We spend so much of our time in shoes and socks that we are forgetting to let our feet really stretch out and feel the ground that is beneath them.
Being In Covid Lockdown has meant I have spent more time than ever walking around the garden and house barefoot, and not only has my yoga balance postures got more stable but my crooked toes have straightened out and I have gone up a whole foot size!
The soles of our feet have as many as 20,000 nerve endings in each foot! This is without counting all the nerve endings in the muscles and joints that surround our feet. The feedback from these nerves helps us to maintain balance, it affects our gait, posture and alignment and lets us know about the terrain under our feet.
When our feet are free to really feel the ground they know when they need more grip or when to tread more lightly over shaper, rockier ground. The muscles that surround our feet get to be strengthened.
Our feet operate in a very similar manner to the muscles of our core; if our core muscles are weak then our foundation becomes unstable and so to compensate we start to overuse certain muscles which leads to pain or injuries in our pelvis, hips, knees or lower legs.
If the muscles surrounding our feet are not adequately strengthened then it cannot provide the base of support that our bodies need nor will it be able to maintain a balance foot -strike and push-off during walking and running. This can lead to foot problems and also pain or injuries in our ankles, knees and hips.
Yoga is fantastic for increasing the awareness of the sensory feedback from the nerves in the soles of the feet to the brain. It is also fantastic for strengthening the muscles of the feet through all the standing asanas.
The yoga balance postures on one leg train the muscles in the arch of the foot since the big toe and little toes need to ground down into the earth while pulling towards the heel allowing the person to balance on one leg. This in tern strengthens the arch muscles preventing an arch collapse which can lead to knee, hip and pelvis problems. This is supported by “The foot Core System Study” printed in the British Medical Journal “ the short foot exercise can be viewed as a foundational exercise for foot and ankle rehabilitation….4 weeks of short foot exercise training in healthy
individual’s reduces arch collapse… 4months of barefoot walking and running the shortened foot is an indirect measure of foot strengthening as it indicates a raising of the arch”.
There is also increasing evidence to show that Barefoot Grounding also allows for the transfer of electrons from the earths surface into our body which helps reduce inflammation and lesson pain and I know I feel great when my toes slide into cool grass or warm sand so maybe this is the reason behind it….and if not I love it anyway!
There are many articles showing the benefits of grounding but here are a couple to get you started…
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31831261/