Podiatrist · Specialist in Biomechanics · Founder of VOLKAN
"The quality of movement does not depend on always repeating the same gesture. It depends on being able to find the best solution when the circumstances change."
"Am I walking correctly?"
It is a question I hear very often.
Sometimes it comes up after reading an article online.
Other times, after watching a video on social media where someone claims to know the perfect way to walk.
Then the patient asks me:
—Am I placing my foot correctly?
—Is my step correct?
—Is there an ideal way to walk?
I completely understand the doubt.
For many years we have sought the perfect movement.
The perfect support.
The perfect posture.
The perfect technique.
As if there were only one correct way to move.
However, the more we learn about the human body, the more evident it becomes that this idea has a problem.
Life never occurs under perfect conditions.
No step is the same as the previous one.
Even if we walk down the same street every day, no step is exactly the same as the previous one.
The speed changes slightly.
The surface offers small irregularities.
Fatigue comes and goes.
The wind modifies balance.
The footwear changes the information that the foot receives.
Even our emotional state influences the way we move.
The organism knows all this.
That’s why it doesn’t try to repeat an identical movement.
It tries to solve each situation in the best possible way.
Variability is not a defect.
For a long time, any difference between one step and another was interpreted as a lack of precision.
Today we know that a certain variability is a characteristic of healthy systems.
Not because the body is imprecise.
But because it has multiple strategies.
If a muscle is fatigued, others collaborate a little more.
If the ground changes, we modify the support.
If we carry a backpack, we reorganize the balance.
The ability to vary does not demonstrate a lack of control.
It demonstrates a wealth of resources.
It’s like a good musician.
He does not interpret each concert exactly the same.
He adapts to the acoustics, the instrument, and the moment without losing the essence of the work.
The body does something similar.
Perfection can become a limitation.
There is an interesting paradox.
When we try to obsessively control every detail of the movement, many times we become less efficient.
We think too much.
We constantly correct.
We seek an ideal alignment in each step.
The movement loses naturalness.
The nervous system dedicates resources to control what it previously resolved automatically.
Excessive perfection can reduce adaptability.
And a movement that cannot adapt ceases to be a good movement.
The context always rules.
Imagine that we observe a person walking barefoot on a beach.
Then we see them running to catch a bus.
Later they cross a mountain path.
And finally stroll slowly with their granddaughter by the hand.
Would we expect exactly the same technique in all those situations?
Of course not.
Each context demands different solutions.
That’s why evaluating a movement without knowing the environment is like judging a book by reading just one page.
Biomechanics needs context.
Because the body always responds to the context.
What does this have to do with barefoot?
A lot.
Sometimes barefoot is presented as if there were a single correct technique for walking or running.
I do not share that view.
A foot with greater freedom should not force us all to move the same way.
It should give us more possibilities.
More information.
More options to adapt.
The goal is not to copy a specific way of walking.
It is to expand the organism's repertoire so it can choose the most appropriate strategy in each situation.
Barefoot, when used wisely, does not impose a pattern.
It favors the exploration of many possible patterns.
What I see every day in consultation
The patients who evolve best are rarely the ones who execute each exercise perfectly from day one.
They are the ones who learn to adapt it when circumstances change.
If one day they are more tired, they reduce the load.
If a discomfort appears, they adjust the exercise without abandoning the process.
If they discover a new ability, they incorporate it naturally.
They do not seek to do it always the same.
They seek to do it with more and more criteria each time.
And that is much more valuable.
What you can do from today
The next time you walk, pay attention to something different.
Do not try to correct every step.
Observe how your body changes spontaneously when a slope, an uneven sidewalk, or a change of pace appears.
Discover how many small decisions it makes without you having to think about them.
Perhaps then you will understand that moving well is not about controlling every detail.
It is about trusting a system that has been learning to solve problems for a lifetime.
🔬 In a sentence
The quality of movement does not depend on always repeating the same gesture. It depends on having enough options to respond to each situation.
The most important idea
The human body does not seek perfect movements.
It seeks effective movements.
And effectiveness does not arise from rigidity.
It arises from the ability to adapt when the environment changes.
The more strategies the organism retains, the greater its freedom to solve new challenges.
Health does not consist of finding a single correct way to move.
It consists of not depending on just one.
A question to reflect on
Think of an activity you do frequently: walking, running, climbing stairs, or working while standing.
Do you try to repeat exactly the same movement every time… or do you allow your body to find small different solutions when the context changes?
In the next article…
We have talked about movement as a conversation between the brain, the tissues, and the environment.
But there is still a key player we have barely discussed.
Trust.
Why can two people with very similar physical abilities move in completely different ways?
Why can a strong person walk with insecurity while another person, with less strength, conveys stability?
In the next chapter we will discover that trust is also a biomechanical ability.
Because the brain does not only need prepared muscles.
It needs to believe that the body can respond when necessary.