Tag Archives: posture

Sciatica Pain Gone through Military Experience Knowledge

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5 February 2020 by Marc Woodard

[Marc is the soldier in the featured image overlooking Camp San Louis Obispo, CA – during active duty training, 2002]

What is sciatica and what is the best way to manage, alleviate or remove it?

Through my military experience I found a treatment path which led to complete reversal of my sciatic pain problem. A pain problem that afflicted me throughout my 20 year military career. Below under “Sciatica Pain Experience During My Military Career,” I detail my experience and findings and treatment course once I connected all the dots. Possibly these pain alleviation modalities could work to relieve and/or reverse your sciatica problem without surgery.

Sciatica in short, refers to back pain caused by a problem with the sciatic nerve [webmd 2020]. Sciatica (nerve pain) can be caused through numerous factors: incorrect posture, genetic deformities, injury or overuse of back muscles, or when the vertebra discs become defective or inefficient at absorbing vertebrae structural stress, or the bone itself is compromised then impinge upon the sciatic nerve. Sciatica isn’t actually a condition, but instead a medical term used to describe symptoms, such as tingling, numbness, prickly sensation and shooting pain down the leg to foot. The cause of sciatica varies in pathology but can be effectively alleviated without surgery, or non-intrusive surgery in many cases… such as mine was the case.

Skeletal compression, or impingement often occurs at vertebra’s L4-5 (lumbar) to S1-2 (Sacrum).

Sciatica pain in the lower back and extremities are often caused by injury, over-stressed muscular skeletal system, poor postural alignment and bad genetics; whereas soft tissue and/or skeletal compression, or impingement often occurs at vertebra’s L4-5 (lumbar) to S1-2 (Sacrum). Pain and swelling events can be isolated in the lower back and/or felt anywhere down the lower extremities at various frequency, duration and intensity throughout the day once aggravated by any number of postural load imbalances.

The six most common spinal disorders that cause spinal nerve compression and sciatica lumbar radiculopathy (radiating pain) are

1) Bulging or herniated disc (The gel-like center of the disc mal-forms creating nerve compression and swelling around the sciatica nerve). 2) Spinal stenosis (nerve compression through narrowing or clogged nerve pathway – brought about by standing or walking and relieved by sitting down). 3) Spondylolisthesis (Characterized by slipping and displaced vertebrae – acquired at birth and developed through childhood, trauma or physical stress. 4) Trauma (accident injury, sports, weight lifting, etc.). 5) Piriformis syndrome (named for the low back piriformis muscle impinging and irritating the sciatic nerve. This condition is also very difficult to diagnose and treat due to lack of findings through x-ray and MRI findings). 6) Spinal tumors (although tumors are rare in the lumbar region, benign or cancerous (malignant) tumors can develop creating nerve compression. Fortunately, this is a rare.

Those who suffer from sciatica should also be aware of the term radiculopathy

Radiculopathy is a term often used to describe radiating pain from its origin. In the case of sciatic nerve and radiating pain problems, this pain origin occurs at L5-S1 vertebrae [refer to images above]. When there is a low back nerve impingement, or compression condition on the right side of the lower back for example, and it causes pain and/or numbness down one side of the buttocks and/or thigh-to-foot-to-toe… This is a radiating or radiculopathy neural pain symptom. The pain travels distant from the lower back pain origin. Many patients who experience radiculopathy symptoms absent of low back pain don’t relate the pain stemming from a low back problem. For others the low back symptoms may be a feeling of achenes and stiffness, but not produce radiating pain. At this point in time, the low back is likely stressed and requires early medical diagnosis and treatment to avoid future episodes and worsening a low back condition.

Although symptoms of radiculopathy pain in the low back may occur at the same time as a burning and/or prickly sensation down the leg and toes – patients “at first” rarely associate this pain originating from the low back. Unless pain in the low back occurs simultaneously at the same time it is felt in the lower extremities.

To get treatment for low back sciatica and radiculopathy pain, see your primary care physician and ask to be referred to a physiatrist. This is a medical doctor who specializes in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation [also called PM&R physicians]. A Physiatrist is a pain specialist doctor who diagnoses and treats both acute and chronic pain in a wide variety of nonsurgical treatments for the Neuromusculoskeletal system” (google 2020); and can refer surgical intervention if determined the best treatment course. The sciatic problem can be diagnosed through use of x-rays, CAT Scan (Computerized Axial Tomography – 3 dimensional, multiple cross-sectional picture technology) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging – Magnetism produces images of body structure).

