Standing with Feet Turned Out Is Not OK
Having your feet turned out when standing and walking is not OK.
But neither is having your feet pointed forward unless you untuck your pelvis first.
Most people stand and walk with their feet turned out because of the way the pelvis is habitually tucked.
A tucked pelvis forces the thigh bones forward encouraging the legs and feet to rotate externally.
Pointing the feet forward is a fairly standard instruction given to people who need to change their posture and movement patterns.
But while feet turned out is not what we want, how we get our feet to point more forward is key.
When I first began exploring the idea of teaching people to walk I made a couple of mistakes.
I told my brother who walks in the same feet turned out fashion that he shouldn’t be walking like a duck.
After three weeks of trying to walk parallel, he reported back that his knees were bothering him.
I am glad it was my brother and not a paying client because I learned a valuable lesson about how to get the feet to move more toward parallel.
The feet turned out must turn in because the pelvis moves to a neutral position, internally rotating the leg bones and moving the feet closer to parallel in a natural progression.
Having your feet line up exactly parallel with each other is not as important as moving toward parallel.
When we walk with our feet turned out the body’s weight tends to transfer toward the outer leg and outer foot.
When the pelvis rotates to a neutral position the top of the femur bone, which is literally a ball that sits in the hip socket, rotates internally.
As a result, the feet move more naturally toward a parallel position, and weight transfers more easily toward the midline of the body.
This allows our bones to support us and the body to work more efficiently.
It is essential that we understand how and why the body should be aligned.
Many teachers will tell you to point your feet forward for better posture but the pelvis needs to be aligned correctly for that to happen.
All joints in the body are reciprocal in a chain reaction that moves up and down the body.
Having your feet turned out is terrible form but feet turned in can mess with your joints if other body parts don’t turn as well.
I’ll save the issue of one foot parallel and the other turned out for a future post.