Posturepro - Feet and Posture

Feet and Posture

The connection between feet and posture does not receive major emphasis in medical education. Generally, the impact of the foot foundation continues to be overlooked.

You are probably familiar with the term pronation, but maybe you were not aware that just like there are two kinds of cholesterol, there are two kinds of pronation.

Normal (good) pronation is purposefully directed from the hips to unlock the foot in preparation for the heel striking the ground during gait. It enables the foot to cushion the impact.

Hyperpronation (bad) has its origin in the skeletal structure of the feet. It causes the longitudinal arch to collapse and ankle to roll inward, when the foot becomes weight bearing.

The foot represents a sensory entry on 2 levels:
• Exteroceptive receptors: cutaneous receptors (pacini, meissner, ruffini…)
• Proprioceptive receptors: tendinous, articular and muscular corpuscules

Both these forms of sensory feedback have a role to play in the body’s aim to maintain its center of gravity within the base of support.

The exteroceptive and proprioceptive receptors communicate with the peripheral and central nervous system via segmental reflexes and supra segmental reflexes, respectively.

On a segmental level, the sensory information from the exteroceptive cutaneous receptors information enters the gamma loop and can modify its activity (Paillard). This leads to an adjustment of the segmental muscular tone and the synergistic musculature.

On a suprasegmental level, some of this exteroceptive information makes it all the way to the higher centers (cerebellum, central grey nucleus and striatum). These interpret the data and organize a logical muscular response in order to stabilize the body in space.