Sciatica Pain Experience During My Military Career

When I was younger, I associated the numbness in my right calf and foot with military issued boots at the beginning of my 20 year military service. Foot discomfort and back pain seemed to go along with the territory. There was much conversation between soldiers regarding military issued boots also suspected of causing knee, hip and lower back pain. Foot pain was a given in the military. Everyone I knew during basic and advanced soldier training had foot problems as a result of wearing those boots.

Military issued boots in the 80’s and 90’s had no posture corrective insoles. And the exterior leather required a lot of wear and tear treatment/ conditioning to make it comfortable to wear around the foot all day long. Although a pre-wear and tear treatment process helped condition to break in the boot… imbalanced pressures on the soul and side of foot and toes often caused painful hot spots, even after the boots were broke in.

Like many other soldiers began limping acutely during basic training… I also continued wearing those basic boots for the first 5 years of service limping at various times. I had no ideal through this time they were the cause of my low back pain. The postural imbalances were further aggravated by intense occupational work load [field training] on my body, which further compromised the lower back alignment and weakened the area – causing swelling around the sciatic nerve. In time, pain was felt from the lower back, buttocks, leg and foot [radiculopathy].

It only took 5 years of improper foot wear to permanently put me in a hurt locker. Ultimately my back problems became chronic for 3 years during my last years of service.

Around my 6th year of service I purchased boots approved by the military which alleviated the radiculopathy but not my back problems. Regardless I did complete 20 years of combined military service. However the damage was done and that was not the end of my physical pain challenge. My pain challenge is fully covered within Ageless MirrorAthlete “Overweight and Unfit No More” book. The pain challenge is a continuing story at the end of each chapter that connects well with “how to live life to the fullest” regardless of mental, physical or spiritual pain challenges. Click on the link below to read the free preview at Amazon.com and please provide a rating review after you’ve read the book. Thank you for your support.

I’ve written articles on acupuncture and how it helped alleviate my sciatic pain. And ultimately led to complete remission of sciatica pain. Maybe it will work for you like it did for me. Just search under acupuncture in MirrorAthlete archives and you’ll find other articles.

I highly recommend if you are serving in the military or an avid hiker

Invest in a pair of Danner, or Bates boots of good thermal water resistant and good insole quality. Then throw those basic military issued, or over worn boots in the trash.

Basic Issued Military Boots were the the cause of my postural weight bearing load misalignment and cause of acute foot and back and neck pain for years. And thereafter chronic pain problems occurred in the lower back, worsened and radiated downward. I had no ideal in my twenties how important proper foot ware and customized and corrective insoles were to Neuromusculoskeletal health of the feet and the rest of my bodily alignment.

One would think with the science behind many foot related back and neck pain problems – the feet would be of great pain prevention interest and at a minimum the military would invest in proper weight bearing boots with foot analysis that custom fit proper insoles to be place within the boot. This foot pain prevention process would have a return on tax paid investment – i.e., reduced sick call incidents, higher soldier productivity and fewer disability claims that retire trained soldiers early on…, etc. Until any boot or “almost any” shoe is broken in, or has bad insoles, or none at all… this creates hot spots and/or blisters everyone can relate too. And when the feet don’t get relief, limping occurs. If something doesn’t change, pain can be felt in other weight bearing joints. I believe military issued boots should be of the highest postural and corrective weight load bearing quality, Solders work their bodies hard in the field and put their lives on the line and deserve the best gear money can buy and this includes foot wear. They also deserve to end their service commitment without pain and injury caused by inferior foot wear that also causes harm to other parts of the body.

If your feet have little to no arch, it would be wise to invest in good foot insole orthodics to provide a supportive arch and alleviate foot pain and calf cramps. Improper foot ware “when not corrected” will cause further breakdown of the foots mechanical-muscular structural integrity and then work that aggravation upward – putting pressure on other weight bearing joints. The bodies posture works to re-align itself around an articulating joint pain center. Better known as guarding. This is why you see people limping. E.g., the compromised [pain problem] side is guarded by the side not experiencing pain. Therefore it takes on an additional load burden moving the body forward, putting additional stress on the non-compromised side.

I have corrective insole in every shoe I wear. Simply rip out the manufacturers flat insole and replace it with a corrective insole – purchase them in pharmacies with free foot analysis equipment. Stand on the foot analysis machine. It analysis foot pressure points and refers an insole for less than 1/2 price of podiatrist prescribed orthodic.

