Category: Uncategorised

This interview with master pointe shoe fitter, Esther Juon, and her partner in foot-rescue, Lily Ewing, is a must-listen for anyone who works with dancers.

Esther Juon and Lily Ewing are two incredibly passionate and knowledgeable dance educators who joined me in a conversation about supporting the needs of the dancers’ body. Its been a few days after recording this conversation, and I’m still thinking about it.

After this conversation, I got curious and I tested myself on a few of the pointe preparedness parameters they assess in the Juon Pointe method, and I failed miserably (you’ll have to listen to the part where Lily describes their rigorous check-list).

This episode contains invaluable information for all dance educators, health care providers, parents of dancers, and dancers themselves. I consider this interview to be mandatory listening for any dancer, and especially if you are working with a dancer who is considering going on pointe, PLEASE listen all the way through.

In fact, my favourite part of this interview was near the end when I asked Esther about why, when I was dancing on pointe, I wore through my pointe shoes in two weeks, and she told me it was because my feet weren’t strong enough for pointe. It blew my mind, because I always considered I had strong feet as a dancer. But it all started to make sense. The signs were there all along that I just was not ready to go on pointe at the time, but there wasn’t the education, assessment, and proper training available to me.

Imagine… I could have saved my parents a few hundred bucks a month if I’d just had the knowledge, awareness, and stronger feet. Oh well.

Esther and Lily spoke to me about so many important topics related to supporting the ballet dancers’ body, including:

• How training with Esther was a night and day experience for Lily, and a few success stories of how Esther’s training method has changed ballet dancers’ lives and career paths.
• The most common mistakes that lead to a ballet dancer having problems (and how to do things differently)
• Why ballet dancers tend to have lower body awareness than we think, and how to help them develop the awareness that can transform the way they move
• How to actually access your true turnout from the center of the hip joint
• How ballet goes against the way the body was built naturally, and the importance of having strategies to keep dancers’ bodies safe and healthy
• Does foot pronation have a place in dance training? Or should we train closed chain “natural” foot mechanics and dance technique separately?
• What are the mechanical prerequisites a dancer needs to safely go on pointe? A need to know checklist.
• Many, many gold nuggets of dancer training that Esther will be teaching in depth at the 2026 Pointe Shoe Summit in Singapore Aug 7-9

And much more.

Esther and Lily will be teaching all of this and more at the Pointe Shoe Summit in Singapore August 7-9 2026. You can get tickets to attend in-person and online via live streaming.

If you can’t attend in-person, please consider getting an online ticket. Go HERE for tickets and more information.

AND, in this episode there is a skill testing question, which you can answer and receive a free online ticket to the Pointe Shoe Summit. Listen and email me back with the answer to win 🙂

I hope you enjoy this interview Esther and Lily.

Things We Mentioned in this Episode:

• Act’Pointes Shoes: 3D printable pointe shoes you can customize to your feet.
• Pointe Shoe Summit

Where to find Esther online:

Esther’s Website: Juon Pointe – Safely transitioning dancers onto pointe

Instagram: @juon_pointe

Pointe Shoe Summit: www.pointeshoesummit.org

Here’s a little more about Esther Juon:

Swiss-born Esther Juon initially trained by Armin Wild as a classical dancer and with the Opera House, Zurich. Injury in London ended her dance career but was the catalyst for her life’s work in teaching safe dance practice, which includes creating a reliable system for assessing and fitting pointe shoes.

Esther was invited by Nikolas Grishko to fit pointe shoes at the famous Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow and in recognition of her contribution to the safe fitting of pointe shoes, Esther was awarded a Special Diploma by the Diaghilev Association in 1995.

Esther has published articles in ‘Young Dancer’ magazine, has written a book called Pointe Shoe Secrets, and has presented lectures at British Ballet Organisation, at regional R.A.D. courses, at the London’s Children Ballet and at various ballet schools in the UK and Ireland and New Zealand. Esther’s work has also been presented at IADMS (International Association for Dance Medicine & Science).

