COMING IN JULY
fitbody
Sizzling Summer Goodness.
Healthy Food. Wacky Fun. Living at its Best.
WStep ALK THIS WAY Up to Barefoot Benefits by Randy Kambic
B
For more information about advertising and how you can participate, call
313-221-9674 28 Wayne County Edition
arefoot walking conjures images of children playing in open fields and families strolling on a beach, yet it can also embrace many other settings as part of a health and fitness routine and lifestyle of optimum wellness. As Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee attest in their new book, Barefoot Walking, “It’s not just physical; it’s soothing on an emotional and spiritual level.” In adults, many muscles in our feet may have weakened and atrophied due to disuse from wearing shoes, which substitute the support and mobility that our bodies’ lower parts were created to provide. Years of wearing tight-fitting shoes or high heels can also hamper bone density and proper alignment of each foot’s 28 bones; produce aches and pains in knees, back and neck; and constrict circulation to legs and feet, a condition compounded by desk jobs. Here are some tips in preparing to go shoeless:
NaturalAwakeningsDetroit.com
Work out feet. Prevention.com advises working to individually wiggle each toe; touch and rub each in its entirety; and flex and move both feet in as many different ways as possible. This will help them better absorb and distribute weight. Then, suggest Sandler and Lee, try “grabbing” exercises for toes, picking up round objects ranging in size from golf balls to baseballs. Also practice arch lifts, calf raises and ankle rolls. Check it out. Walk around a room and note if the weight upon landing moves from the heel to the big toe right away; if so, try shifting bodyweight while walking so that the pressure proceeds from the heel to the little toe and then across to the big toe. This maximizes functioning of the entire foot and keeps the arch from collapsing inward. This subtle change helps support knees, the pelvic floor and even abdominal muscles. Fields, dirt trails and beaches are