Foot, knee, and/or hip complaints are common issues for people who come to me for an individual Functional Integration session. I always start by observing how they stand and whether they place more weight on their right foot or their left. I also check how much connection there is from the pelvis or the head to the right foot and from there to the left. Then I ask:
- Can you feel where you bear more weight, on the right or left?
- Can you feel if you place an equal amount of weight on both feet?
- Can you feel if both legs feel equally stable, or would you find standing on one leg as easy on each side?
Often, the leg which complaints is the one bearing more weight or where there is more stability.
We often have many habits in how we stand on our feet. Surprising, isn’t it? You might expect the opposite. Due to pain, you tend to compensate by standing more on the other leg. That’s much easier to explain, and that’s quite often the case as well.
If you bear more weight on the side where you have foot, knee, and/or hip complaints, it’s a logical explanation that this was the case before you experienced complaints. Your habitual pattern is such that you bear more weight on one leg. Despite the complaints, you keep doing this because it’s something you’re not conscious of. Could it not be that your complaints have something to do with bearing more weight on that leg? That by carrying more weight there, you’re overloading it?
Standing equally helps
Standing equally on both feet helps you break unnoticed habits and make different choices within those habits. Balancing activates and sensitizes your feet, and your entire body responds.
Distributing your weight equally over both legs is best felt when your feet are softer, more flexible, and smarter. This is something that deserves constant attention in our culture because the sensors in our feet become dulled by our shoes and the flat paths we walk on.
I previously wrote a blog about feet. Click here There, I also shared a few tips on how you can awaken your feet simply, so you can more easily feel how they bear your weight. Additionally, there are some tips given in the comments by Yael Karo and Jacqueline Kooi: for example, alternate baths, experimenting with different materials to stand on and in, and using barefoot shoes for running.
What Can You Do to Better Feel Which Foot Bears More Weight?
From standing, shift your weight several times more towards your right foot. The left foot remains in full contact, but you shift the weight as much as your left foot allows towards the right and then back to the centre. Notice how you do this in your sole, but also where in your body you move to direct your weight primarily to the right. As you return to the centre, feel how the weight redistributes over both feet. How does that feel? Then do the same movement several times towards your left foot. The foot with which you need to make the least adjustment is usually the one that carries more of your weight and where fewer movements are felt in your pelvis, hips, and chest.
Then you can alternate this movement between right and left and continuously listen to the soles of your feet, how they take on more weight, and what else you are doing in your knees, hips, pelvis, spine, shoulders, and head. Focus especially on the differences you can notice in this. Always find a clear resting point on both feet. While feeling for differences, your brain will respond by reducing those differences, seeking more uniformity.
Let me know in a comment below what you notice when you try these movements.
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