Why People don't like their feet
So many people don’t like their feet
I recently qualified as a massage therapist in Reflexology and Indian Head Massage. For my reflexology training, I had to complete a crazy amount of case studies and needed as many feet as I could get in order to fulfil the quota of case studies. I offered free massages to members of my family and friends, and friends of friends and people from my Pilates group…! I thought that people would jump at the offer of a free massage but that was not the case. Instead of shrieks of delight at such an offer, I got shudders and crumpled faces. I was amazed in how many people massage evokes the Marmite effect – they either love it or hate it. The reactions get even worse when it comes to feet! A lot of people have a very unsympathetic relationship to their feet but if we really think about the hard work our feet do for us, they surely deserve to be loved and cherished.
Consider this. It is common knowledge that the natural muscular activity of each organ in our body keeps us alive and functioning, such as the lungs, the heart, the liver, the kidneys, our digestive system and our respiratory system. We breathe, we eat, our body converts sugar to energy and gets rid of harmful waste, our heart keeps beating, our lungs give us oxygen to breathe. Everything works in unison and is interdependable. And the feet are an important part in the amazing system of how our body works.
Here are some amazing facts about feet:
Our feet accomplish enormous tasks throughout our life time.
One quarter of all the bones in the human body are in our feet
– each foot has 26 bones and 33 joints
- a network of more than 100 tendons, muscles and ligaments and when these are out of alignment, so is the rest of the body.
The heel bone is the largest of the bones in the foot.
There are over 7,000 nerve endings in each foot
There are over 250,000 sweat glands in each foot. When active, feet can produce over 100grs of perspiration a day, sometimes more.
With advancing technology and a health conscious society, step counting has merged with our daily lives. On average, our feet take around 8,000 – 10,000 steps a day, which equates to more than four times the circumference of the globe during our lifetime. 67 million men and women are walking regularly for exercise. A brisk walk can burn up to 100 calories per mile or 300 calories per hour. Our feet give us stability and balance; they grip, they hold us upright and provide us with the strength; they are our shock absorbers so that the rest of your body is not jarred as we move.
A research study carried out by the NHS in 2012 calculated that a person weighs more walking than standing. Walking is dead weight plus push energy, which adds about 30% to the standing weight. A person weighing around 58kgs/130lbs/9st places on average 1.5 million pounds of weight on their feet each day!- which brings the average day of walking equal to several hundred tonnes to bear on the feet.
Knowing this about our feet, don’t they deserve your attention, care and love? The most common reactions from people about their feet is that they feel their feet are gross and need to be hidden. Our feet are carefully preserved in a shoe, which prevents a certain amount of natural motion of the foot that would take place if we are constantly walking barefoot as nature intended us to do.
Eunice Ingham, the Mother of Reflexology shares her knowledge in her book (the reflexologist’s bible) “Stories the feet can tell through Reflexology” and “Stories the feet have told through Reflexology” about the achievements of feet. It is estimated that the average pair of feet lift for their owner a total of at least ten cars loaded with coal in weight daily (Eunice Ingham, 1984). We forget all this and then wonder why so many people today complain of foot discomfort.” She explains that the build-up of excess acid in our blood stream leads invariably to an increase in the levels of calcium deposits. These deposits form into acid crystals that are not unlike particles of frost and attach themselves to the nerve endings (remember that there are over 7,000 nerve endings in each foot), resulting in blockages and hamper normal circulation of blood flow to the rest of our body.
Our natural muscular activity of each organ ensures that the entire nerve canal is kept free from any detrimental obstruction. But if any one of these parts become sluggish, weak or injured, it slows down the normal muscular activity to the extent that the extremities of these nerve endings will become clogged.
In Eastern medicine this is understood that the ‘Chi’ or ‘Prana’ is blocked and we are ‘out of sorts’ not just affecting our body but also our mind. In an article “Eight Ways Our Feet and Legs Reveal our Emotions” published in Psychology Today in 2018, the author Joe Navarro shares his research findings why so many of us dislike our feet. He explains that many people act out their insecurities in a substantiation of disgust and refer to this part of their body to be lowly and even disgusting. Often, our feet are neglected in research studies relating body language, even though they are very accurate transmitters of valuable information—often more reliable than facial features.” " Emotions stored in our feet are nervousness, stress, fear, anxiety, caution, boredom, restlessness, happiness, joy, hurt, shyness, coyness, humility, awkwardness, confidence, subservience, depression, lethargy, playfulness, sensuality, and anger - all manifest through the feet and legs.” For example, when we walk along the street at night, alone, and we hear footsteps behind us, our legs tighten up and our feet prepare and ready to flee. In the same way, our limbic brain tells our feet not to walk too close to an edge and our feet automatically ensure a safe footing. Next time you meet somebody and get involved in an unwanted conversation, your feet will automatically start to move. What we know about our feet is that when we are less confident, our insecurities are reflected in our feet. Our feet can reflect anxiety as well as fear in real time. Our feet and legs allow us to walk, run, and play. They contribute to our quality of life, even to intimacy, as well as to our protection. Over millions of years, our limbic system made sure that our feet and legs reacted instantly to any threat or concern; their reliability has, in part, assured our survival. Reference:
