Podiatrist · Specialist in Biomechanics · Founder of VOLKAN
"Age changes the speed of adaptation. It does not eliminate the ability to adapt."
"I think it's too late for me"
It's a phrase I hear often.
It's said by people in their fifties.
In their sixties.
In their seventies.
Sometimes even someone in their forties tells me:
—I’m no longer of the age to change my way of walking.
I always smile.
Because I completely understand where that idea comes from.
For a long time, we were taught that the body was a kind of machine.
That with the years it gradually wore out.
And that we could only try to slow down that deterioration.
But today we know that this image is incomplete.
The organism is not a machine that only wears out.
It is a living system that continues to adapt as long as it has reasons to do so.
Changing is part of being alive.
From the first day of our existence, we are changing.
We learn to lift our heads.
To sit.
To walk.
To run.
To maintain balance.
Then we learn other movements.
To ride a bike.
To drive.
To write.
To dance.
Our brain continuously modifies its connections.
The muscles respond to loads.
The bones remodel.
The tendons change their properties.
Nothing remains completely the same.
Adaptation is no exception.
It is one of the fundamental characteristics of life.
Plasticity does not disappear.
There is a word that summarizes much of this ability.
Plasticity.
It means that the nervous system can modify its functioning based on experience.
During childhood, that plasticity is enormous.
As the years go by, some processes become slower.
But they do not disappear.
We keep learning.
We keep adapting.
We keep reorganizing the way the brain controls movement.
Not because time stops mattering.
But because biology never completely stops changing.
Adapting requires a condition.
There is, however, an essential requirement.
The body needs to receive information.
It needs movement.
It needs experiences.
It needs challenges that are manageable.
It cannot adapt to what never happens.
If for years we stop using a capacity, the organism understands that it is no longer a priority.
But when we progressively stimulate it again, we often discover that it was still waiting for an opportunity to reorganize.
The body cannot learn what it does not practice.
But it also does not forget how to learn.
Improvement does not always mean going back.
There are people who believe that recovering means going back exactly to the point where they were twenty years ago.
That rarely happens.
And it should not be the goal either.
Adaptation does not mean going back to the past.
It means building the best possible version of the organism we have today.
With its history.
With its scars.
With its strengths.
And also with its limitations.
Health does not mean resembling who we were.
It means continuing to be able to evolve.
What does this have to do with barefoot?
A lot.
There are people who believe they have worn conventional footwear for too many years and that it is no longer worth changing.
Others think that the muscles in their feet can no longer strengthen.
My clinical experience says otherwise.
When the process is progressive and respectful of each person's ability to adapt, the organism often surprises us.
Not because it goes back to being like a child's.
But because it remains a living organism.
And a living organism retains a huge capacity to reorganize itself when it receives the right stimulus.
What I see every day in consultation.
One of the moments I enjoy the most is when a patient discovers they can do something they thought was lost.
Climbing a hill without pain.
Walking barefoot at home comfortably.
Balancing on one foot.
Playing with their grandchildren.
Revisiting a trail.
They are not just physical improvements.
They are changes in the perception that person has of themselves.
The body does not just regain a function.
It regains possibilities.
And that transforms the way we relate to movement.
What you can do starting today
If you have been thinking that your body can no longer change, try replacing that idea with a different question.
Don't ask yourself:
"Will I be able to be like I was before?"
Ask yourself:
"What small ability could I start to improve from today?"
Big adaptations almost always begin with very small changes.
And the organism responds much better to consistency than to haste.
🔬 In a sentence
As long as there is capacity for adaptation, there is capacity for learning.
The most important idea
The human body never completely stops changing.
The speed may decrease.
Recovery times may vary.
Strategies may be modified.
But the capacity for adaptation continues to accompany us throughout our lives.
That's why it's never too late to improve a function.
It's never too late to learn a movement.
It's never too late to offer the organism new opportunities to adapt.
Because adaptation does not belong to youth.
It belongs to biology.
A question to reflect on
Think of something you stopped doing because you assumed it was already impossible.
What if the real limit wasn't in your body... but in the opportunity you've given it to relearn?
In the next article…
So far we have talked about how the organism learns, adapts, and changes.
But there's still a fascinating question.
If the body is so adaptable… why do we sometimes keep looking for quick solutions instead of building lasting changes?
In the next chapter we will talk about one of the greatest enemies of adaptation: impatience.
We will discover why the organism works at a very different pace than our expectations and why understanding the timing of biology can completely change our way of understanding recovery.