Esther is Founder of Juon Pointe and a member of IADMS, & ASPHA. She now works as a freelance teacher, lecturer, mentor and Master Pointe Shoe Fitter.

Where to find Lily online:

Forme website: www.formenz.co.nz/

Instagram: @forme.nz

And here’s a little more about Lily Ewing:

Lily Ewing is the founder of FORME – Pointe Development Coaching with a focus on education, technique, and fitting.

Lily’s background is rooted in classical ballet. Beginning at age three in Auckland, New Zealand Lily was lucky to learn from several inspiring teachers before training full-time at the New Zealand School of Dance (NZSD) and completing secondments at the National Ballet School of Canada and Houston Ballet School.

During her time at NZSD, Lily also participated in classes with the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Queensland Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, the School of American Ballet, and the Joffrey Ballet; experiences that broadened her understanding of ballet across different schools and stylistic approaches.

Lily was then offered a placement in the Houston Ballet professional programme.

After returning home, Lily shifted her focus to teaching, and specialised in competition coaching, RAD exam preparation, open classes, repertoire, contemporary dance (NZAMD and APDA), and Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT).

Lily is committed to supporting dancers at every level, whether they dance recreationally or aspire to a professional pathway. Her approach emphasises safe practice, clean technique, and the strength required for long-term development.

With a particular passion for pointe work, Lily trained and became certified in pointe shoe fittings and pre-pointe assessments through the Juon Pointe system, working closely with Esther Juon.

Lily now serves on the Pointe Shoe Summit Board, an international organisation dedicated to advancing pointe education and safety.

Through FORME, Lily provides comprehensive pre-pointe assessments, educational workshops, and pointe shoe fittings across New Zealand, helping dancers build strong and safe foundations for pointe work.

And if you find value in this and other Movement Detetivery episodes, please consider giving back by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack.

Marlo Fisken is a dancer and movement educator that I really admire. In fact, she is the dance teacher and movement role model I wished I had as a kid.

I am both amazed by the crazy moves she can do on the pole, (just check out her videos on Instagram) and inspired by the healthy, loving relationship she has with her body, which also shows up in her teaching philosophy (she teaches a style of floor flow emphasizing continuous movement).

I first encountered Marlo online in 2015 through my book and training program, Dance Stronger. I wanted to speak with her because I personally feel I have a lot to learn from her, not just in terms of movement but in her relationship with movement.

Her style of movement education gives permission for people in all types and sizes of bodies from all movement backgrounds (including the lack thereof) to discover (or rediscover) that movement can and should be fun, playful, weird, and expressive, and that even going to the gym can be a creative act that does not need to look like what anyone’s expectation of a workout should be.

In our conversation, Marlo and I discuss:

• Her journey getting into dance and fitness
• Overcoming toxic messaging about her body size in dance training
• The main injuries and challenges she faced in her dance career and what helped her heal and move forward
• Why play is an important concept in movement education for adults, and how Stuart Brown’s writing and other play research has informed Marlo’s work
• The value of distraction, having fun, and finding something you love while recovering from injuries
• How to “design an environment” to foster better connection with your body when you can’t feel your body in motion
• How she manages her relationship with social media for mental wellbeing
• Her thoughts on conventional gym culture and fitness routines (and why its important to give permission to ourselves to do weird things in the gym)

And much more.

Our conversation gave me a lot to think about. I can see a lot in the way Marlo relates with movement, her body, and with her teaching that I can apply to myself and with my clients. I’m inspired to try to make my sessions more playful, and infuse more fun into my own movement practice.

I hope you enjoy this interview with Marlo Fisken.

Where to find Marlo online:

Marlo’s Website: www.flowmovement.net

Instagram: @marlofisken

YouTube (Marlo): https://www.youtube.com/c/marlodancer

YouTube (Flow Movement): https://www.youtube.com/user/flowmvmt

Here’s a little more about Marlo Fisken Things

I’ve always been immersed in movement. I’ve studied dance for 30 years and taught for 18 (not counting the many full-cast dance productions crafted in my childhood living room).

