My Chiropractor Wants to See My Feet. …(Wait — What?)

You’ve finally made an appointment to see your Chiropractor. Perhaps it’s low back pain that brings you in, or bouts of throbbing headaches and you’re tired of popping pills. Or maybe you’re a runner who’s training for a big event and you’re hoping your Doctor can help you stay in tip-top shape to avoid injury. All of these are great reasons to see a Chiropractor, and some of the most common.

Appointment day arrives and the Doctor begins her exam. Suddenly, she’s asking to see the bottoms of your shoes (wait—what?) and then tells you to remove your shoes and socks completely. She leads a now-barefooted you over to what she calls a “3D digital foot scanner.” You’re instructed to “step right up.”

At this point you may be wondering: What in the world do my feet have to do with anything? Or, Did I take a wrong turn and end up at the podiatrist’s office?

As it turns out, feet have to do with a lot and there’s good reason for your Chiropractor to be interested in them. Chiropractors are trained to look at a patient’s entire body structure, and the foundation of that structure is the feet. Think of your body as a building. The way the building is put together is important, because it determines how it will hold up to stress and age. The foundation is especially important, because everything sits on top of it. When there are cracks in the walls or ceiling – in the analogy, that’s the low back pain or headaches that prompted you to call the Doctor in the first place – problems in the foundation may be to blame.

Your feet may feel just fine, but that doesn’t mean they’re not causing trouble up above. Foot imbalance or dysfunction can have ripple effects, transferring problems (and pain) to the legs, knees, hips, spine, shoulders, even skull. (The 3D foot scan helps your Doctor detect otherwise “silent” problems with the feet; so does examining the wear patterns on your shoes). We’ll talk more about foot imbalances in future posts, but in the meantime, when your Chiropractor asks to look at your feet, don’t hesitate. Good health starts from the ground up!

Spring is Here! Spring is Here!

With apologies to our friends in the Northeast — who are experiencing yet ANOTHER snow dump this a.m. — Spring has “officially” arrived in our part of the globe and there’s no turning back.

Last night’s total solar eclipse, seen in parts of the world.                               Credit: European Space Agency

The vernal equinox–or first day of spring–arrives today at 6:45 pm EDT.  What does that mean exactly? It means that today the sun is equitably bathing the earth’s northern and southern hemispheres in light, shining its rays directly over the earth’s equator.  (Check out this handy explanation and video from the folks at weather.com here).

In other nifty astronomy news, last night, parts of the world saw this^, a rare total solar eclipse with the moon (a “super moon” at a that!) blocking out the sun’s light.   (Only residents of the Danish Faroe Islands and a group of Norwegian islands called Svalbard were able to get the full experience, but we should get our own chance to see a full eclipse in  August 2017).

What a stellar way to ring in the new season (snow be darned). We can’t wait to recommit to fun, sun and activity with you — here’s to Spring!

Runners, On Your Mark: 30 Days and Counting til America’s Toughest Road Marathon

7,430′ of elevation change through the Blue Ridge Mountains makes The Foot Levelers Blue Ridge Marathon America’s toughest road marathon.

Are you ready? It’s not too late to join the starting line on April 18th, 2015 in Foot Levelers’ gorgeous, mountain hometown of Roanoke, Virginia. Check it out:

Recently announced: Big Head Todd and the Monsters headline the post-race concert! Stay tuned for more…