Muscular Balance Begins in the Feet
The foot is an anatomical wonder: with 26 bones, many joints, over 100 muscles and ligaments, tendons and fascia, evolution has clearly produced a remarkable functioning unit of strength and elasticity. In connection with the nervous system and the overlapping cranial muscle groups, the foot forms the prerequisite for an erect body and thus the free use of one’s hands.
The basis for the successful functionality of the highly complex entity known as the “foot” is steeped in tens of thousands of years of constant stimulation of the foot’s muscles. Always having to adapt to surfaces that are uneven, hard or soft required a continuously adjusting response from the foot muscles.
The majority of people in central Europe have been wearing shoes for less than 200 years; almost all the surfaces on which we walk have been completely flat for less than 50 years. Parquet, asphalt, concrete - this is isn’t common to us!
The foot muscles of civilized people are barely stimulated. Motor commands that would have to start from the foot are greatly reduced and stunted. This results in a degeneration and dysfunction of the entire musculoskeletal system.