correction
With your leg over a chair or lying on a table, foot hanging off the edge. Take a moment to see your ankle as the fulcrum of a see-saw. The front of the foot with the toes is one half, the parts of the foot behind the ankle, the big heal bone is the other half. As the front moves up, the back moves down and vice versa. ​

Now flex the front of the foot up and hold it there. Imagine the Achilles tendon as a big, thick, powerful elastic band which is now fully stretched. All that potential energy stored in it eager to pull its half of the see-saw (the heal) back up towards the head.

Now, allow the heal to be pulled up towards the head by the Achilles’ tendon.

You don’t have to use any force at all. Just let the elastic Achilles pull the heal back up, and the toes will tip downward as this happens.​. ​

Slowly repeat the sequence. Concentrate on using just the stored energy in the Achilles to lift the heal. Gently stroking the back of the calf upward as you release the Achilles can help with this visualisation. 

Practice this for a few minutes each day. After a week or two (probably sooner) you will notice that the foot no longer judders as you let the toes point down. Combine this with a new walking style (see below) and bingo! you’ve rebooted (excuse the pun) your calf pump program​
​

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2. Getting the 'sexy' back into your pelvis
This next exercise is like performing an ultra, ultra slow motion walk but with just one leg. It aims to break down the step pattern to its tiniest individual components. The slow, repetitive movements of Tai Chi, when done with present moment focus are exceptionally good at rapidly reprogramming aberrant muscle memory and building new, more helpful sense memories.​

Tai Chi stepping (almost a meditation)

First, slow waaaaay down. 

Throughout this exercise always try to use this sequence

1. Let the mind imagine the movement, 
2. Let energy* follow the mind 
3. and finally let your body follow the energy*

(*Energy here can be whatever works for you; a feeling of weight, of fullness, an electrical charge, golden light, molten jam…….whatever :)

For this demonstration we will step with the right leg and the left leg will remain planted on the floor. Once you have it this way round you can repeat on the other side.

(1) Standing with your feet hip-width apart and slightly turned out. The weight equally distributed between both feet. Imagine the head suspended from a hook, gravity taking the weight of the body downwards. A line which we will call your ‘central equilibrium’ (CE) hangs down from this hook. It travels through the centre of your skull, neck, torso and pelvis, exiting through the perineum to meet the ground midway between your two feet. Just in front of the two inner ankle bones. 

(2) Begin to imagine the weight more in the left leg. Let the leg fill with energy and weight as you slowly move your line of (CE) across to the left.

Your pelvis has now shifted across to the left, and you have a feeling that you could lift your right leg without losing your balance.

(3 & 4) Slowly bend the right knee and peel the right foot off the floor. Heal first, toes last. (to save space I'm not going to write this for every movement but try to remember the sequence MIND, ENERGY then MOVEMENT for each stage)

Let the right leg swing forward, knee first, toes down, everything below the knee relaxed as the leg swings.

(5) Just before the foot lands flex the front of the foot up and gently place the heal on the ground, no weight.

(6) Then the outside of the foot, then the ball and the toes until the whole foot is touching the ground. Still no weight.

(7) Now pour weight into the right leg. Feel the CE line move forward and right. Feel the pelvis moving right and the head of the femur moving in the hip socket. Feel the three arches of the foot flatten as the weight moves entirely over the right leg. 

Feel the pull upward on the left heal but try to keep the left foot flat and relaxed on the ground.

Pause 

(8) Begin to move the CE line back and to the left, so that weight returns to the left foot. Keep the right foot on the ground until you feel an elastic pull on the leg. 

(9) Let the right foot come off the ground, heal first, toes last. 

(10) Allow the relaxed leg to swing back feeling for the ground behind you with the toes. Let the toes land, no weight. Then the whole foot, heal last, still no pressure.

If you are in the habit of falling onto your foot when you walk. The slight pause before the weight goes on to the foot each time may be surprisingly difficult. Persevere, it will get easier. We are trying to break a habit here. We want the weight transfer to become a conscious decision rather than a necessity.

(11) Once the weight is fully back on the right foot, you are ready to begin the cycle again with the next step forward. (12,13,14…)

This one isn’t an overnight fix, but it’s an excellent meditative way of coming back into your centre and your ground. I’ve been doing it almost every day for 40 years and am still discovering new layers. New places of holding, little corners where energy hasn’t been for a while. ​
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Finally, 
as you walk to work, school or the shops today, take an internal look at your hips:

• Do they sway a little?
• Does your spine allow a gentle wave to travel up to the neck?​
• Are your ankles relaxed, do your arms swing? 

Look at some of the people around you. Notice how some seem to express movement from head to toe in a flowing wave. Whilst others carry a motionless torso on stiff legs with unbending ankles. Which are you? 

• Try slowing down a little, relax the ankle of the swinging leg, letting the front of the foot hang down? 
• Maybe imagine a light, relaxing breeze blowing between the two bones in the lower leg as it swings forward. ​
• Or Imagine you have a long, luxurious tail which swings heavily from side to side with each step

As always I am grateful to receive your comments and feedback. Especially if anything in this blog has been of particular help to you. I am also happy to hear opposing views and opinions but please keep it polite and respectful. ​

Watch this space for more Movement Habits That Harm and How to Kick Them

• Big bad belly breathing 
• Walk sexy or suffer
• Engrams, why we are not robots
• They fuck you up, your shoes
• 2 inches taller 
• How to get a reeeally bad back
• Don’t be a tight ass 
• Who stole my core?