I’m a graduate of the Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts (as a modern dance major), and I have a degree in Anthropology and Public Relations from the University of Miami. Throughout my twenties, I lived in NYC and accumulated professional dance credits in movies, commercials, and TV. Simultaneously, I worked the fitness scene and seized every opportunity I could to learn about the human body.

I’m probably most known as a pole dance innovator. I started experimenting with the pole 13 years ago–before there were mainstream competitions. Pole confirmed that I have a knack for circular movement and that I love bringing lightheartedness and spark to activities people tend to take (very) seriously.

Flow Movement was born out of my desire to share the benefits of fluid, creative, dance-based movement with the world. Dance doesn’t have to be complicated or intimidating, though it too often is. The Flow Movement approach invites all people to move with imagination, sensuality, and sensitivity and to become more comfortable being on and playing with the floor.

Listen and subscribe with your favourite podcast player:

So, what do I see as the #1 misconception that keeps people stuck in their patterns and pain?

You’ll just have to listen on to hear what I mean 😉 hehe.

Whether you’re a professional in the movement and manual therapy space, or you’re simply hoping to get some helpful tips, strategies, and inspiration for your own journey to moving better, I believe the information I share in this episode will be super valuable for you/

You’ll learn just what is this BIG misconception so you can identify if you’re falling for it, and I’ll also provide some practical strategies and things to play with in your approach to working with your body that may help to serve you better in the long term.

So go ahead and have a listen! Because I can guarantee that you will relate with this discussion either as a person who has been-there-done-that, or finding yourself making this mistake right now.

And while you’re at it, in this episode I ask a question, and I’d love to hear your answer to it. Ready?

Who was the last person you took advice from about something you should do to improve how your body feels, what was the advice, and how did it work out for you?

I’d really like to hear your answer! Please shoot me an email or Instagram message back. (find me @monvolkmar on IG). In particular, I’m interested in the how did it work out for you part.

Trust me, this ties into todays topic. You’ll see what I mean when you listen to the episode. I also answer the question for myself in the episode for your informational and entertainment purposes.

Here’s some of the key points what I want you to remember from this episode:

• Beware of the dynamic at play when both giving and receiving advice. What kind of advice giver are you?
• Start to get curious about what YOUR inner wisdom feels like and how it communicates with you, and play with how you can bring that knowing into your movement and manual therapy practices.
• Beware of advice on social media and remember that you are unique and what works for one person is just an N=1 experiment, and might not be the thing for YOU.
• Remember that you can also get locked into a rigid belief system when you work with your own body, and sometimes its good to let someone else be a guide
• Remember that self-realization through honest inquiry is a key component of healing the body, and this needs to be done without someone else interpreting your story for you, that wisdom comes from you
• 5 different people might have pain in the same spot for 5 completely different reasons, requiring 5 completely different solutions.
• I hope that you’ll play with some forms of connecting with you inner wisdom both with movement and in more meditative, imagery based practices.

Things mentioned in this episode:

• Os trigonum
• Book: Your Inner Physician and You
• Book: Health at Every Size
• Somatoemotional Release courses with Upledger International
• Liberated Body Program

Other Movement Detectivery Podcasts referenced:

Interview with Gary Ward

Interview with Nina Chernick

Interview with Jenn Pilotti

Interview with Jennifer Price

What are the Best Shoes? The System I Use to Find Shoes That Work for My Body

Thanks for listening 🙂 Let me know your thoughts, abuse, suggestions, and questions, and I may respond to them in an upcoming episode of Movement Detectivery.

And remember the best way to subscribe is on Substack. Not only will you get an email when I release a podcast, but I post other helpful information, case studies, and resources to help you on your journey with your body.

Nina Chernick is an Upledger Institute craniosacral therapy instructor in London, ON Canada. In this episode, Nina educates me on all things craniosacral, and I feel reaffirmed on how valuable CST is as a tool for Movement Detectivery.

