ON YOUR FEET ALL DAY

I had a request to discuss this topic a long time ago from one of our clinic's attendees in London. He had a job requiring all day staying on his feet and had lots of problems due to such overloading. It is not just about feet, but also knees, hips and low back, but for now we'll talk only of feet problems.

It is obvious that staying a long day on your feet has negative consequences. It is nothing new. Everybody is aware about this and can predict that it will happen one day. So the discussion will not go about this, but how to reduce and avoid these negative effects.

Let's look at this problem from the point of view of biomechanics, anatomy, physiology, psychology and mentality and see if anything could be done to help resolve his problem. On the surface it is a simple situation - a person is staying in one place, and the only one difficulty is that it is for a long time. From the point of view of mechanics there should be no complications. But it's not like that from biomechanics point of view where we have to deal with the issue of body weight location on our feet. This is really a sensitive issue influencing the whole situation.

People usually choose "the easiest" position of the body weight location on their heels locking ankles and knees to create"stability". In reality it means immobility of their joints, tension of muscles, tendons and ligaments. It brings constant pressure to the same areas, same cartilage tissues, etc. Such "stability" starts looking very costly when you consider it from this point of view. Consequently it brings some other problems. Locking joints reduces blood flow through our extremities and generates feet swelling.

Over time this condition of the feet, through our senses and perception, involves our psycho-emotional and mental systems. Feeling of constant pressure and tension in our joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments creates at first discomfort and irritation in your emotional condition which later leads to the mood changes and reaction on surrounding. At this point we receive a full complex of "I got no satisfaction".

Is there a solution? Yes, there is a solution, but you have to work to get it. Again we are coming back to the fundamentals.

• Be aware of your body weight location even while standing
• Don't lock your joints. Keep them slightly bent so that your body could slowly move around. Even metal towers are built with some range of movement possible
• Keep your body weight mostly on the front part of the foot, which involves your muscles instead of bones and cartilages in keeping the body position
• Let your body weight shift from one foot to the other and sometimes even from the front of the foot to the rear. It's OK just for a short time
• Do not stay in place as if your feet are glued to the floor. Shift your body weight and your feet constantly, from side to side, back and fourth - dance. Keep your knees slightly bent
• Shift your body weight on the side of your feet in a supinated position, on one foot or on both
• Staying on one foot, rotate another one in its ankle joint, or do it for both ankle joints simultaneously with the body weight held on the forefoot
• Be aware of how much stiffness and fatigue of your feet irritate you, changing your psycho-emotional condition and causing you a discomfort. Avoid it by anticipating it beforehand and changing your body position
• Develop time-position patterns most comfortable for your productive work
• Exercise your feet muscles and joints after work to recover them from overloading and psycho-emotional stress. Use strength, elasticity and flexibility exercises and train your changing support skills

Dr.Romanov