There may have been times in your past when you looked up towards the heavens in despair or perhaps seeking some friendly guidance from ‘above’. If you have ever despaired about your physical condition, specifically chronic aches and pains, or just feel decidedly physically awkward or unathletic, then you might actually stand more to gain by looking in the opposite direction.

You can try this right now for a little friendly guidance from below. Stand relaxed and natural, just how you always do, and look down at your feet. A step towards better health and fitness should quite literally be, a step in the right direction, so note where your feet are pointing.

If you want to move forward, then your feet should be pointing forward too, as should your knees. If they are not, then you might not be moving in an optimally efficient way, and lack of efficiency often means some parts of your anatomy are being overworked, while others are taking it too easy.

Tightness and weakness in key muscle groups can lead to an entire range of postural abnormalities, many of which only get worse with time.

They have the nasty habit of spreading to other joints and structures as alternative muscles begin their attempts to compensate for the problem, beginning a slippery slope towards bad posture and nagging aches and pains in the worst of cases.

Misalignment can also affect your balance, impairing your ability to participate in physical activity or sport, and increasing your risk of injury if you do. Try taking a couple of steps forward keeping a keen eye on your feet. Do they spread out into a V-shape as you walk or do they invert inwards instead? If there is no obviously apparent reason for them facing anywhere other than straight ahead, then this is something you can try to fix right away.

The next observation to be made is the lateral alignment of your feet. If your feet were aircraft flying straight ahead, they would be perfectly level, with their imaginary wings parallel to the ground and not dipped to either side as would be the case if an aircraft was turning.

You can start moving towards better posture today, quite literally, one step at a time

If the inner sides of your feet are depressed, in a state we sometimes refer to as being flat-footed, then your feet are pronating. The natural arch that occurs on the inside of the foot tends to collapse in such cases and the vertical alignment of the foot and shin bone, or lower leg, is lost.

While gait is a term generally used simply to describe the way we walk, such skeletal alignments represent the more specific factors influencing it. Supinating would involve the opposite state, whereby the majority of bodyweight is being placed on the outer sides of the feet. Pronation is sometimes accompanied by valgus knees or a ‘knock-kneed’ appearance, while supinating is sometimes accompanied by varus knees or a ‘bow-legged’ appearance. Guilty of this latter state, I was once told I look like I have been riding a horse all my life.

Considering my knowledge of horses spans little further than their tendency to slow traffic on the Valletta ring road, I was admittedly a little offended.

In their subtle forms, these opposing states can sometimes be developed or worsened by force of habit, rather than by other more serious disorders, and corrected by a little attention to detail during normal bouts of physical activity and exercise. As you walk, keep in mind both direction and alignment. Think of the aircraft in flight and consciously attempt to keep your feet level and facing directly forward. In more pronounced cases, should you be unable to accomplish this, you may need to seek professional help and contact a podiatrist or podologist, as they are also known locally.

Keeping a healthy bodyweight is the first step towards improving gait and associated postural problems, because your centre of gravity will be located in the correct space directly about your foot base. Stretching exercises will help the muscles facilitate correct movement patterns without impedence.

A basic resistance training programme consisting of functional exercises performed in a standing position will help strengthen the muscles, allowing them to do their work efficiently and cooperatively.

Balance exercises will also help strengthen the smaller muscles involved in improving gait we would not normally think of, let alone target with specific exercises.

When attempting to keep balance, the body will automatically call upon and recruit those crucial little muscles that are weak and need work. Performing simple exercises while standing on a balance board or bosu ball instead of on the floor will achieve this effect.

In addition to paying attention to your feet while you walk, spare a thought for improving your walking technique in general. Relax your shoulders , pull your belly in somewhat just enough to engage the muscles of your core and hold your head up high.

Walk a little taller and you should be walking a little better. The beauty of such simple interventions is that you can implement them pretty much any time and any place.

Most of us do a fair amount of walking throughout the day, so spending some of this time working on your health and fitness can go a long way. You can start moving towards better posture today, quite literally, one step at a time.

matthew.muscat.inglott@mcast.edu.mt

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