When limping continues too long without correction the body adapts to compensate and create a new gait norm to alleviate pain. Realignment during guarding puts more stress on other weight bearing joints and causes an imbalanced mechanical disadvantage during the gait. When this is the case the weight bearing joints are susceptible to aggravation and injury because the anatomical posture is imbalanced and eventually becomes compromised.

Dr. Bernard Filner, MD, says, a significant number of people, including many of his patients, contemplate surgery because they hurt so badly – but most of the time, by using a Posture Control Insole can alleviate the pain and avoid surgery. … Your feet play an integral role in maintaining a pain free posture, including proper curvature of the spine. Modest changes in your posture provide the potential for complete relief of low-back pain. If you are in pain, even if you have tried custom orthotics without success, please try Posture Control Insoles before you try surgery, said Dr. Filner.

As previously mentioned – most who suffer acute to chronic sciatic symptoms experience numbness, tingly to prickly sensation to excruciating sharp – jolting pain from the buttocks down the leg and foot. … I experienced radiating pain at times as an achy to chronic electrical pain sensation which was horrible and nearly knocked my off my feet at times when it struck.

For me acute sciatica feels like short bouts of being zapped by electricity and a burning , or tingling/prickly sensation when it occurred. One way to know when the worse case pain scenario will occur… you’ll experience a numbness and swelling in your lower back and loss of sensation in parts of your leg/calf/big toe with prickly sensations. At least for me that’s how my acute converted to chronic pain episodes. When a chronic episode occurred, the pain and swelling afterwords was so severe, I stayed off my feet for a couple of days. Only anti-inflammatory, ice, physical therapy and bed rest helped get back on my feet.

I’ve known many people – including myself go years suffering with low back sciatic pain and use prescription pain killers, muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatory to treat the symptoms with rest. Other outpatient treatments include steroid injections, chiropractic and physical therapy sessions and acupuncture, etc., that work temporarily, or permanently but may/may not fix the underlying weight bearing integrity problems without surgery. Patients who ignore infrequent episodes of back pain, or sciatic symptoms… without proper diagnosis can unknowingly create an irreversible pain condition that may have been preventable and without need of surgical intervention.

Foot insoles may be the cure to remove a sciatic Pain Problem

I chose not to go through surgery. After years of working with specialists, I learned what worked for me. It was a combination of acupuncture and corrective insoles that abated my sciatic pain. I only wish I could have had someone tell me the exact treatment course that would work for me after experiencing 20 years of sciatic and radiating pain. Will this treatment course work for you? That’s hard to say. Everyone is so different. But until you make the time to get a physiatrist referral from your primary care physician you’ll likely continue the fast track pain alleviation plan like I did… pain pills, anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxants… “which won’t fix you, and your pain episodes and weight bearing bodily damage will likely worsen.”

Correcting posture at the feet first – in “most cases” when foot, knee and back problems first occur, including sciatic pain … corrective insoles are often the pain relief solution! However with this being said, there is no guarantee as you age a sciatic problem with radiating symptoms “will not” become worse. We are talking about pain alleviation through proper anatomical foot insole alignment that will not worsen a back-pain condition. But its good to know nearly all back problems can be corrected and/or alleviated without surgery when proper postural foot alignment “at the sole” is made in a timely manner.

Most back pain can be resolved without surgery if both doctors and patients are willing to try other treatments that basically help the back to heal itself (Dr. Richard Deyo, University of Washington, and Consumer Health Interactive Magazine).

Author:  Marc T. Woodard, MBA, BS Exercise Science, Captain ARNG Retired. 2009-2020 Copyright.  All rights reserved, Mirror Athlete Publishing @: www.mirrorathlete.org, Sign up for your Free eNewsletter.

How to Exercise Safely and Increase Fitness Levels

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Updated:19 Feb 2014

There are so many exercise programs one could engage in to increase fitness levels.  How does one know which is right for them?

This question is important why?  Increased fitness levels contribute to healthy heart, lungs, metabolism, lean body, body strength, reduced body fat, weight loss, sustainment of body weight and better physical endurance and energy levels.  Not to mention, excellent  pain alleviation benefits for weight bearing arthritic joints.

So what you really want to know is what exercise activity will give you the best bang for the buck?

I highly recommended if you are getting back into an exercise fitness program or activity, you condition your way back through a 3-5 day/workout program.  This may take you 2-6 weeks or longer to get back into good physical condition before you ramp up your efforts.  Especially if you’ve just recovered from some type of physical adversity.

Five day exercise program – Consider making two of your exercise days on Saturday and Sunday to include family fun activities as substitutes for exercise activity.  Work in the other 3 exercise activity days with exercise you enjoy and can stick too.

