What does your body need? We can nourish our bodies with movement and the Essential Nutrients of Movement are the foundation that help the body thrive. Sure, you could live on Cheez-Its and coffee but it's unlikely your body would flourish. The Essential Nutrients of Movement are like the dark leafies and blueberries: the nutrient-dense movements that support us the most.
Since the joints are where all conscious movement happens, the Essential Nutrients begin with exploring the “Sister Joints” of thumbs & great toes, fingers & toes, hands & feet, wrists & ankles, knees & elbows, shoulders & hips, spine & eyes (yes, yes, the eyes aren’t really a joint and they do have ranges of movement and their use impacts the rest of the body...so let's go with it). Moving your joints with embodied awareness moves energy through and brings vitality to your body and being.
As we age, we tend to narrow and limit how and how much we use the joints. The wrists and ankles are four oft-neglected and often-vulnerable joints. They offer a wide range to play with in terms of strength, flexibility, mobility, agility and stability. The very nature and placement of these joints at the extremity of the body lend themselves to expressiveness and movement variety.
Movement in the wrists and ankles is like water moving over stones. Like waves on a pebble beach, the stones receive the energy of the water, whether strong or gentle, and move and roll accordingly.
SISTER JOINTS: WRISTS & ANKLES
The wrists and ankles are four oft-neglected and often-vulnerable joints. They offer a wide range to play with in terms of strength, flexibility, mobility, agility and stability. The very nature and placement of these joints at the extremity of the body lend themselves to expressiveness and movement variety.
I think of movement in the wrists and ankles like water moving over stones. Like a pebble beach, the stones receive the energy of the waves, whether strong or gentle, and move and roll with the water.
WRISTS
The wrist joints are actually made up of many joints. Irregular bones connect in gliding synovial joints and condyloid joints (where two bones fit together with an odd shape; one bone is concave, the other convex) that allow for a range of movement from rotation, extension, flexion and more.
Functionally, this makes sense, of course. The joint that connects the reach of the arm to the fine motor skills of the hand needs to offer lots of movement options.
WRIST HEALTH
The bummer for wrists these days, though, especially with long hours of computer use and smart phone texting, is that we tend to hold our wrists in one position (usually flexion) for extended periods of time and do repetitive movements with our hands and fingers. Using the hands and wrists in this way limits their flexibility and strength. What’s more, it’s common for tension to accumulate above and below the joint in the forearms and hands. (The research is not clear if extended computer/phone use contribute to carpal tunnel syndrome when the median nerve gets squeezed by the wrist, but I would contend that any time we limit the use of a joint, it will be less healthy.) Right now, circle your wrists and notice if you feel any tightness or soreness in them.
ANKLES
Ankles are “sister joints” to the wrists with the obvious functional difference that we stand and walk on them! Like the wrists, the ankles connect the long lower leg bones with the complex bones of the feet with a series of irregular synovial joints. The irregular bones and small joints make it possible for us to walk on soft-unstable surfaces (like sand and grass) or hard-uneven surfaces (like cobblestones) without falling. Simultaneously, however, the strong muscles and connective tissue in the ankle joints give our bodies the support we need to run, hop, and dance with stability and grace.
ANKLE HEALTH
Again, similarly to the wrists, we tend to hold our feet in one position (flexion) most of the time which limits the ankle mobility and flexibility. And in our modern culture, we tend to walk almost exclusively on hard, flat surfaces which weaken the ankle’s stabilizing muscles. Before practicing mindful movement, my ankles turned all the time. I didn’t have to be doing anything tricky, just stepping out of the shower or walking across the street and – oops! – my ankle would turn. One of the benefits of my practice has been the marked increase in my ankles’ strength and stability (although they still turn now and again).
Following the break in my foot and ankle in February 2021, my movement practice offered all the movements that my physical therapist prescribed...and it was fun! Our practice can also help with the opposite issue: if you tend to be highly stable in your ankles, it’s likely that they are not terribly flexible. If this is the case, the varied movements can improve the flexibility and health of your ankles. Right now, flex, point and circle your feet. Notice your range of motion and any places of tightness. Check out the ankle flexibility by getting on all fours, hips over knees, and release the top of your foot to the ground. Does the front of your ankle joint yawn open onto the floor, or does it stay partially flexed?
WATER OVER STONES
Whether you are moving in class, walking in the cool woods or doing chores at home, the invitation is to explore the “water over stones” sensations in the sister joints of wrists and ankles. How do you tend to use them? And how might you use them with more variety? How can flow with the energy of your movement and the environment whether gentle or powerful, hard or soft, even or bumpy?