Barefoot training or training in limited supported shoes (for gym based clients) is another hot topic up for debate in recent months. One thing we should do as trainers is question everything science presents us; it has to be practically applicable and reproducible for clients to experience change.

 

Evidence shows with ever increasing science and technology present in our society, more and more people are suffering from increasing ailments, compensations, discomfort or pain.  Our body is designed to move; yet on average most people are in a seated or bent over position for up to 12 hours a day. Add another 2 hours of travelling on top of that and it isn’t hard to work out why we have so many problems!

Far smarter people than me have described the actions of the foot in detail and have recorded this in gait analysis books; so let’s keep this article as basic as possible. If you would like to read a great article “Functional anatomy and muscle action of the foot-Part 1”by Chuck Wolf on PTontheNet.com would be a great place to start.

 

Firstly let me say I am not against orthotics. I think that any support that helps the body over come compensations or pain is positive, especially when used in conjunction with appropriate movements. Secondly, trainers are not qualified to diagnose whether a client needs artificial supports or not; our role is to observe and assess movement. The better we become at this skill the more efficient we will facilitate change for our clients. So this article is about the 97% of clients who don’t have a structural problems; only neuromyofascial (nerves, muscle and connective tissue) dysfunction.

 

Understanding the basics of the foot and its effect on the total body will allow us to make a more informed decision. The foot has 30 joints (also add 3 ankle joints) and 26 bones. There is only one other major complex that has this amount of joints; the SPINE. That in itself tells you from a “common sense” perspective that they both have major roles in attenuating forces created through gravity, ground force and momentum. Some researchers believe that between 60-65% of back pain/discomfort comes from a lack of range of motion (poor loading/unloading) at the ankle complex.

 

To gain a better understanding of how the ankle complex functions we’ll use my good friend Chuck Wolf’s example. If we stood underneath a glass floor and looked up to see the body move forward over the foot we would see the tibia move forward  internally rotating in the sagittal plane. The talus (which sits directly below the tibia) reacts in the frontal plane and shifts sideways (calcaneal eversion); this allows a migration towards the midline of the body through the combination of these two movements (pronation) allowing transverse plane movement of the ankle complex to occur.

 

In the majority of clients due to the lack of movement or the repetitive occupational habits they have to perform (sitting, bending) the three major complexes of the body (ankle, hip, thorax) are conditioned to live in triple flexion. This creates all sorts of compensations in the above complexes. In sagittal plane movements the ankle has approx 20 degrees of movement, hip complex 110-120 degrees and the thoracic spine 72 degrees; why is it then that discomfort or pain will occur at the knee, lower back or cervical spine when these major complexes should take responsibility?

By incorporating gravity based exercises that integrate the three complexes in multi planar directions which proprioceptively stimulate the dynamic stabilizers your client will move and feel better. A simple example of an exercise of this type is a mobilizer.

Mobilizers are a way of “speaking the body’s language” - giving the body movement that it welcomes, stimulating and moving muscles that in today’s society are ignored. Like any tool in our industry unless they are used they will be of no benefit. It is up to us as professionals to experience these movements first hand before passing them on to our clients. Once we experience the “change” these movement patterns have on ourselves, understanding “why” we incorporate them into clients programs will become clearer.

 

The mobilizers can be performed at anytime. For a person who has chronic pain, mobilizers may be their whole program! By simply feeding the body good information (speaking the body’s language) a “change” in the pain levels or improved movement patterns may be initially be their goal. They are essential at the beginning of a training session to allow the body to move more efficiently in tri-plane movement, to increase communication of the major complexes and to up-regulate (enhance or activate) the stabilization mechanisms of the body.  You will be surprised at how these subtle movements increase the body temperature and heart rate of your client in preparation for the session.  They are also effective as a warm down allowing the client to leave you in their optimal functional capacity. In functional programming a mobilizer is a great way to allow a client to recover in between exercises, continuing to feed the body good information for improved movement. Whether they feel tightness, stiffness, pain or dysfunction the mobilizers help the body to move and feel better.

 

For quite a few years now (over 30 in fact!) science has told us the body recognizes movement not muscles (Bobath 1980). Every joint and muscle in your body has the potential to move in all three planes of motion; sagittal plane (forward & back), lateral/frontal plane (side to side) and transverse (rotational) plane. In 2001 Gary Gray & David Tiberio stated “…that in function there are five components the body requires to move well. These components help the body to LOAD (eccentrically stretch or decelerate) and UNLOAD (concentrically contract or accelerate) in movement; they are gravity, integration, multi-planar movement, proprioceptively enrichment, and stability”.

This makes up the philosophy of the mobilizers. It is beyond the scope of this article to further explore all these components but they will be addressed in upcoming workshops with CEF Seminars.

All systems of the body are designed to work or talk to each other. The better the communication throughout the body - the better the function of the body.  What happens at your big toe will have an effect on your shoulder and all the joints in between.

 

Hip swing-(Tri plane calf stretch)… Gently swing the raised leg from left to right, you will see the picture on the left the ankle is pronating but also notice how the hip is involved as is the thorax; even though the hands are not moving. Now the picture on the right the ankle is supinating and still the other two complexes are in involved. Try this on one ankle in bare feet around 8-10 swings and then walk…do you feel any change?

Is barefoot training or limited foot support good for you to train in? Yes…Providing the client doesn’t have a structural problem (approx 3% of the population) and you are working them within their functional threshold (what the body can perform in a safe and comfortable environment without force) it is essential to condition the ankle to move as it was designed. Failure to do this is only enhances further compensation of the entire body - is that what your client is paying you for?