This type of programming will provide more flexibility at first to develop healthy fitness activity around your busy schedule while reducing stress.  After the fitness habit is maintained for 2 week period, begin to incorporate more activity choice into the plan to keep it interesting.   I’ve always found it important to take two days off in the week for needed rest [Typically Mon & Fri for me].  I don’t recommend a 6-7day workout routine unless you are training is too meet some particular fitness goal as are conditioned to do so.

Recommendations, Tips, How to safely increase fitness levels and activity,

You must develop a plan that lists your daily fitness objectives to meet your fitness goal.  Is your goal to lose weight, increase fitness level, build muscle, better health, sustain weight, increase muscular endurance, higher level of competitive sport, improve task specific activity (ski, golf, walk, biking, running, etc.).  So now you know before you spend money on an exclusive fitness membership, be sure to have a plan to achieve the fitness goal you have in mind.

Second, you must be realistic about your daily schedule. If you’re a working adult with children, there are considerations that must be thought out.  Like working around busy work and family schedules.  However, it is not impossible to squeeze in exercise activity even with a busy schedule.  It’s a matter of priorities.

For example, if you want something bad enough like a new car, getting the furnace fixed, or watching a game, or taking the spouse out to a movie you manage to find the time and resources don’t you?  Yet you have a tough time making time for any type of exercise activity.  Your fitness levels and health must be as valuable to you as any other tangible thing like a home or car you insure.

Only through daily continuous daily movement activity can one “insure” an additional layer of protection from life stresses on the mind-body.  Sustained exercise activity daily is also a proven centurion attribute, or better known to others as a fountain of youth fitness principle.

If you have time before work or after the children are in bed a daily exercise program can become a habit you will become addicted too once the commitment is made.  You simple must want increased fitness health as bad as you want to create a better lifestyle for your family.

For me, working out provides great stress relief and fitness benefits.  And for many years I’d get up at 5:30am go to the gym, or jog where the adrenalin and metabolism was at full throttle just before hitting my full time job at 7:00am.  This habit served me and my professional careers well and ensured I was always at the top of my game, I didn’t need energy drinks to start my day.  Now in my mid-50’s, my age appropriate exercise activities is walking 7 days a week and 2-3 days strength conditioning in the gym.  I’m just as competitive at these exercise activities as I was when I played football during by high school years.  I attribute much of my career success, energy levels and clarity of thought to age appropriate continuous exercise habits.

Like anything else it takes dedication to be successful at anything you do.  It’s more a matter of finding an activity that you really enjoy, get excited about and can become addicted to it.  I tended to become addictive to new exercise conditioning if I could get through the first 5 days.  If I didn’t make the 5 days, I’d reduce intensity until ready for more intense training.  I didn’t quit the training; I took it down a notch until I could physically and mentally accept the fitness conditioning plan.  To push when your not ready for it is defeating and causes too many beginners to give up when they’ve not planned accordingly.

Third, your never too old to begin a daily fitness conditioning program.   All too often I hear people give up on their fitness and activity aspirations because they “self proclaim” their too old to exercise.  And then begin to look for unsafe – fountain of youth short cut gimmicks to lose weight, increase sexual performance, anabolic steroids for max muscle increases, etc.  This line of reasoning is absolute nonsense; when did 40 become the 80 plus crowd?  Exercise activity is a metabolic optimizer that increases hormone production and immune system to keep us healthy and stimulate all things that keep our bodies, mind and spirit engaged in a satisfied lifestyle.  “Without the need of dangerous manmade chemicals that temporarily mask the real reasons were not happy with our bodies energy levels, how we feel and physical performance.

Forth, if you are infrequent about your exercise, or activity routine, it is very important you learn to pace yourself each time you exercise until your body is ready for a 3-5 day exercise activity routine. Ease into your workouts, forget about competing with what others are doing.  Set your mind to see yourself as the healthiest 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 year old possible in your neck of the woods.  If you think exercise-activity appropriate per decade, you’ll stick with a healthy exercise program for your age while physically appearing and feeling 20-30 years younger.  Why don’t I talk much about 80+ years old and fitness training programs?  Actually, 80 years and above should walk-swim, push light weights, participate in flexibility exercise, eat balanced nutritious foods, socialize and travel as much as possible for quality lifestyle experiences.  At this age, I thoroughly believe, each day is a blessing and one should enjoy life to the fullest while reducing life stresses.  And these life stresses and health are adequately sustained through social activity and low-stress walking, swimming and dance exercise.

