Can You Touch Your Toes? Your Calves May Be the Culprit.

Gait re-patterning to rehab injury and chronic pain.

When was the last time you thought about stretching your calves? Our body awareness typically gets pulled to the places where we hurt or where we want to create more muscle tone leaving the calves a bit lonely. They're just...there. Thing is, calf tightness can correspond with pain in other areas of the body including foot pain, knee pain, back pain and neck pain, even headaches! The fascial or connective tissue line runs up the entire back side of the body--sole of foot, calves, hamstrings, piriformis (deep muscle in the butt), up that respective side of the spine, neck and then stops at the browline of the forehead. This is the connective tissue line that also contacts a chair most of the day, so no wonder there would be some tightness. It can also remain constricted due to our walking pattern.

Why are my calves tight?

Unless you live in San Francisco or in a national park, you're walking on flat surfaces all day long. That's a pretty small range of motion for the ankle so the calf muscles tighten because they aren't being worked in their full, anatomical range. This means that in general, most people have tight and weak calf muscles. Why should you care? Calf and ankle strength affect posture all the way up the body and is critical for balance. Plus, due to the connective tissue line, your calf tightness could be a major culprit in your knee, back and neck pain.

Do my shoes make my calves tight?

Absolutely. High heels are an obvious example because the calf muscles are contracted or shortened all of the time. That said, every Austinite who wears flip flops and cowboy boots year round isn't faring much better. Flip flops cause people to become toe grippers, meaning they're always clawing at the ground, or really the shoe, just to keep it on. When the heel isn't cupped in the back of a shoe, our gait pattern (how we walk) shifts so we stop using our whole foot and calf to take a step. If you love flip flops, look down at your toes and you may even see them scrunched up a bit rather than nice and open. Boots keep the ankle at a fixed, right angle, so this also makes for tight calf muscles--once again, because the full range of motion of the ankle is limited. I'm not suggesting that there's the perfect shoe, or that you should never wear your boots again, but try regularly changing up your footwear. Flip flops on the other hand...if you have any pain or tension along this fascial line, you may want to consider swapping your flip flops for sandals that have a strap around the back to support your ankle. This usually keeps folks from doing the toe grip motion to take a step.

How do I stretch my calves?

I have several options on YouTube, foam rolling and stretching the shins, but this is my favorite:

From an energetic or emotional perspective, I find that when people have tight calves, they can't feel the ground, meaning they don't feel supported by the earth. When someone walks into my studio with chronic neck and shoulder pain, I will often do a deep calf stretch in the first session so that they relax their lower leg. I always stretch one leg first, then have the client stand to feel the difference. About 90% of the time, they feel more relaxed and lighter on that side, plus their shoulder on that side, will lower. Lack of grounding, or feeling supported from below, puts all of the energy into the shoulders and head. This looks more like someone who holds the weight of the world on his/her shoulders instead of feeling relaxed and connected. Try this at home on one side and see if you feel what I'm talking about.

If you know that you have pain along this back, fascial line, and that you may walk a little funny, schedule an appointment and we'll shift your gait a bit so that you aren't reinforcing tension along the back side of your body with every step!

Are you a tightass?

Most of us are, and the funny part is, we're completely unaware.

Ki Hara Active Hip Stretch

What is a tightass?

I define it as one who perpetually grips in their pelvis, specifically in the urinary and anal sphincters. Clenching here tightens muscles in the pelvic floor, which pull on the hips, which pull on the lower back.

How does one become a tightass?

Stress
Our bodies (nervous systems) are wired to process stress with fight or flight. Evolutionarily, if something threatened our survival, we fought or we ran. In the 21st century reality, it's usually not possible to discharge stress at the moment we're feeling it. Plus, we usually have multiple stressors hitting us simultaneously. We are then left with a freeze response, so the body goes on lockdown, as do our bums.

Breath
Building on the above, shortening our breath is a top physical holding response when we freeze. Unfortunately, this is where we spend the bulk of our time--barely breathing, which, only keeps our nervous system in a hightened state of stress. So the stress/breath cycle snowballs. Right now, take an inventory of your breath. Can you even out your inhalation and exhalation time? How many seconds does it take you to do an inhale/exhale? Can you increase that duration by 1 second, or maybe even 2 seconds? Does your body (pay attention to your pelvis, in particular) relax a little bit with this slightly longer breath cycle? Now pause and hold your breath...do you feel your sphincters tighten again?

Digestive Issues There's a greater awareness now about food sensitivities and allergies. When our digestive system is upset on a regular basis, it can lead to chronic clenching of the digestive sphincters. I also think sitting for long periods and the subsequent slowing of our metabolism can let things feel stuck in our digestive tract.

Sucking in the Stomach/Wearing Restrictive Clothing This usually applies more to women than men. Wearing restrictive clothing or sucking the stomach in, once again means the breath is affected so the tightass tendency follows.

Energetic/Emotional Component The area we're talking about in the body corresponds to the root chakra. This chakra, or energy center, represents our foundation, sense of safety, financial stability and tribal (family of origin) identity. Pretty much everyone has some emotional crap involving at least one of these issues. Emotional holding patterns surrounding fear, in particular, contribute to chronic clenching in the pelvis.

Why does it matter?

Tightening your holes pulls on your hip rotation muscles (especially the obterator internus), locking your femur (thigh bone) in a shortened range of motion. Chronic holding in this area of the pelvis directly affects not just hip rotation but also low back pain. The femur is a ball and socket, a super mobile joint. When we restrict its full range of motion (most of us don't even work the hips in their full range of motion on a regular basis, that will be another blog post) the sacral area of the low back gets pissed off because it's having to do the work that the ball and socket should be doing. Then we have low back pain. I'm not saying this is the exclusive reason for lower back pain, but it is a significant one.

What should you do about it?

Wear clothing that doesn't restrict your breathing and try to relax these muscles with your breath. For more information, check here on how to do that:

Pay attention to which foods your body is happy and nourished by and try to eat more of those. One of my favorite go-tos for eating more vegetables is eating 5 different vegetables each day. I find that the goal becomes the center-point of my meal planning because the focus is how I give my body nutrients rather than a thou-shalt-not-eat __ approach.

Do something for you throughout each day...even if it's just 5 minutes. As a movement person, let me suggest this be something movement-related. Not just because you're taking care of your body, it will also help aid your digestion and kick in your parasympathetic (calming) nevous system. Maybe it's taking a timer-motivated break for 5 mintues in which you just focus on your breathing or on your favorite cup of tea. Maybe it's repeating a favorite mantra each time you look in the mirror or take a bathroom break.

Start looking at your fear patterns and letting those fears go. We often hold onto fears that took root in our childhood that are no longer relevant and necessary in adulthood. A good place to start is noticing when you're triggered by something someone says or does and ask yourself why you had a reaction at all. Did it highlight a fear you have? Was it a way your parents/sibling/family member spoke to you growing up? Are you reacting to that trigger now the same as when you were younger? How does your body feel? Where do you feel tightness or restriction?

Trying a multi-faceted approach, meaning looking at your back pain (or maybe just your tight ass) from a physical as well as emotional perspective can lead to greater and longer-lasting pain relief...and help you grow as a person.