Yoga for our feet: The preservation of foot mobility

Have you ever heard someone say “If your feet hurt, everything hurts.”? I know it can definitely feel that way. But somehow, we don’t often hear or read about maintaining foot mobility and flexibility until they begin to hurt regularly. After a day filled with unplanned walking and not wearing appropriate footwear or training in shoes that were too narrow, wide or didn’t offer the right amount of support, the day ends with some sort of limping home, kicking off those shoes and possibly a foot soak. Just like muscle soreness that occurs a day or two after an unusually intense workout, feet can experience the same sensation. And just like muscle and joint tightness that occurs in the body after that intense workout where we will perform mobility exercises to warm up before the next workout, the same should be said for training our feet. But how many of us actually perform mobility exercises specifically for the feet? I can bet very few do.

Anterior Foot Stretches

1. Sitting on heels with toes pointed. If this is too much on the knees, place a blanket or other cushioning between the knees and seat.

2. Lift knees from the floor, with hands on the floor for support or arms extended forward to add more core involvement. Hold for a few seconds, lower and repeat 3-4 times.

3. With hands on the floor, engage the core, press away from the floor and lift hips with weight resting on the tops of the feet. This is an advanced move. Hold for a few seconds, lower slowly and repeat 3-4 times.

Without being too anatomy heavy, the feet are a complicated interwoven structuring of bones, joints, ligaments, muscles, tendons and fascia designed to create what I like to call “active stability” at our foundation. The structure of our feet allow for movement in all directions, create cushioning for impact and stability for balance among other things. Humans are bipeds (ambulatory on two legs) and though having strong legs is helpful in locomotion, if the feet cannot create a stable base or move freely, any locomotion where the feet are involved will be impaired. Because of the complicated structure of the feet, creating and maintaining its mobility is possibly more of an intricate task.  Here, I only address a few stretches that cover the anterior (top or front of foot) and the anterior (bottom or back of foot), in areas of the feet that feel particularly tight in the mornings when getting out of bed, when walking or running or hurt after wearing high heels or narrow foot wear. 

Posterior Foot Stretches

1. With toes tucked under, sit on heels. This is an intense stretch for the underside/bottom of the foot. Sit upright with shoulders over the hips. Hold for a few seconds and breath, shift forward and repeat, holding for a longer duration each time. Repeat 3-4 times.

2. With toes tucked under, shift back and lift the knees. Hands can stay on the floor for support or arms up to engage the core to balance. The top of the thigh is parallel to the floor. Repeat 3-4 times holding for a longer duration each time.

3. Folding forward (hands on blocks if hands do not touch the floor), with one leg straight, bend the other knee and role up the the ball of the foot, placing weight on the ball, care full to not roll out to the toe side of the foot. Hold for a few seconds. Switch to the other foot. Repeat 3-4 times each foot, holding for a longer duration each time.

As our bodies age, starting at around middle age (45+ depending on how active you are), mobility begins to reduce making the addition of mobility exercises for all areas of our bodies necessary, not just the usual places such as hamstrings and lower back. Lack of mobility in our feet can change our gait (how we walk) and our stride length (less efficient ambulation). It can also lead to foot pain as well as other parts of the body due to the need to compensate for or adjust other areas from the reduced freedom of movement in the feet. As our literal foundation, performing yoga for our feet is a way to ad longevity and preserve our ability to maintain physically activity and ensure a healthy quality of life . 

Black women, High Blood Pressure, Heart Disease: What We Don’t Know is Killing Us.

Black Women, High Blood Pressure, Heart Disease:

What We Don’t Know Is Killing Us.

The larger population of black women are unaware of the risks that cardiovascular disease (CVD) poses. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), only 36% of black women are aware that it is our greatest health risk and our number one killer. One of the known leading risk factors to CVD is hypertension or high blood pressure. Of the 36% who know, few are taking the necessary steps to reduce these risks. Thanks to the corona virus pandemic, normal day-to-day activities have been dramatically altered or reduced, stress and anxiety levels as well as sedentary behaviors have increased; risk factors that can trigger a cardiac event. In addition, annual check-ups where doctors will check for signs of risk factors, have also been neglected.

