A new way of thinking about your feet

We tend to think of our feet in only one dimension:  the-looking-down-at-your-foot-from-above-dimension.  (You thought there were only 3 dimensions, didn't you?) This plane is the most familiar:  the top-view plane:

 

There's the profile plane:

 

And then there's the head-on view (also called the transverse plane):

Anyway, the five metatarsals (if you don't know what or where metatarsals are, read this post) move in this transverse, or head-on, plane when you step on your foot.  And they don't all move the same direction.

Look carefully and critically at the foot and you will notice it can be divided into two distinct sections:  what Eric Franklin calls an "ankle-foot" and a "heel-foot". 

Top view:

   

  Bottom view:

 

The first 3 metatarsals (rays 1-3) are related to the talus and we can call this the ankle-foot; while rays 4 & 5 relate to the heel (calcaneus) and voila!  It's the heel foot.  

Here's the profile view:

...and the head-on view:

  

The heel-foot and the ankle-foot function somewhat separately although they are (obviously) very reliant on each other for stability. The metatarsals don't move forward/back or swing like pendulums... they rotate along the long axis.  Now because: 

-- the 1st-3rd rays move with the midfoot (cuneiforms and navicular) and the talus in one group

--and because the 4th-5th rays move with the cuboid and heel-bone (calcaneus) in another group, we have a cogwheel effect of the ray.

 This motion occurs each time you step on your foot.  The weight comes down, the gears turn, and the sole of the foot spreads out like a puddle of pancake batter.  Pick your foot up, and the opposite happens.  The gears turn the other direction and the foot domes like a suction cup under suction.

Put a pebble on the floor and try to pick it up with the middle of your foot -- not your toes, the MIDDLE of your foot.  (Yeh, go ahead and massage out that cramp you just got.  I'll wait.)  This is your foot doming.  This happens every time you lift your heel in walking, or push strongly out of the starter's blocks in a race, or jump up in the air.

If you're a dancer, visualize standing on the line between rays 3 and 4 -- this is your perspective.  Rays 1-3 and 4-5 turn en dehors as you releve, and en dedans as you plie.  Imagine that you are lifted up into releve because your foot domes first.  Ahhh.  Isn't that magic?  The power doesn't come solely from your glutes, hamstrings or calf muscles (this is SO important for those who have achilles tendonitis!!!!) -- it can also come from the muscles that live entirely between the tips of your toes and your ankle.

I'll post a video of the embodiment of this movement next time.

Comments

[Karen]

Hi Donna,

I'm a big fan of Franklin and I loved this blog post. I'd like to subscribe to your blog but that link is broken. Kindly could you help me with this?

Thanks,
Karen
karenfromseattle@gmail.com

[technical writer]

this is a great post