My Pinky Toe is Giving Me Shoulder Pain?

Wait what? Yep, you read that title right.

I’ve been stoked to write this series, since I brainstormed it out a few weeks ago. It’s amazing how intricate our bodies are AND how unbelievably connected everything is too. In this series, I plan to explain to you how it is POSSIBLE that our pinky toe can be aiding with your shoulder pain.

Let’s start out with a test:

1. Stand up tall with your arms at your side
2. Ground throughout your feet, by evenly balancing out your body weight throughout the entire surface area of your foot—including your toes.
3. Now, push your RIGHT big toe into the ground, while lifting the your other four toes. Hold for 10 seconds.
4. Repeat again, but with your left foot—pushing your LEFT big toe into the ground and holding your left, four small toes above the ground.
5. Fairly easy, right?

Let’s do another test:

1. Start in the same positing as the first test—standing up tall, arms at your side, grounding through your feet.
2. On your right foot, push your four small toes into the ground, while trying to lift up your big toe. Lift the big toe as high as you can in the air. Hold it there for 10 seconds.
3. Repeat again, but on your left foot.
4. Pretty hard, right? Did you struggle more on one side than the other?Enjoying this post? Want to read the series? Subscribe below!Subscribe

What just happened?

Folks, you just experienced something awesome and it has to do with our fascial system.

What is our fascial system?

Simply put, our fascial system is a system of fibrous connective tissue that runs throughout our body housing, enclosing and connecting our internal organs and muscles.

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Think of fascial system or fascia like an orange: the flesh is our muscles and organs, the peel is our skin, and the white, fibrous layer directly underneath the skin is your fascia.

Our fascia is responsible for connecting everything together and allowing us to do gross motor movements, like swimming, which requiring firing of multiple muscle groups at one time!

What in the world does this have to do with shoulder pain?

When you performed the two tests above, you fired one of your 12 myofascial lines running throughout your body. Specifically, you fired the spinal line.

The spinal line runs from the bottom sides of your feet–up the respective leg to your hip and then CROSSES over your body heading towards the opposite shoulder and up the back of your neck.

Confused yet? 

Let me break it down for you: Since the spinal line runs from your feet to your neck and houses all our muscle groups in between—if one muscle in that line is out of whack (i.e. inflamed, pulling, or too tight)–it will pull on another part of the line.

Essentially, you could be experiencing pain in your shoulder that could be originating from something in your foot or for example, your opposing PINKY TOE!

It’s crazy, right? 

Think about it. If you have right shoulder pain, did you struggle with the tests with your left foot. If so, you should DEFINITELY stay tuned for next week’s post–where we will discuss how to alleviate shoulder pain through your spinal line, why your big toe is important, and why kicking has anything to do with this.

[CLICK HERE] to read Part II of this series!

Until Next Time,

Abbie Fish