Podiatrist · Specialist in Biomechanics · Founder of VOLKAN
"The most efficient movement is not usually the most controlled. It is usually the one that the brain organizes with the most freedom."
"Doctor... the more I try to walk well, the worse I walk."
I will never forget that phrase.
It was said by a patient who had been trying for months to correct her walking.
She had watched videos.
She had read articles.
She had received numerous tips.
She should first land on her heel.
Then activate the arch.
Keep the knee aligned.
Control the pelvis.
Relax the shoulders.
Move the arms correctly.
Breathe in a certain way.
She was trying to do it all.
And, precisely because of that, she had stopped walking naturally.
Every step felt like a test.
She was not lacking information.
She had too many instructions.
Walking is not solving an equation.
When we learned to walk as children, no one explained to us where to place each joint.
We didn't know what the center of gravity was.
Nor the sural triceps.
Nor pronation.
We learned by exploring.
By trying.
By falling.
By trying again.
The brain slowly selected the strategies that worked best.
He did not memorize a movement.
He learned a problem.
And he found many different ways to solve it.
That continues to happen throughout life.
The brain works better when it doesn't have to think about everything
Imagine a orchestra.
Each musician perfectly knows their instrument.
However, during a concert, no one expects the conductor to indicate one by one each note that each violinist should play.
It would be impossible.
Movement works in a similar way.
The brain does not consciously control every muscle fiber.
It organizes objectives.
It coordinates complete systems.
It allows multiple structures to collaborate automatically.
When we try to supervise every little detail, we interfere with an organization that has been perfected over years.
Not because thinking is bad.
But because some tasks work better when conscious control gives way to automatic processes.
Attention changes the quality of movement
Research in motor learning has been showing a very interesting phenomenon for decades.
When we focus all our attention on moving a specific part of the body, the movement can become more rigid.
Slower.
Less efficient.
On the other hand, when we direct our attention to the goal of the action —for example, walking smoothly, reaching a place, or propelling ourselves forward— the nervous system tends to organize the whole of the movement better.
It does not mean that we should never pay attention to the body.
It means that the brain seems to learn better when it understands what it wants to achieve, rather than trying to control each of the mechanisms it uses to accomplish it.
What does this have to do with barefoot?
A lot.
There are people who start using minimalist footwear convinced that they must consciously modify their entire way of walking.
They start to think about every step.
About each toe.
About every muscle.
About each phase of the gait.
And they end up walking with a stiffness they never had.
Barefoot does not consist of creating an artificial movement.
It consists of offering the body a different context so that the nervous system can explore new solutions.
We do not walk better because we think more about our feet.
We walk better when our feet can participate more naturally in the movement.
What I see every day in consultation
One of the most beautiful parts of my job happens when a patient stops trying to do it perfectly.
At the beginning, they come in walking cautiously.
Controlling everything.
Constantly watching their feet.
After several weeks, something curious happens.
Start to speak while walking.
Look around.
Forget to think about each step.
And, precisely then, the movement starts to resemble human movement again.
Natural.
Flexible.
Spontaneous.
Not because the brain has stopped working.
But because it has started to trust its own automatism again.
What you can do starting today
The next time you go for a walk, try a little experiment.
For a few minutes, stop thinking about how you place your foot.
Instead, direct your attention to the environment.
Observe the trees.
Listen to the sounds.
Notice the horizon.
Feel the rhythm of the walk.
Allow your body to solve a task it has been practicing for years.
Many times, the less we try to control the movement, the better we let it appear.
🔬 In a sentence
The brain usually organizes movement better when it thinks about the goal of the action than when it tries to consciously control each of its parts.
The most important idea
Human movement does not work like a machine whose components must be continuously supervised.
It works like a complex system capable of coordinating millions of variables in just a few tenths of a second.
Our job is not always to add more control.
Many times it consists of giving the system the necessary freedom to use everything it already knows how to do.
Because the quality of movement does not depend only on knowledge.
It depends also on the confidence that the brain has in its own resources.
A question to reflect on
The next time you walk, run, or go up some stairs, ask yourself:
Am I letting my body solve the movement... or am I trying to consciously direct each of its steps?
In the next article…
So far we have talked about movement from the perspective of the body and the brain.
But there is still one essential question.
Why do two people receive exactly the same stimulus and their organism responds completely differently?
The answer lies in a concept that runs through all of biology: the individual capacity for adaptation.
We will discover why there are no universal recipes, why the same training can produce different results in different people, and why, in biomechanics, comparing our body with others almost never makes sense.