This video is an introduction to assessing gait mechanics from the half kneeling position for beginner-level TAOFit Method movers.
Imagine if your car alignment was “out of balance.” How many driving miles before tires, steering, and suspension prematurely wear out and need replacing? Your body is no different.
A well balanced pendulum is mechanically efficient (flow) with lower stress points at the joints (longevity). A poorly balanced pendulum is mechanically less efficient (drag) with higher stress points at the joints (wear & tear).
Something I say frequently to clients,
“Gait mechanics ARE the movements that we perform more of… than any other movement over our lifetime. If there is an imbalance in gait mechanics, then we are literally feeding imbalance (dysfunction) into our body through every step that we take.”
I use this movement series for three primary purposes:
An assessment of the relationships between the hips, spine, and shoulders related to the pendulum of gait mechanics
A juicy feeling lubrication & mobilization of the hips, spine, and shoulders related to the pendulum of gait mechanics
A movement corrective to balance the pendulum of gait mechanics (dynamic alignment)
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The “Pain Rules” is the most important lesson that I teach.
How do you move when pain is present? Follow the rules of pain
Pain is a form of communication from within our bodies. Generally, when it comes to our movement, it means that something is not moving well.
Ignoring pain is kind of like sticking one’s fingers into their ears and yelling loudly. Except, the longer one ignores it, the louder it becomes–until it eventually gets their attention.
A big lesson in the Mobility Restoration program that I teach is to simply slow down, become a little more sensitive to the conversations within your body, listen to your physical pain, allow it to become a guide or a coach to help you move better. Below are the simple “rules of pain” that I follow to move better, even when I am feeling pain.
Moving when pain is present
Begin by acknowledging that pain is truly present. This surprisingly is one of the hardest things to learn for clients (as well as myself). My ego likes to go hard, and sometimes going hard is not what my body needs. When it comes to moving with physical pain, I don’t want to move my body from my ego’s point of view.
The Rules of Pain
Rule 1: Is it Painful?
This is a very important question to answer.
The answer is either Yes or No.
If you get anything other than Yes! or No!, then keep asking the question until you get either a “YES” or a “NO”.
If the answer is No, then great. I suggest you keep reading and save this email for the next time you are in pain.
If your answer is “Yes!” Stop moving! Read the Rules of Pain (read it over again each time you’re in pain).
Rule 2: Do not move into pain, but do keep moving.
How to move when pain is present
Rate your pain on The Pain Scale of 1 – nonpainful to 10 – excruciating. (I consider slight discomfort to be between 1-3 on the pain scale).
If the pain is less than 3, Slow Down!
Enter your movement slowly, cautiously, safely, and non-forcefully.
Don’t take movement beyond a level 3 on the pain scale.
If the pain is greater than 3, Slow down, even more.
No matter how slow you go, you can always go slower).
Make your movement smaller and less painful.
Keep it below a level 3, and move slowly, cautiously, safely, and non-forcefully.
Super Important: Don’t move beyond level 3 on the pain scale!
Going slow and exploring the edges of your painful range of movement is a wonderful space to explore the depths of your breath and heart. Be spacious, playful, open, and generous with yourself.
I frequently get questions about specific injuries. Many of these are about plantar fasciitis. Here is a breakdown of one of the more common causes of plantar fasciitis.
Plantar fasciitis is a pain symptom located at the heel or plantar fascia of the foot–the thick connective tissue which supports the arch of the foot. It is often most painful in the morning with the first steps out of bed, and may be aggravated by standing, walking, or running.
Here’s the deal about plantar fasciitis
It is the diagnosis of symptoms. It is not the diagnosis of the problem. The pain may be in your foot–but the problem is not. What you will not often find in definitions or explanations of plantar fasciitis on the web is that there is a deeper issue at play. The pain in your foot diagnosed as plantar fasciitis can often be traced back up to your gluteus maximus–your butt. These days, we sit too much and our butts muscles wind up not doing much. So they basically shut down or go to sleep–they become inhibited. This is not a good thing.
Your gluteal muscles have some very important functions. They are some of the most powerful muscles in the body and are the primary reason we stand upright. The gluteus maximus is a pelvic stabilizer and powerful hip extensor. The gluteus maximus provides power when we are going upstairs, rising from a sitting position, and climbing or running.
Hip extension is your ability to stand upright. If you look at our primate cousins who still use their hands to walk, you’ll notice they have tiny butts. They also lack the ability to extend their hips into a fully upright standing position. Pelvic stability is hugely important. It provides the ability to stabilize the pelvis to our upper body, support the low back, and provide a solid powerful core. This point where your pelvis stabilizes with your upper body is where most coordinated movement is generated. If you lack pelvic stability, your entire movement system will be negatively affected. Your body demands stability. Without it, your body will find compensation elsewhere, by utilizing other muscles to do the job of those that are “sleeping,” i.e. inhibited. With plantar fasciitis, the calves are recruited to help stabilize the pelvis. This is not the work the calves are functioned to do. They don’t like it. Move like this long enough, and your calves will turn into The Incredible Hulk–they will get very angry and start to smash, i.e. tighten up and cause big hurt.
How this translates into pain in the foot
The two muscles that we call the calves (Gastrocnemius and Soleus) attach to the heel via the Achilles Tendon. The Achilles Tendon wraps over the heel bone where it then becomes the Plantar Fascia. The Plantar fascia stretches across the bottom of the foot to the base of your toes. While we may think of these muscles and tendons as separate tissue structures, you can see by the picture that these structures are not separate. They are one continuous fascial tissue structure. So you can imagine that tension in one will affect each of the others. If your calves are working overtime–doing not only their job but also the job of your glutes–they may get distressed. With this distress, inflammation and pain will eventually set in. That pain can then show up anywhere in this continuous tissue chain. When the pain appears at the heel or plantar fascia, we call it plantar fasciitis. If it happens above the heel, it is called Achilles Tendonitis or tendonosis. The irony of all this is that the calves are not the issue! If anything, they are the most functional muscle in the group–they’re working overtime, after all. It’s their relationship with the asleep at the wheel Gluteals which need to be addressed. This is where the pain in your foot is literally a pain in the butt.
Now once the pain is gone, this does not mean you are fixed. Pain is a communicator–it alerts us to an underlying problem. But it is not the problem itself. This is why the “treatments” often found online (such as this one) will only provide temporary relief; they target the symptom (pain) rather than the core underlying issue.
There is still movement dysfunction that needs to be assessed and addressed, and as detailed above, it likely originates in the hips. Strengthening and balancing movement patterns associated with the glutes is the next step in treating plantar fasciitis, and can best be done by making an appointment with a qualified movement specialist. To ignore this step places you at risk of an even more painful and serious injury at some point in the future. Finding help is hugely important in the long run for continued recovery and pain free movement.
Place The Grid foam roller beneath calves. Slowly roll from the ankles to the knees.
Using a foam wedge, press heel into the ground and actively straighten your knee. Stretch to slight discomfort, NOT pain. Hold for 1-3 minutes each stretch
