May the Sun Shine on Your Shoulders

May the burdens of the day rest lightly upon you.

When it comes to the care and keeping of your shoulders, I’d like to suggest you consider them as beautiful, inside and out. I feel that way about all of you, of course. There’s so much more to a person than the sum of their body parts. But with shoulders, I feel the need to more strongly make that point. Shoulders can look so broad, but still be so frail. They can form a united front with brothers, but also freeze. They can be stood on, rested on, and cried on, but they can also carry around an ugly chip that gets in the way. Hair tumbles down over them or they are bare; either way, they are sexy. And they say so much about us. Curved forward is different than held back at attention; shrugging is different than shimmying.

Yep, there’s a lot more to shoulders than meets the eye. Take their location, midway between your brain and your heart. Right there in the middle of all those nerves, all that breath and blood! The shoulder joint is pretty miraculous, a lot like the miracle of opposing thumbs. Because of our shoulders we don’t need giraffe necks or elephant trunks or alligator tails. Our homosapien shoulder joint works for us.

But its possibilities, arising from all that range of motion and flexibility, also lead to its potential demise—as a major joint, it seems like maybe it coulda shoulda been built a bit stronger, considering all it does. Ask a major league pitcher. Or a volleyball player. Shoulder injuries hurt. Bad. Then again, too much sinew might take away from some of the shoulder’s glorious freedoms. It’s the most flexible joint with the biggest range of motion. So, like a lot of great things, shoulders must be strong and liberated to be at their best. Atlas holds the world, after all, on his shoulders.

How about you? How much weight do you tend to carry on your shoulders, and how well do you seem to manage it? Please think about this question both literally and viscerally. With shoulders being so valuable on so many levels, it's about time we picked them. Let’s look at some of the small tweaks and bigger fixes you can make to honor your beautiful shoulders, inside and out.

“God gave burdens; also shoulders.” –Yiddish Proverb

I love this saying. Regardless of any spiritual bent, or not, and whatever your proclaimed faith might be, or not, doesn’t that quote just ring true to the core? Buddhists say life is suffering but enlightenment is the path out of suffering and into peace. Taoists tell us to let nature take its course and ask us to be strong enough not to control everything. Personal trainers want us to know that strong shoulder muscles help protect us from injury. The bottom line: there will always be work for you to do, obstacles for you to overcome, and people you need to help, including yourself. And you will. And you’ll be better for it. Build your shoulder up and offer it to ease the burdens of others, but don’t forget…

“He who lets the goat be laid on his shoulders is soon after forced to carry the cow.” –Italian Proverb

If you take everything upon yourself, your shoulders will eventually weaken. But people won’t know it because you keep taking everything on, and so in their ignorance they will try to put more on there than you can reasonably be expected to handle. That is unhealthy for you. It’s quite healthy and acceptable seek the shoulder of another when your burdens have been weighing you down. Think about someone you’ve never helped out or lent a hand or an ear to, never sympathized with, or did a favor, or forgave. How close do you feel to that person? Giving and receiving help is what bonds us in a very real way.

“From birth, man carries the weight of gravity on his shoulders. He is bolted to earth. But man has only to sink beneath the surface and he is free.” –Jacques Cousteau

Outstanding advice from the guru of the sea. Water is a most wonderful workout for shoulders. Actually, many of our nasty joints (hips, low backs, knees) respond beautifully to water, for the very reason Jacques has stated here. It unbolts you, frees you from gravity, both supports you and sets you in motion. When you are set in motion, you tend to heal yourself. If you have a bad shoulder, get in the water as soon as the doctor clears you, it's therapy for life.

“I like a woman with a head on her shoulders. I hate necks.” –Steve Martin

Well, that one is mostly for fun. Laugh–it relieves tension! Tension relief is invaluable to the whole of you, but your shoulders and neck especially. The trapezius muscle is ginormous, connecting the base of your skull to the backs of your shoulders to the upper and middle parts of your ribs. When the upper trapezius gets tense, your neck and shoulders mess up. When your neck and shoulders are messed up, certain areas of the upper trapezius (“traps”) will get tense. Headaches may happen. Range of motion diminishes. You’re not in good shape if you can’t lower your head, turn your neck or lift your arm, right?

