STANDING ON BOTH LEGS
STANDING ON ONE LEG
TURNING AROUND
STANDING ON BOTH LEGS
When standing on both legs, optimally we place our body weight through the foot along the “Stance Line” in the video below. This line is somewhat offset from the “Gait Line” which is the correct vector for walking and running. If you experiment with this, you may feel your postural extension “kick in” all the way up to the base of the skull (the back line actually continues along the inside of the bottom of the skull and ends behind the eyes). Once you can easily access this way of standing you may notice that your endurance for standing has greatly increased, as you are using the minimal amount of energy, over the entirety of your postural form*.
*This utilization of extension is also applicable to the GAIT, but not the LATERAL STABILIZATION sections.
When standing on two feet, activation of Postural Extension
is facilitated by ~2/3 of the load being carried by the ball of the foot,
with the remaining ~1/3 through the heel.
Many thanks for the donation of graphics assistance to Timothy Zgraggen
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-zgraggen-83717b17/
Website: https://www.bigpixels.tv/
STANDING ON ONE LEG
When we stand on two legs our Core is supported by an “A” frame structure made of both feet. When standing on one leg, our Core us supported by a “Tripod” like structure when our weight translates out through three points in the foot. The video below demonstrates this. The Gravity Line through the Core shifts to accommodate this.
An interesting consequence of loading all of our weight onto one foot is that the other foot and leg are freed up to function as another arm, offering yet another Foot Function which is not explored here.
THE LOCOMOTIVE CORE
The Feet form the bottom of the Locomotive Core of our bodies. The connection our feet make with the earth translates through our entire structure and is influenced by the character of this connection. By studying this connection on how our feet contact the ground, based on loading dynamics, one can learn quite a lot about the core. This paper is about some of the ways in which the Core loads its feet by the task.
There is a paper discussing the dynamics of our Core here: THE LOCOMOTIVE CORE
It may also be helpful to read through the section on gravity, as this is the enabling the function of the Core, and the structure and function of the Feet: GRAVITY
There is a more complete description of the anatomy and physiology of feet here: ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF FEET
TURNING AROUND
When standing our feet have quite elegant means of changing the orientation of our bodies. The part of the ball of the foot behind the big toe, and the heel both have a narrow point of contact with the ground and the entire body weight can be shifted onto either of these points momentarily enabling the body to be “spun” around this point. This makes turning around in standing efficient and quick, which supports our hands and arms in the use of tools. Fully activating this automaticity prevents the knee from being “torqued” when our body weight rotates with the foot flat on the ground.
META READING
An overview of the foot training protocols available on this website:
FOOT STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
An overview of foot structural and functional issues and means to optimize how we use our feet:
FEET
An overview of the core physiological structure and functions of which feet are an essential attribute:
LOCOMOTIVE CORE
and a discussion of human neurophysiology dissected by physiology:
THE FOUR CORES
An overview of the several models describing the expression of Life through the form of our species:
EVOLUTIONARY PARADIGMS