Above: In Chinese medicine, massaging different parts of the foot improves the health of body regions thought to correspond.
I’ve been interested in reflexology since 2007, when I ventured behind a Shanghai sandwich board that read “foot massage” and engaged with a young woman who spoke no English. It was a pretty aggressive massage, but I walked on air afterward.
Back in the States, I went to a place called Joyful Feet a couple times, and recently took a short class to learn about the philosophy. That class focused on hand massage, which was interesting but not the same.
Phil Daoust explored the topic of foot care, starting with pedicures, at the Guardian.
“I am in a south London nail bar,” he wrote, “reclining in a motorized armchair, mechanical fingers kneading my back while my feet soak in a little whirlpool bath. Someone has brought me coffee. …
“It has taken me 61 years to have my first-ever pedicure, and the moment I sat down all I could think was: ‘Why did it take me so long?’
“The next 40 minutes are bliss. … I leave Jolie Nails & Spa with a spring in my step, on feet that … well, no, you still wouldn’t call them beautiful – that will take several more sessions (and something to put a shine on my nails; I quite like the look of Boy de Chanel, probably in black) – but at least I’m no longer ashamed to show them to the world.
“This is not about getting beach-ready. … I have belatedly realised that if I want to make it to 100, I’ll have to take care of my feet. Unless I keep them strong, and flexible, and sensitive, more and more activities will slip out of reach. In the worst of all possible worlds, I will have a fall and end up in hospital. …
‘Our feet are literally the foundation for any movement we might make,’ the longevity guru Peter Attia reminds us in his book Outlive.
” ‘Whether we’re lifting something heavy, walking or running, climbing stairs, or standing waiting for a bus, we’re always channelling force through our feet.’
“They’re also crucial to balance. ‘They’re the feedback point for the brain to know where it is in its environment,’ says Asha Melanie, a York-based personal trainer with an interest in longevity. In their natural, unshod state, feet are our main point of contact with the earth. ‘There are hundreds of thousands of sensory receptors in each foot,’ Melanie says. ‘And then we put our clumpy shoes on and stop them from being able to feel anything.’
“More than that, I’d argue: we forget they should feel anything. We wrap them up and it’s out of sight, out of mind. … I’ve only really become aware of mine in the few months since I started yoga. There they were, naked, ugly and surprisingly unstable. Yoga teachers would tell me to spread my toes, or to ground ‘all four corners of my feet’ and I’d think ‘How?’ and ‘All four whats?‘ …
“This pedicure is my way of telling my feet: ‘I see you. I will do better by you.’ …
“Melanie says, now they’re fit for polite company, I must stop hiding them away. ‘Go barefoot as much as possible,’ she advises. … That doesn’t mean I should immediately chuck away my shoes, Melanie says, but I should try to transition towards something less chunky and cushioned, with plenty of room for the toes to spread and wriggle. ‘It has to be a gradual process, so that all your ligaments, tendons and joints can adapt.’
“But this is just the first step. Now I’ve freed my toes, I need to re-educate them, so I can spread them when I need a more stable base, or put my weight precisely where it’s needed. I could start by just splaying them out: simply standing or sitting in bare feet, then willing the toes to separate and spread a little. … I am embarrassed at how hard it is to isolate – or try to isolate – individual toes or groups of toes. … I struggle to move just the two biggies without taking everything with them. …
“How long will it take to make real progress, I ask Melanie. ‘How long is a piece of string?’ she says. ‘The more you put in, the more you’re going to get out of it. But doing a couple of minutes every day, you could see a difference in weeks.’
“I should also keep an eye on my big toes, where any weakness can lead to knee, hip and back pain. ‘It sounds ridiculous,’ Melanie admits, but when you’re walking this is where you push off, so problems here will affect the rest of your body. One way to build strength is to sit on a chair and lift your big toe as far as you can with your index and middle finger. Then, without moving any other muscles, press down with your toe while lifting with your fingers, so that nothing is moving yet both your toe and fingers are trying to. Hold for seven or eight seconds, relax and repeat four or five times.
“What else should be on my to-do list? Improving my ankle mobility, apparently. ‘Everyone should be doing ankle cars [controlled articular rotations],’ says Melanie. This is as simple as sitting down with one leg out in front of you, then keeping the leg immobile while slowly rotating the foot through its full range of motion, five times clockwise, then five times anti-clockwise, before repeating with the other leg.”
Much good advice on soles and arches, too, at the Guardian, here. No paywall.
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