Podiatrist · Specialist in Biomechanics · Founder of VOLKAN
"The force drives movement. Confidence decides how much of that movement the brain is willing to allow."
"I don't know why… but I no longer trust my ankle"
It's a phrase I hear often.
The injury occurred months ago.
The pain has practically disappeared.
The mobility is good.
The strength has improved.
However, when it comes time to go down some stairs quickly or walk on uneven ground, doubt arises.
The foot wavers.
The step shortens.
The body becomes stiffer.
The patient often says:
—It's as if my ankle still doesn't inspire confidence.
And, in reality, that is exactly what is happening.
It is not the ankle that distrusts.
It is the brain that is still not completely convinced it can respond if something unexpected happens.
Confidence is also part of biomechanics.
When we think of movement we often imagine muscles, joints, or tendons.
But there is another equally important variable.
Expectation.
Before every movement, the brain makes a prediction.
It calculates whether it has enough resources to solve the task.
It does not wait for the problem to appear.
It anticipates it.
If you believe that the body can adapt, it allows for wide and fluid movement.
If it senses uncertainty, it reduces the margin of action.
Not because it wants to limit us.
But because it tries to increase the chances of success.
Confidence is not optimism.
It is a biological estimate.
The organism remembers experiences.
Imagine that you twist an ankle going down a path.
Even though the tissue heals weeks later, that experience remains recorded.
The next time you descend a similar terrain, the brain will remember what happened.
Not to punish you.
But to prepare you.
It may slightly increase muscle tension.
It may reduce speed.
It may make you look more at the ground.
All of that is normal strategies.
The problem arises when that initial caution is never updated.
Then the organism continues to behave as if the risk were the same, even though reality has changed.
Confidence is built, not ordered.
No one regains confidence simply by telling themselves:
"It's nothing."
The nervous system needs proof.
It needs repeated experiences that demonstrate the body can respond.
Every step without pain.
Every support stable.
Every movement successfully executed.
Every small challenge overcome.
All of this modifies the prediction that the brain makes.
Confidence does not appear suddenly.
It is built just like any other adaptation.
Little by little.
Fear and confidence are not enemies.
Sometimes we talk about fear as if it were something to be eliminated.
I don't think so.
Fear also protects.
It makes us more cautious when there is a real risk.
The problem is not feeling fear.
The problem arises when the brain maintains that state of alert long after the danger has disappeared.
Confidence does not consist of ignoring risks.
It consists of learning to distinguish real risks from memories that still influence the way we move.
What does this have to do with barefoot?
A lot.
When starting a transition to more flexible footwear, it is common to feel some insecurity.
The foot receives more information.
The terrain is perceived differently.
The supports change.
The body needs to check that it can manage this new situation.
That’s why a well-planned transition not only strengthens muscles.
It also strengthens confidence.
Every walk made comfortably.
Every terrain explored without problems.
Every adaptation achieved.
It tells the brain something very important.
"We can do this."
And that phrase profoundly changes the way of moving.
What I see every day in consultation
There are patients whose greatest improvement does not appear when they gain strength.
It appears the day they stop thinking constantly about the area that worried them.
They go back to walking while conversing.
They go up a curb without analyzing each step.
They play with their children without calculating each movement.
It does not mean that the body is perfect.
It means that the brain trusts it again.
And that trust frees up resources that were previously dedicated to monitoring.
Moving stops being an exam.
It becomes something natural again.
What you can do from today
Think of a movement that you used to do easily and that you now do with some insecurity.
Do not try to recover it all at once.
Look for a simpler version.
More controlled.
More progressive.
Allow your body to accumulate small experiences of success.
Trust does not grow thanks to a single act of bravery.
It grows thanks to many repeated experiences that the brain interprets as safe.
🔬 In a sentence
Trust is the expectation that the brain has that the body will be able to respond when movement is needed.
The most important idea
Movement does not depend solely on what the body can do.
It also depends on what the brain believes the body can do.
That difference explains why two people with very similar physical abilities can move in completely different ways.
One does it with fluidity.
The other with rigidity and caution.
Not because their muscles are very different.
But because their expectations are different too.
Confidence does not replace training.
But it allows for much better utilization of everything that training has built.
A question to reflect on
Think of a movement that you perform today with some caution.
Is the limitation really in your tissues… or in the confidence that your brain has in them after everything experienced?
In the next article…
So far we have talked about muscles, tendons, brain, learning, and confidence.
But we still have not focused on an idea that runs through all the previous ones.
Movement does not belong to a single part of the body. It is a conversation between systems.
In the next chapter we will discover why trying to understand a knee without looking at the foot, a hip without observing the breath, or a pain without knowing the context is like trying to understand an orchestra by listening to a single instrument.
Because modern biomechanics no longer studies isolated pieces.
It studies relationships.