Nina Chernick is one of my all time favourite craniosacral therapy instructors and I was pumped she agreed to chat with me on the podcast. I first met Nina in 2018. She was my teacher for craniosacral therapy 2 and somatoemotional release 1, and she’s been teaching with the Upledger Institute since before I could write the alphabet.

In the chance that you so happen to be studying for your Upledger CST techniques certification exam, I think this interview will be super useful (hint hint some of the content covers answers to some exam questions…)

Craniosacral therapy is a huuuge part of my practice, my sessions with clients being 50/50 craniosacral and movement. I strongly believe that receiving craniosacral therapy can help transform how you move, and I asked Nina to explain her thoughts about this in our conversation, which felt incredibly validating.

In our conversation, Nina and I discuss:

• The concept Dr. Upledger defined as an “energy cyst”, how we assess them in CST, and the impact they can have on how our bodies move
• What is Somatoemotional release? And are we really “releasing” emotions from the body?
• What is “inner wisdom”? And how do we work with it in the context of a craniosacral therapy session.
• How is craniosacral therapy working with the body with a different kind of connection than other manual therapies like massage or chiropractic?
• How craniosacral therapy can help musculoskeletal healing and lead to better movement and range of motion.
• The alarming trend of “bonesmashing” in the looks maxing community, and why it might not be a great idea.

And much more.

I really loved getting to speak with Nina and I hope you enjoy our conversation and learned a lot, too.

Where to find Nina:

Nina’s Website: Nina Chernick Manual Therapy

Instagram: @ninachernickmanualtherapy

In London Ontario and want help with your body? Book in a session with Nina

Upcoming Upledger CST courses: International Alliance of Healthcare Educators – Seminar Locator (search for Nina Chernick as the instructor for her courses)

Things we mentioned in this episode:

• Strolling Under The Skin video, by Dr. Jean-Claude Guimberteau

• “Bonesmashing” trend:

Here’s a little more about Nina Chernick:

Yonina Chernick, BA Kinesiology ’87 from the University of Western Ontario and the University of British Columbia, trained at Sutherland-Chan School of Massage Therapy and opened private practices in both London and Guelph in 1991. Since then, she has studied CranioSacral Therapy(CST), latterly training as an instructor and a Techniques Level Examiner for the Upledger Institute. With Diplomate Certification achieved in 2000, she teaches CS1, CS2 and SER1(the first, second and third levels in the core curriculum) in both North America and abroad to professionals from all areas of Health Care. Since completing McMaster University’s Contemporary Acupuncture Program, and advanced training as a Neurofunctional Sports Performance Practitioner, she has become a Senior Instructor. With a return to her sports roots, Nina has worked with several teams at the University of Western Ontario as well as been part of the medical team for numerous national and international sporting events. Presently in London, she uses CranioSacral Therapy in treating infants, children and adults. She uniquely blends the Neurofunctional approach of Contemporary Acupuncture with the whole body focus of CST to help with acute or chronic pain, concussions and sports injuries, trauma, neurological problems, learning, developmental and feeding issues, facial and oral dysfunction.

In the past couple of months I’ve seen several individuals with feet like THIS:

The above left foot is the actual imaging from one of my clients. She had a weird sportsing accident that twisted her foot when she was young and the bone got pulled into this position and no one showed her how to move back into alignment again!

Not to be confused with a bunion… This is an adducted first metatarsal, creating medial compression at the 1st metatarsal/cuneiform joint.

One of my metatarsally challenged clients has has knee pain. Another one has big toe pain. Another one has BOTH knee and big toe pain. And yet another has ankle and hip pain.

But there is hope. All of said clients have found relief by using simple foot self-mobilizations (like the ones I share in the video below) to restore foot function, encouraging the first metatarsal to move back towards the rest of the foot (abduction) and open the compressed space.

Notice the first metatarsal bone is on an angle- The distal end of the bone (closest to the toes) pointing inwards towards the body’s midline (hence adduction**). With the 1st met sitting at this angle, you can see how it closes the space on the medial side of the 1st met/cuneiform joint, compressing the area where the yellow star is.