Fifth, if you over consume too many calories per day, especially after 7:30 pm, or binge over the weekends it will be harder to lose weight.  Body metabolism slows down tremendously during evening hours and excess calories will be stored as fat for every hour you take in calories after 8pm.

Weekends will be your worst enemy with regard to calorie consumption if you don’t have an activities plan to offset food intake with caloric expenditure.  This is why in the next paragraph I recommend plan fun movement activities on the weekends.   This will help increase metabolism and will help burn off extra calories that may be put back on over the weekend.  Then over the weekdays if your mindful to balance calorie intake and expenditure relative to days of the week, you can actually continue to lose weight.

Sixth, find a workout routine you can stick with and enjoy. Various examples:  Try biking, stationary treadmill, stationary rowing, dance, ball room dancing with spouse, tennis, walking, golf, jogging aerobics sessions, swimming, etc., 3 days a week (mix it up with gym activity).  Make sure you get in 2 days a week exercise activity and 3 days aerobics (walking, biking, treadmill, elliptical walker, swim, hike etc.) minimally.   On the weekends substitute an aerobics week day activity with a planned family outdoor activity, backpack, dance, walk and shop for your meals, camping, beach walking, fishing, etc.

I recommend 5 days a week exercise activities to sustain fitness levels and good health.  I use combinations of all these activities listed above to sustain my age appropriate fitness levels and overall health.

Changing up fitness activities will help with motivation and will power to stick with exercise activities daily.  Mixing up activities also becomes very addicting when you  break the initial 2 week conditioning barrier.  It takes about this long for brain chemical stimulation and muscle toning to optimally provide the motivation and will power to sustain this lifestyle change.  Brain chemical release (adrenalin, epinephrine, dopamine, serotonin) through exercise activities is as addicting as nicotine is to a smoker; and is chocolate  to a chocoholic.

Now that I’ve provided you “How to Exercise and Increase Fitness Levels,” get out there and get it done!  Try various combinations of exercise activity.  At a minimum, if you can walk you can improve your fitness levels and experience greater lifestyle experiences.

The cost to to walk is nothing, other than your time, effort and commitment to sustain it.  Through daily walking fitness levels will increase.  This will also positively impact mood as well as how your body feels.  Sustained walking activity is good for you heart, lungs, metabolism and overall fitness goals.

Take one step at a time, one block at a time, and one mile at a time.  Do what you can daily if your exercise activity is walking.  Put no time lines, intensity of pace, or distance limitations on yourself.  The mind-body will tell you each day what it’s capable of doing.  If you have the ability to walk you’re much further ahead in becoming more fit and healthy.  The key is to move more daily, work to reach 10-15min/day exercise activity at a minimum before increasing distances and intensity of pace.  Be consistent at daily walking activity to sustain greatest fitness and health benefits.

Other tips:  Consider “not taking” your car to the store for daily staples once you can walk half a mile total distances.   Make a goal to walk and shop for your evening meals, or drive to and walk the mall.  Get a small backpack “once able to walk small distances;” carry healthy produce, products to the car, home etc.

Never carry more in weight than you can do so comfortably.  For example, I personally never carry more than 5lbs in bags, one for each arm, greater than 1 mile.  That’s .5 mile one way.   In other words when starting a shop & walk activity program, you don’t haul extra weight until you lose weight, or alleviate weight bearing joint pain [if this is a problem for you].  To do so when the mind-body is not ready may risk secondary weight bearing injuries to body compromising overall increased fitness success.

The information presented within this article and on our website, is in no way intended as a substitute for medical consulting or treatment.  Always consult a physician before starting any course of fitness programming, particularly if you are pregnant or currently under medical care.

Also Read:  Relative Fitness Programming Sustains Active Lifestyles

Author: Marc T. Woodard, MBA, BS Exercise Science, ARNG, CPT, RET. 2014 Copyright. All rights reserved, Mirror Athlete Inc., www.mirrorathlete.org, Sign up for your Free eNewsletter.

Ill-Health Prevention Starts with Healthy Feet

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FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailLet’s first look at the fitness and health connection problems from misaligned feet unattended for many years through my personal example and experience (also read preceding article, “Good Posture Alignment was Important, What Happened?”   Mirror Athlete Blog Article, 25 April 2010).

        When I went into the military; during my physical examination the examining physician said, “You have another 5miles left on those feet,” he laughed a little with me [I had no idea what he meant-only to be enlightened 30 years later by a number of orthopedic surgeons] and sent me on my way to the next exam station.  The doc’s diagnosis: I was flat-footed with a little arch left in both feet.

