Bits of healthful information to easily incorporate into your life…
Good health to you!
Proper Bed-Making 101 will tell you how to make your bed with square corners, tucking the top sheet tightly at the corners and around the edges.
Well, it makes a pretty bed and makes you feel cozy to be all tucked-in, so what’s wrong with that? If you have foot pain, achilles tendinitis, plantar fasciitis, ankle pain or tight calves, those tucked-in sheets may have a great deal to do with it. Of course it is always wise to get an accurate diagnosis from a medical professional to determine the cause of your pain. Information found here is not meant to take the place of treatment recommended by your doctor.
Think about the anatomy of your foot and ankle. When you stand flat on the ground with no heel to lift you, the angle of your ankle/foot is about 90° (3 o’clock). When you recline in your easy chair with your feet up, your ankle joints naturally relax to an angle of about 135° (5 o’clock). Go ahead, put your feet up to get a good visual of this. There should be nothing uncomfortable about this position, it works, it is how we are designed.
Now, looking at your relaxed ankle joints, picture sliding in between the sheets of a bed that has the top sheet tucked-in tightly at the foot. What happens to the angle of your ankle joints? Your toes are pressed firmly into a pointed position, like a ballet dancer on tip toes. Depending on how much time you spend sleeping on your back and/or stomach, your feet could remain in this unnatural position for hours.
What is happening anatomically? Besides the pressure on the joints of your ankles, this position causes the muscles in your calves to become short and the muscles along your shin bones to lengthen. For short periods of time this is no problem, but as was mentioned, if you stay in this position for an hour or hours, problems begin to appear. Problems may be most noticeable when you take your first few steps when you get out of bed as your muscles are trying to return to a normal position.
You may have slept with tucked-in sheets for years with no negative results. Good for you! But be forewarned…it may come back to bite you at any time. If you begin having any of the pains mentioned at the beginning of this article, take a look at your sheets. Set you feet free!
And of course, if these pains begin to afflict you, massage is an excellent solution ;)
Check out this helpful suggestions for your feet on my blog posts More About Your Feet…Practice your ABC’s and Are You Strangling Your Feet?
Good health to you!
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