This is just one of the many ways to talk about how the foot can influence the shoulder.
That thick tendon behind your ankle above you heel, as we move upward, splits into the calf muscle.
As it forks and splits at the top, each arm branches off and connects to the bottom (distal) end of the femur on the inner (medial) and outer (lateral) part of it.
When the foot points out or in, over time, one branch of the calf stiffens and shortens up, the other lengthens – this imbalance torques the bottom of the femur bone inward or outward.
Since the femur is the same bone that makes up the ball part of the ball and socket joint in the hip, the hip is torqued and now rotates in or out due to the hold the calf now has on the position of the femur.
If you’ve been following this account for awhile, we’ve explored a lot about how hip function alters the pelvic position, which affects the spine position, and the shoulders respond to help counteract all of those problems by rounding forward in an effort to create stability with this now heavily imbalance structure.
In this 18 min time lapse video, we can see that by pulling the feet back over time, the muscles that are causing the leg to rotate, release and the bones settle in their neutral position.
As the imbalance of the left calf is restored, the rotation of the femur is released, the leg moves towards a more aligned position relieving the joints of the excessive stress rotation and torque place on them.
This exercise, along with the full Rebalancing Movement Sequence she did, can be found in the Earth Star Rebalancing Sequence taught in our Online Movement Therapy Program.
I know that some of you are going to try this exercise by itself, which I strongly don’t recommend — you should set the body up first before doing this heavy hitter corrective exercise as best as possible.
To help you if you’re not ready to join our program yet, I’ve uploaded a basic Rebalancing Sequence to our YouTube channel to help you at least get the ball rolling!
Click here to watch this unwinding in action on our Youtube!
Enjoy!