“Limbering up has long been a part of the precompetition routine for runners, but research does not back up its usefulness. Study after study has found that increased flexibility actually impairs performance. Static stretching—the kind in which you bend to a position and hold it—decreases the elasticity of muscles and tendons, which causes them to return less energy with each stride. Imagine a Slinky: Each contact with the ground produces more bounce if the Slinky is taut and tightly coiled as opposed to loose and stretched out.”-Excerpt from The Truth About Pain: It’s In Your Head by David Epstein— Sports Illustrated August 8, 2011
If your feet are in contact with planet Earth, gravity is constant.
Gravity is an external force. Like a muscle(s), gravity pulls. We can not see gravity, but it is always present and unyielding.
A mechanoreceptor is a highly specialized built-in sensory feedback mechanism that, when stimulated by the ground, gravity and momentum, sends its information to the brain (cerebellum) via the spinal cord (and nerves).
The cerebellum then proceeds to process (make sense of) the information and returns the information via nerve impulses.
(Proprioception)
The information that is sent back down (efferent) via nerve impulses is much *greater* than the afferent feedback that was originally collected from the reaction(s) to the ground, joint motions etc.
If the soles of your feet can take in the sensory input from the ground; the human chain will absorb and dissipate the external forces of gravity and momentum much more effectively and *efficiently*.
When your feet can feel more, they can then (and only then) *react* faster.
(Boing)
Then the muscular (fascial) system *can* utliize your natural (innate) timing mechanisms.
(Biomechanics)
A muscle has to react at the right time, in the right plane and at the right joint in order for you to absorb or collapse (flexion) effectively.
Do you see the ripple effect *or* scientific reasoning behind running in a flat, flexible *and* firm minimal shoe?
(Principles)
Proprioception is your ability to perceive or feel (your “sixth sense”) *all* of your body parts as they relate to your environment. That ability is different for everyone.
It is your ability to relate to where your body parts are in space, e.g., Your individual sphere and the ability to have success functionally within that sphere.
(Stability)
It does not stop there though…
it is also your ability to sense how your body parts are moving relative to one another at *all* times no matter what environment you are running over, e.g., Ice.
Your body is constantly reacting *and* adapting to your center of mass.
The mechanoreceptors are also taking in the speed, amplitude and the amount of effort required to accomplish your runs.
The nerves and fascia connect everything to everything else.
From the plantar fascia on the bottom of your foot all the way up to your forehead, everything is connected, e.g., The Superficial Back Line.
“If our muscles are smart, the fascia is 10 times smarter; there are nine or ten times the sensory nerve endings in the fascia for every one sensory nerve ending in a muscle.” -Thomas Myers
Try this exercise before you read on: Stand in your barefeet facing a wall. Keep your body rigid and try to touch your forehead to the wall.
The motion should be *initiated* at your ankle (a hinge joint).
Go for it. I have to get some coffee anyway. I’ll meet you back here.
