Recently I was evaluating someone for their low back pain and, as I always do, I asked them to take off their socks and shoes. The look they gave spoke like this, “dafuq 👀 🤨?”
That reaction isn’t uncommon. I get it. Especially with the existence of OnlyFans I imagine people think it’s weird that I want to look at their feet when they’re coming in for something they think is totally irrelevant to them.
Why do I look at feet when people come to me? Well, for starters, I think it’s one of the top 2 most overlooked and underestimated areas for information on how your body is functioning. The other being the ribcage.
The feet will show us a lot, but to name a couple big things they show:
- Can you efficiently absorb force (shock absorption) and/or produce force (act against gravity)
- Does your pelvis/hips have adequate rotation available- a prerequisite for any movement to occur
Both of those things directly impact the lower back. If you can’t absorb force then the shock of your feet hitting the ground will travel up through the body. Think about if you were riding a bike that had no shock system. You’d hate it.
If you can’t produce force effectively then just moving around is going to be so much more effortful and your joints will be tired.
A lack of rotation in the pelvis/hips means that you’ll have to make up for that loss somewhere else, oftentimes in the low back and the knees which ends up causing low back pain and/or knee pain.
Bottom line is: your feet tell a major story in what’s doing on throughout the body and mobilizing/strengthening them can have a significant positive impact on the health of your joints above it resulting in decreased pain.