We all hear that having high blood pressure is bad. What isn’t as well-known is how having high blood pressure impacts overall cardiac health. The American Heart Association states that “58% of black women in the US have high blood pressure and death from high blood pressure-related causes are nearly double that of white women and more than twice the rate for Hispanic women.” There are a number of reasons that exist for having high blood pressure, ranging from salt sensitivity to family history. However, behaviors which contribute to high blood pressure such as unhealthy eating habits, remaining sedentary and being overweight or obese, can be self corrected. Participating in physical activity, making changes to dietary habits and taking steps to reduce stress are a few examples. Several studies have expressed that estimated cardiovascular benefits from interventions and modified behaviors can completely eliminate hypertension or uncontrolled hypertension from the population. And yet studies also show that black women are less likely to participate or make these changes. Why is that? Awareness and knowing your numbers may be key to altering perceptions of the impact of CVD.

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What exactly is blood pressure and the importance of knowing your numbers

The phrase “Know your numbers” has become part of the lexicon when discussing CVD and heart health. I conducted a random survey with a few of my female friends and colleagues and asked 2 questions, “What is high blood pressure and why is having high blood pressure bad?” Everyone knew a little something but most did not know the critical reasons why high blood pressure is a catalyst to CVD. 

Blood pressure is an important diagnostic tool used to detect possible risk factors. Blood pressure measures the force of blood passing through arterial walls, determining the diameter and elasticity, and with which the heart needs to push it through the circulatory system (aorta, ventricles, arteries, veins and capillaries) to complete a cycle. For most adults, normal blood pressure is defined as 120/80 (systolic/diastolic) with at risk for high blood pressure and high blood pressure 120-139/80-89 and 140/90 respectively. This emphasizes that knowing your numbers becomes important in managing CVD risk. Overtime, high blood pressure can cause damage to arterial walls by weakening them and/or causing aneurysms which can lead to strokes. Think of this as a rusting pipe that begins to wear down overtime and eventually bursts causing a massive flood. Also, the narrowing of the walls caused by a buildup of plaque deposits, reduces elasticity and restricts blood flow. This stresses the heart, requiring an increased workload to move the blood, eventually wearing it down and possibly resulting in a heart attack. Knowing your numbers can determine whether you are at risk for heart disease and dictate how it should be managed. Understanding blood pressure in addition to knowing the numbers that define it, helps guide decision making and behavioral changes necessary to manage it as well as preserve and extend life.

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Lack of Awareness in Communities of Black Women

As cardiovascular disease is the leading killer of black women, factors like an inherent distrust of the medical community based on historical cases like the Tuskegee experiment and/or receiving unequal and often biased treatment from medical professionals when seeking care. When our blood pressure is taken with high results, recommendations for management often come in short form; that the patient should exercise more, that they should eat better and depending how high the pressure is measured, placed on medication. What does exercise more mean? What does eat better mean? A next step would be to not only recommend these changes but to educate these patients on what these changes mean. However, so much can be done in one medical visit and why it is so important to find ways to spread awareness because the numbers suggest that current efforts have not been as effective in communities of black women. The need for advocacy dedicated to these populations by persons who look like themselves (#RepresentationMatters) can provide a lifeline when it comes to educating and bringing awareness to the black community in an effort to mitigate future risks. 

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What’s next?

High blood pressure and its implications are preventable or manageable. Scheduling a medical check up to learn your number and behavioral and lifestyle changes are good first steps. Education which promotes ways to make small changes to diet, like increasing servings of fruits and vegetables, eating foods low in sodium and saturated fats, as well as adding regular physical activity can effectively reduce high blood pressure and CVD which leads to death in so many black women. Learning how to modify behaviors to other known risk factors that contribute to high blood pressure like smoking, alcohol consumption, stress levels and inadequate sleep should also be performed. Also purchasing a personal blood pressure monitor for home use between doctor visits is a way to be aware of and be active in developing and maintaining healthy heart habits. The hope is in building more awareness of high blood pressure and its effect on heart disease risk in black women and how the prevention and mitigation of these risk factors will ultimately decrease the mortality rates through cardiovascular disease.