Babies usually learn to walk around 12 months. Some earlier, and some later of course, there’s a variation in what we find easy as babies as much as later on. Walking isn’t something that has to be taught: we have an instinct towards it. But we do have to have the right ingredients in place in order for it to happen.
Our inbuilt reflexes get us moving
Luckily there are reflexes and patternings inbuilt that help to lead the way – through wiggling, pressing, rolling, creeping, crawling. Long before the moment of coming upright.
There’s so much involved too, we have to be able to
- Balance between the flexors and extensors.
- As well as right and left.
- You need to counterbalance the head and pelvis
- We have to use the ground force. Pushing into the floor to create force and momentum. Without that, you’re going nowhere.
- Your spine has to be able to move in all its directsion: side flexion, rotation (both sides) flexion and extension.
- You have to organise your skeleton and muscles, and finally
- Your vestibular system has to be able to be organised to help your balance in standing.
As babies, we learn this organically. Curiosity drives the move towards it (another inbuilt ingredient).
Walking is primarily about co-ordination – you don’t need a large amount of muscle power. But you do need to be able to balance of course. As adults, with the reduced movement we tend to err towards, we often start to lose flexibility and mobility. Not because it’s inherent in aging (unless there’s an underlying condition- that’s different). But because we spend less time moving, exploring movement.
Take the position of kneeling. When you’re kneeling, you’re elongating the top of the feet, the front of the ankle joints, the fronts of the legs, and at the same time, folding in the hip joints. And contracting the muscles at the back – which in turn balances them out from where they are in standing or sitting.
It’s a movement most of us don’t do. But we need it if we want to keep flexibility in the feet. To be able to tuck your toes under, as if for running. To maintain balance along the whole of the legs.
Try it for yourself
First, sit on a chair, and bend your toes, as if for runnning. How much ease do you feel in the muscles of the sole of your feet? How supple are the toe joints?
Then, Tuck your feet under your chair, in sitting, with the toes long, so that the nails touch the floor. Roll your foot really slowly, to press the big toe a little more, and then roll over each toe in turn, pausing so you can feel it, towards the little toe. Repeat a few times, so you can feel the connections all the way up to your knee both at the front and back.
Finally for this tiny exploration, bring your foot back to the first position, bend your toes as if for running. Is it easier? Go for a walk and see if the two feet feel different in walking.
Improve the component parts and the larger patterns improve
This is just one teeny tiny ingredient we need to be able to stand comfortably, and walk. But crucial. All of the components can be improved, and along with it your function. No matter how old you are, baby or OAP!
If you’re interested in exploring how you could transform your movement, and quality of life with it, get in touch. In this term, we’re seeing how exploration could not only help you get up and down from the floor, but reset your body and nervous system at the same time.
Today I had a day’s training of the Childspace training – I’m drawing towards the end of a 2 year course now. We explored walking in sensation – through a wonderful Developmental Movement Exploration (DME). Similar to a group class in Feldenkrais (Chava Shelhav was one of Moshe Feldenkrais’ first pupils, so there’s a lot of crossover. It’s beautiful helping a child improve the kinasethetic “ingredients”. Then when they come back to the complex movement, in this case walking, it improves. Almost like magic!
Transform how you move, feel and live 