ABCs of Balance: Can't Feel Your Feet?

If you can't feel your feet, you may have a nerve problem.   Because the nerves of the feet go to the brain, you may now have a brain problem.  Everything begins in the brain; and I mean everything; all movement, all feeling, and all thoughts begin in the three-pound organ on top of your head.

The brain is quite fascinating and in it are maps to the entire body.  Messages from the brain are sent to the body parts. The brain has maps so it knows where everything is located.   Maps are like highways; the more a road is travelled, the faster you can go.  No doubt about it, practice makes perfect.

Most of us have had at least one injury.  When an area is injured, we're told not to move it. The longer a body part doesn’t move, the blurrier the map of that body part becomes. Blurry maps make the brain feel unsafe.  When the brain doesn't feel safe, movement suffers.

Your feet are critical to good balance. The brain needs good mapping of the feet for good movement and balance.   The bad news is we rarely move our toes and feet and hardly ever provide sensory stimulation to them. As a result, the brain's map of the feet is blurry.

I'm certain that there are millions of undiagnosed cases of neuropathy (nerve damage) in feet and legs because people think that burning, tingling and loss of sensation in the feet is a 'normal part of aging'.  FALSE!  Healthy nerves do not tingle. Healthy nerves need activation. You need to rub and move your feet and toes regularly.

Some nerve damage is permanent but the science of neuroplasticity shows that nerves can and will regenerate!  Get hopeful.  Move your feet.  Rub your toes.  Pay attention to how your feet feel.  Book a session with me for some sensory stimulation.

I am an input, interpretation and output specialist.  I train the sensory inputs to the brain to improve the brain's ability to interpret the information and decide what to do.  I also train body movement but if you want to move better, let’s start with the inputs.

It's how the nervous system works.  It's science.  Sensory input training can change your life.

This blog is an excerpt from new book, ABC's of Balance: Aging, Balance and Coordination.  A brain-based approach to the prevention of falls.    I will be ready the first week of June!   $29 paperback, $29 Kindle.

If you want to pre-order, leave your name and email address below!

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Foot warning: if you can't feel it, your brain can’t move it!

Our feet have 33 joints and have the most proprioceptive nerve endings than most other joints.  What this means to you is that your feet need to move.  Your brain needs to be able to move your feet and feel the different kinds of sensory inputs feet are capable of providing.

Ultimately, we live our entire life in shoes.

Rarely do people go barefoot and the result is your feet can't "feel" the different kinds of sensory sensations they were made for.  As a result, your feet lose the ability to feel sensation.  Numb feet can't feel the  surface you're walking on.

As a brain practitioner or heck, as a movement professional, let me tell you that if you can't feel it, it's hard for your brain to move it.  As a result, your brain can't move your feet very well.

People who have diabetes commonly develop peripheral neuropathy, or the inability to feel the ground and other sensations on the feet.  This permanent nerve damage is exasperated by lack of movement.  The less you move a body part, the less familiar your brain becomes with that body part. 

This is because your brain has "maps" of the body.  The more clear the map, the better the movement.  Poor mapping results in poor movement.  If you want to be stable in life and prevent a fall,  it helps to feel your feet and the surfaces underneath them.

Feet are so important for balance and prevention of falls that I spend an extraordinary amount of time re-introducing people to their feet!  We do foot and ankle mobility drills in my Brains and Balance Training classes so people can 'retrain their brain' how to move their feet again.  

Here's a great foot and toe mobility drill I learned from Dr. Cobb of Z-Health Performance Solutions.  Here's the deal when doing these brain based exercises, you have permission to be really bad when you first try these.  Your feet have been in "foot coffins" your entire life.  You haven't been asked to do this type of foot movement in ......FOREVER...... so it's only natural that this can be difficult.

In fact, don't be surprised if you can 't do them.  Your brain hasn't had to move your feet in this way in a long time, if ever, so don't get frustrated.  Keep practicing and you will get better!

The science of neuroplasticity proves that your body will re-wire and change for survival.  Feeling your feet in contact with ground, and being able to move them, is part of survival.   Have fun.  

Move those feet!  Rub those feet!
Kelly

Your Brain's Movement Maps

Your brain controls how much each joint moves.  Our joints have receptors in them that tell the brain about things like location, pressure, and temperature.  This joint-receptor input forms a three-dimensional map of the body.

This 3-D map is located in the brain and this is known as the third sensory system called proprioception.  This spatial awareness is how your brain knows where your body is in space at all times.  The better your brain's map of the body, the better your movement.

Conversely, if you don't move a body part, the brain's map for that area is "blurry".  If you were injured and didn't rehabilitate 100 percent (which is defined as the ability to move a joint in all ranges of motions at all speeds), then your brain's map of that injured area is blurry.

As a result, when your brain has to move the previously injured area, movement might be choppy, ratchety, spastic, or rushed.  These types of movement indicate poor mapping, an indication that your brain doesn't know how to move an area.

The better the brain's map of the body, the more smooth and efficient the movement.  Think about a highway.   You can go fast on well-traveled roads.  Similarly, when you repeatedly practice a movement, your body (and brain) get really good at that movement.  

Practice makes perfect but you need to practice perfect.  That's because your body gets good at whatever it does, exactly how it does it.  This is known as the SAID principle or specific adaptations to imposed demands.  You get good at whatever you do, exactly how you do it.

For that reason, you want to practice all movements in good form or your body will get good at bad movement.   Your brain's mapping of the body is dependent on many other neurological factors but for this blog, just know that all movement is planned and controlled by your brain and your brain depends on receptor input to know where the body is in space.  

Take-aways:

• Your brain can forget how to move a body part if you don't move it.   
• Practice moving each joint in all directions at all speeds.  
• The better the brain's map of the body, the better your movement