Anatomy of the Forefoot: What’s Healthy and What’s Not

Your forefoot consistently takes a beating, but nature designed it to handle it. Mess with nature’s design, however, and problems like hammertoe, flat feet and calluses can crop up. The Bones Your forefoot contains two sets of bones: the phalanges and the metatarsals. The phalanges are your toe bones. Your big toe has two phalanges

What You Need to Know about Your Feet: The Joints

Whether you’re walking, running or simply standing, your feet need to make subtle or not-so-subtle movements to keep you balanced, stable or moving forward. Such movements are only made possible through your feet’s multiple joints. Each foot contains 33 joints. Some of them, such as your ankle joint, are incredibly mobile. Others are only capable

What Happens When You Walk: How You Save Energy

Efficiency can refer to your body’s ability to achieve the highest level of performance with the lowest risk of energy. Here’s how your body ensures you have it when you’re walking.  You not only eventually learn to walk without giving your gait a second thought, but you learn to do so efficiently. This only comes

What Happens When You Walk: Foot and Ankle Stability

You know your ankles and feet play an important role in your ability to walk, but you may not be aware of the incredible array of adjustments they actually go through. Read on for a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes action. While there are many components that play a role in the gait cycle, none may

What Happens When You Walk: Muscle Movements

Muscles are a must for walking, but you may not realize just how complex and intricate their motions can be. Check out the variety of muscles and their movements that make the gait cycle possible.  Taking a step would not be possible without the extensive lineup of muscles that help ensure you can effectively move

What Happens When You Walk: The Role of Fascia

You already know how important your ankles, feet and muscles are for walking. But there is one more element without which you wouldn’t be able to take a single step. That element is fascia. Check out its vital role in the gait cycle.  Our previous posts on the gait cycle gave you a general overview,

What Happens When You Walk: Gait Dysfunction

Your body coordinates so many elements to take a single step. If one of those elements is not functioning properly, it can effect your gait cycle as well as your body as a whole. Read on to find out how.  As you learned through our series of posts on gait, an incredible lineup of elements

What Happens When You Walk: Gait Cycle Overview

While walking may seem as simple as putting one foot in front of the other, your body’s working hard during each and every step. An overview of the gait cycle makes that evident. Check it out!  A lot can happen in a single second, which is how long it takes you to complete a full

Efficient Movement: Do You Have It?

Efficiency is one of those buzzwords that’s become a big deal in the world of automobiles and appliances. But it’s also a big deal when it comes to your body’s movements. Efficient movements lead to top performance while inefficient movements can result in poor performance and even injury. What It Is When it comes to

Barefoot Training: How Healthy Feet Create a Healthy Body

Grabbing a pair of minimalist running shoes and heading for the trails may sound like a good example of barefoot training, but it’s not. Barefoot training is actually based on barefoot science, and once you hear the word “science,” you can expect things may get fairly complicated. We’ll try to keep it simple with a