Also called “shoe inserts,” these alter the natural function of feet.  They add height through the heel which throws off your falling line meaning you will have to compensate from the ground up to keep standing upright.  The stiffness of the device removes elasticity of feet too.  While there “can be” clinical reasons for orthopedic orthotics made by a podiatrist, the notion that you as a consumer can just buy inserts off the shelf and slap them in your shoes to “fix your feet” successfully is highly unlikely.  These foot beds or shoe inserts just treat the end symptoms—not the root causes.  To get a “step ahead,” you need to find out why your foot has collapsed or hurts in the first place! *For more foot facts and shoe info, see my Products Section.

I was reminded about the EXTENSIVE connectivity of fascia tonight. While doing some abdominal strength curl ups–I felt a painful pull in the bottom of my right heel near where I have struggled with plantar fasciitis in the past. Indeed, fascia is everywhere in your body. It’s actually all connected. Think of fascia as just “one piece” that wraps in and around everything–muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc. To simplify, if you have every skinned a chicken and noticed that “white stuff” connecting the skin to meet–that’s fascia.

I’ve done drills demonstrating the massive connection of fascia systemically with people where I go into a slight back arch while placing one hand against the wall to steady my stance then I slowly and carefully draw circles with my overhead index finger. I have a client place a finger on the outside of my ankle on the same side as the finger that is circling over my head–and they can feel the fascia pulling all the way down into my ankle! Anyway, after my “foot” hurt from my “back” stretching, I hopped up and used my FootLog to ease the restrictions on the bottom of my foot. I got back down and returned to my “abdominal” work, and guess what? Very little strain on the bottom of my foot. Tight restrictive fascia can create havoc in the body and with movement, so getting your body fluid and less restricted is important. Fascia is pretty important and quite fascinating as a connection throughout the body, and once again, the FootLog is a great tool for foot health too as it helped to “release” some added tension along the bottom of my foot tonight.

I went trail running with my ultraendurance friend and Badwater Ultramarathon veteran Kim Budzik this morning–spiritually of course since she’s in Texas, and I’m in SoCal. For some reason, I thought about Kim descending from my steep and steady trail run as I loped past and amongst the black butterflies with orange-tipped wings, green grass from a recent and LONG overdue rain, and the small groups of people hiking and riding. I ran more relaxed today because I was able to come up right behind people without them even hearing me…soft feet, soft breath, relaxed unforced gait, and as my old ultrarunning mentor Eddie Lujan used to recommend to me years ago before he passed away…just slow down and enjoy your running. My left Achilles got a little tight at one point, but I relaxed and stayed the course, stretched out at the end, and am good to GO.

So thanks Kim. Thanks for your spirit for running and your smile over the years at Badwater. Here’s for Kim and the many friends over the decades I’ve met through endurance. See you on the trail…RJ