Barefoot Running Magazine - Issue 10 (Autumn/Winter 2013)

Page 73

he story so far… In the August Edition of Barefooot Running Magazine, John Woodward contributed a well-received article about the use of the Alexander Technique on the Natural Running Courses. John emphasized the order or priority in the necessary neuromuscular re-patterning that needs to happen if you want to run barefoot and free – injury free that is. Says John… In my last article I suggested three key aspects of running naturally: 1. 2.

3.

You have to be more aware, attentive - i.e. mindful You need to develop an intelligence and skill in learning how to use the Body Sense efficiently Success requires changing ingrained habits.

Proprioceptive Prowess Establishing the right priority involves attending first to the neuro-side of things in any attempt at neuromuscular re-patterning. This must draw in the all-important Body Sense. This is how to get smart before you get strong. There is a distinct skill-base in developing the use of this sense. The sense has another older name: the proprioceptive sense. This name derives from its key importance in the sense of ownership (‘propriety’) of one’s own body. This helps to bring out the fact that this important sense underpins the sense of one’s ‘Self’. You do have to change the way you use yourself when you run barefoot.

Two springboards into the same pond: There are two springboards from which to dive into the same pool. Emphasizing the neuro- in ‘neuromuscular re-patterning’ is a more science-based way into the pool and it draws upon powerful insights from the growing field of neuro-plasticity. The other springboard into the pool is a more ancient psycho-spiritual one: it concerns the mindfulness or self-observation that underpins selfwork and self-knowledge. It becomes a matter of individual preference

whichever springboard you prefer. Either way, you swim in the same Quantum Soup! If you’ve dived in off the science springboard the work will engage with neuro-science’s newly named ‘intero-ceptive sense (aka the “Body Sense”!). If you’ve leapt in off the mindful springboard you will engage the Body Sense as the core of all self-knowledge. In this article I want to take you deeply into the labyrinth of neuro-muscular re-patterning, or mindful action. I am going to take you through a practical Natural Running procedure, one that involves a highly detailed and site-specific foot function. As this engenders a whole-foot action, this is then woven into a holistic head-to-toe integrity to form part of re-learning and re-patterning of a natural stride sequence.

Disabling the Foot Knuckle An alien intelligence examining us from outer space might be forgiven for thinking that the modern shoe (that is until the recent minimalist shoe revolution!) is a device designed to systematically disable and deactivate the Meta-tarso-phalangeal joint (MPJ for short) in the foot. I refer to this key joint as the “Foot Knuckle” joint to draw attention to the similarity of this joint with the knuckle joint in your hand. It is, however, not at all as obvious as the knuckle joint in your hand but in terms of a natural running action, it is far more important. Degrading and disabling this joint causes two massive obstacles to

Barefoot Running Magazine

efficient natural running: 1.

2.

If this joint can’t work properly the foot must leave the floor prematurely when we walk or run. We will see why shortly. It often creates a dystonia. Effectively what this means it that your Cortex or ‘Thinking Cap’ has no working map of the territory of this joint.

A certain key action of the toes could be pointed out to you and demonstrated. You will tell your toes and forefoot to do this action and they won’t have a clue how to deliver it. The mind has no map. There is a neurological dystonia. The field of neuro-science is a-buzz recently with neuro-plasticity, which trumpets the brain’s infinite capacity to remodel itself in relation to its world. So no worries if there is no map, we can successfully set about creating one. Whether you call it neuromuscular re-patterning or creative mindful action is no matter – a map can be successfully created. Achieving this quickly and efficiently is a 25 year long mission of the natural running work.

Rehabilitating the foot knuckle (the MPJ) When the foot knuckle is made to stand out in your foot it has the appearance of a string of pearls and in many ways it turns out to be a buried treasure. The shoe is the treasure casket, the sock the shroud over the treasure. The first step is to take the foot from its shoe, open the

Autumn/Winter 2013

Page 73


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