For reference of “normal”, in the impossibly perfect illustration below, all the metatarsal bones are more or less parallel to each other.

Self-help, self-mob, self-love <3

I made an awkward video to demo two self-mobilization techniques you can get started with if you have an adducted first metatarsal that’s jamming your 1st met/1st cuneiform joint.

Give ‘er a go:

How do feet get like this?

I know with certainty that 3 of my current peeps with this joint alignment have had a traumatic injury to the area (broken bones, sprains, etc), because they told me. But feet can gradually adopt this posture over longer periods of time as an adaptive movement strategy, possibly to compensate for something else like a knee, hip, or even spine with limited movement options/injury history.

And no… Unlike a bunion, I don’t think we can blame poor, tight fitting footwear for this issue 😉

Mobilize, then Integrate

After you’ve mobilized the 1st metatarsal/cuneiform joint, it will be essential to integrate this newly won joint motion in a functional gait pattern to teach the body what to do with it whilst walking normally.

Below is an example of an exercise I did with one client:

The band is tractioning (is that a word?) his 1st metatarsal bone laterally to gap the 1st met/cuneiform joint while he is actively weightbearing into his leg, using AiM wedges to promote healthy pronation mechanics.

In a healthy pronation of the foot, the 1st metatarsal needs to ABduct (away from body’s midline), and the 1st met/cuneiform joint will gap medially (inside of the arch stretches open).

Every time you step forwards onto one foot, a natural gapping of this joint should take place, so you can appreciate how if the 1st met is stuck compressed/ADducted it will NOT be able to open when it should, putting a handbrake on pronation, and potentially a host of other coupled joint movements up the chain like knee flexion, hip flexion, and other things that need to happen when the foot pronates (which is why this one joint not moving can contribute to a multitude of body pains).

Movement-based vs. surgical solutions?

If you’ve received a diagnosis like “arthritis”, and your foot looks like the above photos, and you are getting recommendations for surgery, and you haven’t yet tried a movement-based approach sloooowwww down.

It boggles my mind that the most widely accepted solution for a jammed/adducted 1st metatarsal joint is arthrodesis, i.e. a fusion of the joint. Because the joint isn’t moving… So let’s fuse it so that it moves even… Less…? Arg. I’m sure that there are times when joint fusions are the best solution. But I would encourage folks to at least try a promote-movement-based approach before a stop-movement-based surgical approach. What have you got to lose?

If you are a manual therapy or movement practitioner and you’d like to learn more about foot mechanics in gait and these magical movement-based solutions I speak of, I will be teaching an Anatomy in Motion Module 1 seminar on Sept 22-24 2023. If you are in the Greater Toronto Area, come nerd out!

And if you are looking for help for your own body, it is important to receive individualized guidance for your body’s unique issues. This was a quick overview, not intended to be specific medical advice. Get in touch if you’d like to work together to find movement-based solutions to help your body move and feel better.

**NOTE: Some folks may name this an ABduction of the 1st met, because it is pointing AWAY from midline of the FOOT. I am choosing to use language that uses the midline of the BODY as a reference point.

Do you have stiff, crunchy shoulders from being hunched over a computer? I do. And I don’t even have a desk job… Oh god that would destroy me. I’m wayyy too sensitive.

But sitting isn’t the real villain... A lot of my cranky-shouldered desk-warrior clients tell me it seems impossible to pull themselves away from their work and stretch because they fear not being productive and even feel guilty for taking a break to take care of their bodies. Do you sacrifice body for your work, too?

While I can’t directly help you with the self-care guilt-trip, I’d like to share an exercise with you that can help de-crunchify your shoulders, and you can even do it sitting in your chair. In fact, I did it several times throughout the hour I spent editing the video and writing this blog post, and it helped me to not feel like a complete crumpled mess by the end. 

Check out this 6 minute movement exploration on Arm Spirals: 

Arm Spirals is an exercise is from the Anatomy in Motion repertoire. What makes it so unique and effective is that it emulates how our arms should rotate during arm swing while we walk. 

