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Posture Tips to "Stand" a Holiday Party

On the left, Brian has parked his pelvis forward, which places excessive pressure on the delicate structures in the front of his feet--over time, this may result in bunions or other foot conditions. On the right, his pelvis is properly positioned posteriorly and his spine stacks well over his heels.
November, 2014
The holiday season has arrived, and with it, the formidable holiday party. If, like most people, your back starts aching after an hour (or less!) at the hors d'ouevres table, consider this advice for your next yuletide function: 1. Put your weight over your heels. When we balance the weight of our bodies towards our toes, it can disturb the alignment of our weight-bearing joints. The dense and sturdy heel bone is much better equipped to bear weight than the delicate bones of the forefoot. Read more

How to Strengthen Your Feet

March, 2016
Spring is in the air! As the temperature rises, we go for lighter footwear, exchanging our shoes for sandals, or going barefoot. It may have been a while since our feet had so much exposure - what can we do to benefit our feet and put a little spring into them? Read more

How not to Hunch like your Parent and Grandparent

April, 2022

Hunching over or rounding the upper back is often regarded as a hereditary characteristic. I frequently hear people say, “my back is stooped just like my mother, and her mother had it too.”

Is a hunched back Nature or Nurture?
I agree that hunching is certainly a family trait—but it is largely a learned one, not inherited.
We mostly learn our posture from our parents and family members. As we grow up, the role models around us in wider society also hold sway. Unfortunately, in our culture, these are usually pretty poor examples to follow. Our relationship to healthy posture has steadily been eroded over the past one hundred years, as I explain in my book 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back. Read more

Running: Part 2: Meet Your Feet

February, 2022

Welcome to the second blog post in our series on running. This series is designed to be useful to beginners and would-be beginners, as well as seasoned runners and everyone in between. If you missed Part 1, you can catch up here. 

Reactivate your feet

When it comes to advice about running, the feet often get overlooked as the subject immediately turns to shoes. While shoes are an important subject (spoiler alert! Part 3 is about shoes), I prefer to start with that miracle of bioengineering that actually does the work—your feet.

Our feet become very passive from walking on flat, featureless surfaces rather than natural, more undulating terrain. They are also constrained, misshapen and deconditioned by less-than-ideal footwear, which, sadly, includes many running shoes on the market. Read more

Positive Self-Talk for Positive Outcomes

February, 2023
We’re a month into the New Year—and that has me thinking about what helps us to keep going and succeed with our New Year's resolutions. Including our posture and exercise goals. One thing that I have found works well for me, and for my students, is to choose my words carefully. Choosing words with care The words we use can be extremely powerful. They can shift your mindset from negative to positive. We may not even realize that we have disadvantaged ourselves with a mental framework of negative words and phrases until we gain a fresh perspective. These frameworks can go back so many years we have mistaken them for a permanent part of ourselves. Some of our self-talk goes back to our childhood. Our parents of course do their best for us, but parenting in our culture is often an isolated, poorly supported, and arduous journey. Parents’ anxieties, prejudices, and even best intentions are often embedded in negative language and unwittingly passed on to us. Over the years I have seen how many students have internalized their parents' criticism. I encourage students to let this go. It’s a disservice to yourself. Read more

How To Go Down Stairs (Part 2)

February, 2023
Welcome to our second post on navigating steps and stairs. Our first post looked at how to power yourself up stairs—however, we often hear from our students that their most pressing concern is how to come down stairs. Are you starting to worry that you may need to set up your bedroom downstairs, or find yourself compromised when visiting places with stairs? Perhaps you have a friend or older relative in this position? Is it possible to maintain or even improve your fitness and mobility in the years ahead? “Life exercises” such as descending stairs, done skilfully, can be transformative and can give many benefits beyond getting you where you want to go. Read more

Fixing Plantar Fasciitis

May, 2023
Why is it not a routine practice for podiatrists to observe their plantar fasciitis patients’ stance and gait? Let’s consider how a broader approach that considers the way people stand and walk could improve treatment outcomes for plantar fasciitis patients—and also help prevent recurrences. Read more

Getter Taller as You Age!

March, 2024
It is not uncommon for students to show up at our courses aware they have lost several inches of height since their youth. In our culture it is a widely held expectation that you grow up, and then, at some point in later life, start getting shorter again. We all see friends, neighbors, or family members who are on the downward run of this trajectory, and it is virtually common lore that you will “shrink” or stoop in later years. Read more