In the previous article, I wrote about the importance of toes & feet and introduced some self care methods.
In this article, I am focusing more on ankle joints. Please combine these self care methods with the previous ones for the maximum benefit.
The self care method introduced here works for whole body, but is especially recommend for prevention of knees, groin, hip, lower back, and neck pain. They are also good for dizziness, vertigo, headache, and more.
Ankle Joints & Athletic Ability:
Human being has evolved to stand on two feet. So, all the weight are distributed to two ankle joints when standing.
When we walk, run, or move in any ways, we use the reaction force from the ground through feet. This force is distributed to legs through ankle joints.
If ankle joints are tight, much of the force is lost there. This affects a whole body and disturbs the movements.
Therefore, ankle joints must be structurally stable and strong, but at the same time they also need to be flexible for smooth and powerful movements.
It is not too much to say one's athletic ability depends on ankle joints.
Talus: Whole body connection
A unique bone called talus transfers force to/from two lower leg bones (tibia and fibula).
The talus is the only bone which is not attached to any muscles and it slides back and forth. It is important to maintain the proper alignment of the talus, as it can easily get malaligned.
This stretch helps to maintain the proper alignment of the talus.
This stretch is introduced by Majotore. If you are interested, please check her youtube channel (in Japanese).
There are many important acupuncture points around the talus. Let me introduce three acupuncture points that strongly affect a whole body.
1. Stomach 41(ST41): Regulates the connection of toes and trunk.
Location: In a depression between two thick tendons at the front of an ankle joint.
Tight ST41 indicates that toes and trunk are not connected. As explained in the previous article, this could lead to many problems such as knee, hip, and lower back pain.
Check the tightness and compressed feeling of ST41 by extending and flexing the ankle joints.
It is difficult to release tight ST41 by direct approaches. Toes and feet exercises introduced in the previous article combined with the stretch shown above help releasing tight ST41.
2. Liver 4(LV4): ※Master Nagano's blood stagnation treatment point.
Location: In a depression anterior to the medial malleolus.
Apply finger pressure massage for 10 seconds X 2.
The blood stagnation refers to the state which blood is not flowing properly. It slows down body's healing process.
One way to check this is to look at tongue. However, it is hard to observe the progress with tongue for some people.
Another way is to palpate the reflection area in the lower abdomen. If you can find tender spots in this area, it is easier to observe the progress with this way.
Simple Instruction of Abdomen Reflection:
Lie down on your back and relax your muscle.
Palpate the orange circled area gently.
Did you find any tender spots?
Compare the tightness with the right side.
Usually, the blood stagnation build up on the left side. However, when it becomes chronic, it starts to spread to the right side.
Check the reflection area after performing self care methods in this article and observe the progress.
Since the blood stagnation is a very important topic, I will cover it in a future article.
3. Gall Bladder 40: ※Master Nagano's muscle relaxant treatment point.
Location: In a depression anterior and inferior to the lateral malleolus.
Apply finger pressure massage for 10 seconds X 2.
This point is often used to release muscle tension of a whole body.
One way to check is to bend your neck side to side and compare the tightness.
※Master Nagano is a well-known Japanese blind acupuncturist.
Calcaneus: Dizziness, vertigo, and headache
The calcaneus is the heel bone which is attached to the talus.
It makes the longitudinal arches of foot and is responsible for transmitting the majority of the body weight from the talus bone to the ground.
Because it is the first body part to touch the ground when walking, it has a role of the balance sensor (with proprioceptors of foot). This balance sensor is important in keeping the head (brain) stable.
When this balance sensor gets disturbed, the body react by tensing toes and back/neck muscle to prevent the head to shake around.
In SEIDO acupuncture, several acupuncture points around the calcaneus are used to treat dizziness, vertigo, and related headache.
1.Kidney 5(KD5)
Location: In the depression of the medial side of the heel.
2.Kidney 4(KD4)
Location: Above KD5 and at the edge of the heel.
3.Bladder 61 (BL61)
Location: In the depression of the lateral side of the heel.
4.Opposite of Kidney 4 (O_KD4)
Location: Above BL61 and at the edge of the heel.
Apply finger pressure massage to these points as shown in the video below.