    I sailed through the physical exams and off to basic I went.  Of course, being a young male with plenty of testosterone, I paid no heed to this diagnosis until years later when foot aggravation caused much pain throughout my body at various stages of my life.   I did note during Army field training exercises my feet were always grossly blistered and in pain like many other soldiers.  So this just seemed to be a normal physical result of the training.  After years of hard physical military training and poorly supported military boot ware, this took a toll on my feet, ankles, hips, back and neck.  Today I interchange 3 different insoles into various foot ware dependent on what activities I’m doing.  These custom support insoles make a big difference in my ability to alleviate pain during movement activity.  My overall health is good because my pain tolerance is acceptable to get work done (aerobic walking, hiking, yard work, etc.) while keeping my body conditioned through this corrective ware.

    Now let’s look at my potential fitness and health future had I not figured out what was going on and the impact that may have had on my overall health.  Like many, I could have continued doing work daily while sucking up pain for years due to uncorrected foot problems while slowly becoming a pain prescription junky.  In time, the misalignment of musculoskeletal tissue would cause permanent nerve and soft tissue damage with more radiating pain.  This pain disorder would then cause pain depression, possibly affecting my mental health diagnosed as clinical depression.  If pain becomes chronic, less motivation to take care of overall fitness health often occurs.  For many, this means weight gain and other associated health problems can get out of control in a very short period of time if not corrected.

    I don’t have to tell you that obesity in itself impacts blood pressure, heart, lung, kidney, liver health function… The list goes on.  At the same time excess weight on otherwise healthy weight bearing joints can and does cause potentially irreversible damage to the integrity of the soft tissues surrounding these areas.  It’s never too late to correct misaligned posture, which at a minimum will alleviate pain.  And in many cases damaged tissues corrected through foot posture alignment may forgo unnecessary surgical correction.  Although I have structural damage throughout my spine, correction of my foot ware has alleviated enough pain that back surgery is now off the table.

    There should be greater importance impressed upon postural alignment and pain prevention programs in all educational institutions.  When I was a kid, there was minimal information on this matter.  As an adult, even during my undergraduate work in Exercise Science, there was postural alignment education, but “not” emphasizing the foot relationship to overall effect on “healthy posture-healthy mind-body.”  These relationships were implied with no extensive focus on any scientific model of the time between foot alignment impacts on wellness.  I believe at the time of my undergraduate work wellness and alternative health science was experiencing a renaissance of encompassing being (mind, body and spirit).  Now there are literally thousands of such books available.

    In the military, there was no emphasis on the postural alignment system at all, except PT (Physical Training) form to standards.  In our school systems, your children may/may not receive corrective information with regard to sitting up straight during the early grade school years; and less, if any emphasis on proper foot ware.  It appears our shoe manufacturing industry has incorporated better designs for proper foot alignment per activities (sport, walk, running, etc.).

So will our foot ware industry take care of our feet and body alignment needs?

    There are a few problems with this line of thought.  If the foot to total body health is not prioritized in our schools and community at large, priority to postural health will not be emphasized starting at the feet.  This means one will give less priority to good shoe design when purchased.  And also, less priority on replacing shoes that are badly worn.  Wearing shoes badly worn and also shoes with bad design can cause much pain to weight bearing joints.  If this practice continues on without correction, irreversible soft tissue damage and pain can and does occur throughout the postural system.

The point is, preventative illness and disease education is up to each and every parent and educator.  Hopefully in the near future our education systems will teach our children early on in matters of this importance.   Take a preventative course of action now.  See our icon links (skeleton, posture chart, or foot icon on Chronic Pain page at the home site), click,  read up and learn about Posture Control Insoles if you, or your children are in sports are experiencing any pain in the following weight bearing points of the body:  Foot, ankle, knees, hips, back, neck and read up on how posture correction starting at the feet can help to promote greater activity, fitness and health benefits for life.  Words of wisdom, “if you have little arch in the feet and go into the military, walk and run a lot, or sports professions, ensure you invest in some good insole shoe support, “even if your feet are in good shape!” This will preserve the integrity of the foot anatomy and body health for a lifetime.

 Author:  Marc T. Woodard, MBA, BS Exercise Science, USA Medical Services Officer, CPT, RET.  2010 Copyright.  All rights reserved, Mirror Athlete Publishing @: www.mirrorathlete.org,  Sign up for your Free eNewsletter.