Foot Facts:
· Our feet are literally our foundation. One quarter of the human body’s bones are in the feet (not to mention 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles.) When these bones are out of alignment, so is the rest of the body.
· During an average day of walking, the forces on your feet can total hundreds of tons. That’s equivalent to a fully loaded cement truck!!!
· Every time the heel lifts off the ground when walking, the toes are forced to carry one half of your body weight!
The foot is one of the body’s most sensitive areas to sensory stimulation. However, the advances in footwear, orthoses, and surfaces interfere with the natural process of perception. The result: chronic overuse, impact-related injuries such as plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, shin splints, etc.
Pilates to the rescue! The Pilates Footwork repertoire provides much needed sensory stimulation for the feet. By practicing Pilates without any athletic footwear, it serves to remove perception interference which aids in stimulation. Movement is driven by this sensory stimulation - the roll of the feet around the foot bar during Footwork on the Reformer intensifies our perception of this sensory stimulation. Why is this important? Posture starts with our feet – they are our foundation and the beginning of the kinetic chain.