Why your ankles can affect your hip mobility
"Brainy What-Why-How"
Your weekly nibble of brain-based tips to help you move and feel great!
🧠
What:
Your ankle mobility can absolutely impact your hip mobility.
Why?
There are actually many reasons why ankles can affect hips, but one of them is called the arthrokinetic reflex*.
This basically refers to the fact that if your brain is getting information that a joint such as your ankles are compacted and compressed, then it won't be happy.
Brain says "ankles aren't moving well, so this body ain't fit to run or move quickly if danger strikes."
(because remember your brain thinks you're still living thousands and thousands of years ago.)
Brain's solution: make you slow by restricting your mobility elsewhere.
So now, you're less inclined to go hunting or climbing trees, which of course isn't helpful long-term but brain doesn't care about long-term. It only cares about NOW.
How:
So how can you use this information? Especially since you are (probably?) not a hunter-gatherer.
One way is something Z-health** calls "Toe Pulls".
I've put toe pulls into SEVERAL of my classes on Move With Adell because they're simple, highly effective, and easy to merge into existing yoga poses such as bridge pose -- where this toe pull exercise shows up in today's new class: Strong Deep Core Integrity Flow.
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A toe pull done right decompresses specific joints in the ankle. But without going into too much detail: you basically stretch the top of your foot :-)
Give it a try and see how it makes your whole body feel! I always do a few toe pulls before I go for a long hike, or attempt any backbending posture.
😆 I call my dad's brother Ankle, and he calls me Knees. We're a joint family. 😆
Thank you for reading! Hit me up if you have any questions!
And please share with a friend or colleague who might find this valuable.
Adell
*This is just one of the many reflexes I'll be teaching in my upcoming NeuroYoga TTC!
Want to go way deeper on all of this geeky brain stuff?
• My NeuroYoga TTC is now available to book! Click here for more information or get in touch if you have any questions!
• **Check out the courses from Z-health, where I learned all of this. Click here for my discount codes on their first 3 courses!