It also is not JUST a shoulder exercise, but a whole body pattern that brings to life how the upper back and neck need to move in coordination with each other for your arms to swing and rotate with ease in gait. It’s allllllllllll connected, and I explain HOW specifically it all connects in the video.

The first minute of the video describes how we’d like to see the arms rotate as we swing them, and the next 5 minutes is a guided movement exploration excerpt from a Liberated Body Workshop I taught in 2021 at Shift Bodywork in Toronto.

But that fear of lost productivity will probably get in your way of actually making time to do exercises like this and putting self-care as a top priority. 

FACT: You can actually only focus on a task for ~50 minutes before your brain say’s “peace out”.

A high-performance coach client I’m working with (on his feet) told me he encourages his own coaching clients to take a 10 minute break every 50 minutes. So that fear of not being productive if you take a break? It’s actually bullshit 😉 Take a 10 minute movement break. Your productivity and your body will thank you. 

What if this exercise hurts to do?

If you have pain during this exercise it is important information. Don’t ignore it.

A healthy human body should be able to move their arms like this without discomfort. Do not push through pain to do the exercise. It might indicate that you could use some specific guidance to restore pain free movement and shoulder range of motion, and I’d recommend seeing a practitioner you trust to get some individualized help. 

My main gig is working with human bodies 1:1 to get to the root of their movement limitations that keep them stuck with pain and poor performance. Get in touch if you’d like to chat about receiving custom tailored guidance on how to un-stick your body with a deliberate movement practice.

I hope you enjoy the freedom and ease in your shoulders, neck, and upper back after exploring this movement with me. Let me know how it goes 🙂

Ok, I admit, the title isn’t 100% truthful… I didn’t heal my chronic pain with Anatomy in Motion.

Rather, by studying my own body in motion using the AiM Flow Motion Model of gait, I received tools to engage in a life-long journey of optimizing movement, which has led to a gradual (sometimes painstakingly so…) liberating of my body from chronic pain.

Semantics aside, I am delighted to have been invited to speak with Anat Cohen, a yoga teacher and movement researcher in Israel, for her interview series, “How They Healed”. She asked me to share my story about how I got myself out of chronic pain and dance injuries, and specifically how Anatomy in Motion helped me.

Check out the interview here:

I found our conversation to be thoroughly enjoyable. Probably because I got to selfishly ramble on about my life and all sorts of nerdy and esoteric topics that are dear to my heart, like:

– How reframing our relationship with pain as a great teacher is a key part of healing
– How getting stronger is not necessarily going to cure pain
– How discovering and studying Anatomy in Motion was a game changer for understanding how to heal my body
– Why optimizing gait matters
– What my recent experience with foot pain is teaching me about myself in other areas of life beyond the biomechanics
– And why we need not to fear valgus knee and foot pronation

And more 🙂

Much of the work I share online, in my Liberated Body courses, my blogs and videos, on the Gram, are a dissemination of what I’ve experimented with, failed at, and learned from, in my journey of healing my own injuries and chronic symptoms.

My hope is that through my constant bumbling and failing through life, and movement, you may find some small insight into your own process of healing with movement.

Meet today’s case study: ME.

I’ve had foot pain for the past two months (since Feb 18th to be precise). It’s only in the last two weeks that I’ve been able to stand up and walk around more comfortably. I still have a ways to go for my foot to be 100% better.

Actually, “pain” doesn’t acurately describe how my foot feels. It feels like a wet washcloth that hits the floor in a heap and can’t reorganize its self, but also burns and tingles, with patches of numbness.

CT scans (ugh) and ultrasounds reveal nothing “wrong”, nor do I have visible swelling or tissue damage, so I’ve been exploring the biomechanical aspects of this issue, which my team and I suspect is probably neural inflammation.

The scariest thing about my foot situation was that my standard battery of self-assessments, which I regularly use to check in with my biomechanics, are done STANDING.

Suddenly finding myself in a place where I couldn’t stand up, I felt lost and confused about how to assess WHAT was going on with my body, and WHY I’d gotten this way.

Fast forward to March 16th.