Massage works wonders. Roll out tight spots with a tennis ball or rolling pin. If you’re painting a room or moving stuff onto shelves or climbing rocks or wearing football or hockey pads all day, your traps need relief even before your shoulders and neck start screaming at you the next day. If you’re up for it, a bit of chiropractic care will often cure what ails you in this region. And quit it with the huge heavy purse or phone being held in one ear. Please stretch the traps regularly and don’t over work them. Start attending to this now, then maintain it. You’ll avoid much misery, I promise.

This Little Piggy Went Wee Wee Wee

Poor ole' feet.

They're at the bottom. All that impact, every day...all that upright energy draining down into them...just look at the noble way they carry you across this earth your whole lifetime, and still, hardly anyone seems to truly appreciate the beautiful, complex structure of their feet.

Your feet are like the high-pressured iron core beneath the molten rock and magma of your body, far below the crust at the surface with all it's pretty landscape and wonderous resources. They were made for the job, and sadly, might be pretty beaten down by the job. So lowly and underrated. What about the proper care and keeping of your feet?

It's no wonder so many people like pampered footsie things like rubs and pedicures. Think about that: pedi = of the feet and cure = fix or heal. It's no surprise Jesus fell for the lady who bathed his feet and visa versa. Of course business girls in short skirts and long jackets like to kick off those pumps at the end of the day and have someone bring them a nice foot pillow and some peppermint oil.

You've got 20 muscles in just one foot! 1/4 of ALL the bones in your entire body are in your feet! Yet, I find that most people will walk around with a certain amount of foot pain and/or podiatric problems their entire adult life, as if it's normal, and never even think seriously about doing something to correct it, until it's practically debilitating. Why is this?

I dunno. Probably because your feet might keep functioning even under extreme duress. If you're losing your eyesight, eventually you can't read or drive so you have to go get your eyes checked and you have to get your vision corrected. With feet, not so dire, maybe. People have really curly toes and overlapping ones, too, bones that stick out and rub against their shoes, nerves that are compressed and send zinging pain up from between the toe bone...and they kinda just live with that. Corns and calluses are self-treated and regularly messed up--but, in comparison to the eyesight analogy, I guess you can only squint for so long? So the feet lose out. No wonder that little piggy cried all the way home. Your feet deserve more.

Pick Your Piggies
There really is a trickle up effect when it comes to toes, ankles, gait, knees, hips and posture, and they all affect balance and physical performance. (Not to mention, quality of life!) But a lot of people are so very quick to dismiss the idea of doing foot exercises, or seeing a foot specialist, or even using a foot spa. It all seems so indulgent. You'll put conditioner in your hair everyday and go get it trimmed, even colored, several times a year (hair which feels no pain in its disrepair), but won't bother to bend over and pumice those heels, or perhaps have those fallen arches checked out by a foot doctor at least once this year.

Now this isn't meant to be a lecture to make you look down at your feet and feel bad for overlooking them. (Although, you might, because maybe you've been ignoring the amazing feats of the feet and spending way more time on body parts closer to your field of vision.) Instead, this is meant to remind you (and me! I'm not big on foot care myself) that we can easily get into the habit of acknowledging how our feet handle all the pavement they've covered for us. A little extra massage here and there, put your feet up once in a while, and how about investing a couple of shoe inserts if you need them?

YOUR SHOES. Rid your life of all toxic footwear. We shall NOT wear uncomfortable shoes! Period. If you use fitness shoes for anything from running to tennis to Zumba, get good ones that feel supportive, but not like cement. If you work out regularly, you'll probably need a pair at least every year, every 6 months if you're putting a lot of miles on.

Also, if you're not actively stretching and strengthening your feet doing things like walking around barefoot and tippy-toeing and flexing them back once in a while, why not start now? Foot therapy is simple and it can happen when you're sitting down doing other things like watching TV or getting out of bed slowly on Sunday or taking a nice warm bath.

So there you go. It's time to pick your feet. But don't pick your toenails because you might get an ingrown one and those really hurt. They get infected easily and you should really have a professional deal with them. Also don't pick your feet as a nervous habit at, like, a barbecue. It's gross. This Little Piggy had Roast Beef is just a figure of speech.