Autumn Qi Chats | Week 9
How can sleepy feet affect your actual sleep?!
This week let’s discuss your brains connection with your feet and how you can improve your pain level and improve your quality of sleep by retraining the feet!
From your head to your toes…
Your feet have a direct connection to your brain and your brain to your feet. You need this bi-directional communication to exist for balance, pain down regulation, postural stability and a calm nervous system. But when you’ve been in socks and shoes all season, that connection can get lost.
Sensory education should be a TOP priority as it up-regulates the parietal lobe of the brain. This can help with movement and stability in addition to strengthening the midline of the body. We also need to consider how our brain responds to jammed and immobile joints. The brains initial reflex to a jammed joint is to inhibit the neural drive to the muscles, creating ‘weak’ muscles and a lack of ‘flexibility’. We will stretch and strength train but it may be more savvy to consider mobilizing the ankle joints! Let’s use the brain a little more to solve body problems!
Ready your stations!
We need to consider habits that have desensitized our feet- habits like wearing socks, walking on flat floors and always wearing shoes. And with that awareness, you can work on at-home stations to help awaken those sleepy feet!
So you need constant reminders to have rocks, balls and other tools that is accessible to you throughout your home because it’s going to be important to stimulate those feet everyday, even if for just a moment.
Station Idea #1: Touch pads.
Be it a rock mat (I’ll discuss this in the video), a scratchy, grass mat, a spiky domed ball or a wash cloth. Set up a station that you can scrub your feet on.
Station Idea #2: Sensory spots.
I have vibratory tools, paper clip cups, wash cloths & even tissues that I use to ‘tickle’ and stimulate my foot to awaken to various stimuli to awaken the pathways for the brain’s awareness of my feet.
Station Idea #3: Perch corners.
Be it a racquet ball, burrito wash cloth (will demonstrate how to make in video), a half foam roller or my own stairs, I play with the mobility of my feet from a more passive stimuli.
Station Idea #4: Training station.
This is where I strengthen the foot before I get outside. Banded ankle tilts, toe taps and heel lifts are just a few that you can play with a few times a week. Something is going to be better than nothing!
Neuro-Qi Tip o’the day!
Station set up
I’m going to demonstrate some station options that I have set up at home.
Teach you a morning routine that I’m in LOVE with for improving sleep and lessening low back pain!
*Video posts every Friday by 11:30am MDT
