Keep your Fascia Young

The other day I was working with a young man, who came to me with intense pain in his lower leg.  His gastocnemius (calf muscle) seemed to spasm after walking for a ½ hour.  After watching his gait and then looking at the structure of his feet, I surmised that while walking he wasn’t articulating through his feet, and thus the gastrocnemius was working too hard.  As I was watching him walk I was already lining up the exercises in my head that I thought might relieve his pain and change the movement pattern.  The intention was to add lift to the plantar fascia.  I knew that the exercises would relieve his pain over time, but something unexpected happened. 

This young man (seventeen years old) did the exercises with me once, and then when I looked at his posture again, his arch had lifted before my very eyes.  A half an hour of foot exercise changed the appearance of his foot.  I was flabbergasted.  I had never seen so much change so quickly. If I had a better poker face I would have acted like I knew exactly what was going to happen.  “Of course I knew that, because I am that good.”  But alas I am often too amazed at the magic in the world to not express curiosity.  And I was definitely curious.  Why did the fascial structure of his feet change so fast?

Just a few moments later it hit me.  This kid was seventeen years old.  His fascia was vibrant and young.  His body had not suffered the years and years of dehydration, and immobility.  He was not dependent on coffee yet.   He hadn’t partied hard through his twenties.  His fascia was hydrated and healthy so all he needed was a little bit of movement. 

This session led me selfishly to the Internet.  How do I keep my fascia young?  I was looking for the magic bullet, the fountain of youth.  I was searching for seventeen-year-old fascia…

I found many ideas…The internet is abuzz with ways to keep your fascia healthy…But of all the blogposts that I read only two things seemed like the thread to healthy fascia.  Move and hydrate.  Neither of these things by themselves will work as magically as the combination of the two.  Luckily, my job is movement.  I move all of the time.  I move in varied planes of motion I squat, I twist, I flex, I extend.  My body is moving…But that isn’t enough…

I need to drink water as much as I move.  This leads me to The Pilates Studio’s water challenge; at The Pilates Studio we are trying to consume 3 Liters of water a day.   Of course as has happened many times before, I texted my business partner that I was going to try and drink 3 liters of water a day and of course she was thinking the same thing and she sent me this picture.  And now at the studio we’ve tried the basil strawberry infused water as well as the lemon mint infused water. 

This sent me to the internet again in search of benefits of infused water…Once again the internet is abuzz with ideas (which makes me feel like I’m a little late to the game, but better late than never)  Infusing water is about hydration!  But there are other benefits to this stuff. 

First of all dehydration can lead to things like

·      Fatigue (seriously I’ve skipped coffee three mornings this week, and if you know me you know that that is definitely something)

·      Headaches

·      Muscle cramps  (When people talk to me about muscle cramps as if I am working them too hard.  The first thing I ask, “How much water have you had today?”)

·      Joint pain

·      Digestive problems

So why not try strawberry basil water

Proper hydration aids in

·      Nutrient transfer

·      Organ function

·      Temperature regulation (according to one website especially in the winter)  What!!!  I might be warm this coming winter!

·      Fascial health and thus pain reduction

Now lots of benefits of infused water are out there, but I did not find many studies referenced but one was quite interesting.

Lemon infused water has been shown to improve

Ph control

Kidney health

Immune system boost

Cancer fighting antioxidants

Why not stop by the studio to try our lemon mint water?  If we keep moving and keep hydrated maybe it won’t be such a mystery when the arch of a foot gently lifts before my very eyes!