My fellow AiM mentor and anatomy nerd pal, Margy Verba, and I decided to do a live gait and movement assessment case study (aka Nerd Out) with me as the case to be studied. We had 10 movement/therapy practitioners join in to observe and participate. It was great fun. And I learned a lot about my body.

Margy knew I had a foot problem, but I didn’t tell her that I still couldn’t stand up, which completely thwarted her plan to have me do standing assessments. Muwhahaha. But Margy’s a pro, and she modified the whole body assessment to be done seated on a stool.

It was brilliant. She even modified the foot motion and windlass assessments to be done sitting down, which I had never done before, and was impressed by the information I got from it depsite being non-weightbearing.

I’d like to share a short (2ish min) clip from the Nerd Out that blew my mind: The spine lateral flexion assessment.

Check it out:

In this clip she is evaluating my ability to hike one side of my pelvis and create lateral flexion (side bending) of my spine.

Can you see which way I struggle to hike my pelvis? And which direction I can’t flex my spine? (if you said, struggle to laterally flex left, and hike pelvis left, you are correct!)

Here’s what blew my mind: My perception of which way I could side bend more easily was not at all aligned with reality.

I thought I could laterally flex my spine left more easily, but turns out I had just found a way of cheating that movement by shifting my ribcage to the right. Can you see it? ‘Cause I couldn’t feel it until Margy pointed it out.

In fact, I’m kind of embarassed to admit it, but I was under the impression that I needed to work on laterally flexing my spine to the RIGHT! Oops.

Take a look at this photo below (a snapshot of me in the loading, or suspension, phase of gait):

Check out how my spine only laterally flexes to the RIGHT, and never gets left.

Ideally, when we walk, our spine laterally flexes from right to left in the space of one footstep (in less than a second). If we can’t bend equally from right to left, we won’t move as efficiently, and will find alternative strategies to get from one foot to the other. But over time that compensatory strategy may result in things like, oh, I don’t know… Foot pain?

This insight led me to study more deeply the nerves that travel from the lumbar spine and sacrum down into the feet.

Yes, the nerves that keep our feet alive come out of the lumbar spine and sacrum, i.e. the lumbosacral plexus.

Divisions of the femoral nerve, eminating from L2-L4, branch off into the saphenous nerve and plantar nerves, give sensory and motor information to the sole and top of the foot.

Divisions of the sciatic nerve, eminating from L4-S3 branch off into the peroneal nerves, posterior tibial nerves, and calcaneal nerves, whcih give sensory and motor information to the heel and lateral aspect of the foot.

What if the nerves of my right lumbosacral plexus, that go all the way down my leg to innervate my right foot, are being compressed all the time, perpetually smooshed by my inability to get out of a right lateral flexion of my spine?

But me being subjective and blind and thinking I needed MORE right spine lateral flexion, I could have been making the issue worse.

For better or worse, I like to try to figure things out on my own if I can. I’m just glad I asked for help before I continued to jam my spine into a right lateral flexion for a few more months…

This split between perception and reality is completely normal.

When we have pain, we typically experience a loss of proprioception (position sensing). This is why it is so valuable to have a (or a whole team of) support person(s) who can objectively tell you what your body is actually doing, so you don’t make a bigger mess of things, like me.

Getting clear on how my spine was actually moving helped me modify my movement strategies (i.e. stop hurting myself), and things have been steadily improving. It also sparked me to learn more about the lumbosacral plexus and better understand the anatomy involved in my problem.

If we don’t have an awareness of how we are organizing our bodies in movement, we don’t have a chance at understanding how to get ourselves out of the patterns that are keeping us stuck with pain and inefficiencies. Every injury and pain problem is such a wonderful opportunity to learn.

Interested in learning more connections like this? Want help making sense of gait and movement assessments so you can help yourself or your clients/patience with more confidence?

Margy and I plan to do a live Case Study Nerd Out like this every month. Our next one is May 4th, and we’ll be working with a chronic knee issue case (not me this time). If you want to join in, the link to register is HERE.