May 29, 2016
The disturbingly simple way to help lower back pain…
Take your shoes and socks off, go outside and walk on different surfaces of rough terrain for 20 minutes a day!
That’s it?
Yep. That’s it.
Disturbingly simple I tell ya
Walk on grass, dirt, rocks and anything else you can find that’s not flat and comfortable. The best part of this rehab program? It’s free and it works. ‘I don’t have 20 minutes a day’ you say? Well, then you have to live with the choices you make in life. Pain can be a strong motivator and at some point it always wins.
Why is going shoeless so powerful? Feedforward and feedback systems. Information comes into the brain, gets processed and sent back out for action. The bottom of the foot is a powerhouse feedback sensory system into your brain. Feet are as biologically important as the eyes, ears, nose, and hands in helping your body live safely in the world. If you cannot effeciently sense your environment you become vulnerable to injury.
The lower lumbar and sacral nerves innervate the foot. Nerves that innervate the foot are the same nerves that innervate the deep muscles of the pelvic floor and low back. You need these functioning at optimal levels to recover from and help prevent future injury. Small muscles of the lower back are segmentally related to the soles of the feet. The stabilizer muscles of the low back are designed to thrive on massive streams of real time information from the feet.
Wearing shoes are like sensory deprivation chambers for your feet and lower back. Shoes take away the ability for the muscles to self regulate sensory data which affects movement output. Walking barefoot on rough ground challenges the intrinsic muscles of the lower back to fully rehabilitate. You can never fully rehabilitate the lower back until you throw your feet into the arena. Rehabilitating your feet will turn on powerful self-corrective and self-regulating systems of your body.
What’s the easiest way to rehab on your own? Go outside with naked feet. Change the environment and you change how muscles move.? Change how you move and you can change your life. Don’t believe me? Get your ass outside and do it for awhile to prove me wrong. I know your feet will thank you for the love and attention.
You can also give your foot some sensory love with Rocktape kinesiology tape. 24/7 shock and awe input to your noggin! Place one strip of tape on the bottom of each foot with no additional stretch. This can remain on the foot for 3-5 days. You can even wear it with shoes when you have to go back to the ‘real world’ of shoe coffin conformity.
Sensory feedback from the foot will also help activate the gluteus maximus. It’s called the foot to ass connection. It’s a nice connection, when it works!
Another reason why it’s helpful? Because nobody does it.
Conformity kills your soul and your other sole 🙂
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Stay Strong,
Perry
