Podiatrist · Specialist in Biomechanics · Founder of VOLKAN
"Listening to the body does not mean stopping at any signal. It means learning which indicate adaptation and which ask to change the path."
"It hurts a little… should I be worried?"
It is a question that comes up very soon when someone starts a change.
Starts a exercise program.
Starts to walk again after months of inactivity.
Begins a transition to different footwear.
Or simply decides to move more.
Then a new sensation appears.
A slight discomfort.
A different fatigue.
A tension in a muscle that I barely noticed before.
And the doubt comes right away.
—Is it normal?
I like to respond with another question.
—What is that sensation trying to tell you?
Because the body does not only speak with the absence of pain.
It also speaks through sensations.
And learning to interpret them is part of the process.
Feeling does not always mean getting injured.
We live in a culture that tends to divide experiences into two categories.
Everything is perfect.
Or everything is wrong.
However, biology almost never works with that kind of extremes.
When a tissue starts to work harder than it was used to, it is logical that new sensations appear.
Not because it is breaking.
But because it is responding to a different demand.
That happens when we start training.
When we climb a mountain.
When we carry a heavy suitcase.
Or when we modify the way we walk.
The body perceives the change.
And it communicates it to us.
The issue is not to eliminate all sensations.
The issue is to understand what meaning they may have.
Pain has many nuances.
In previous chapters we talked about how pain does not always equate to injury.
Today we can add another idea.
Discomforts are not all the same.
There is an important difference between a sensation that decreases as the body adapts and one that progressively increases, limits movement, or persists long after the activity has ended.
The body does not usually express itself with a single message.
It provides information.
The intensity.
The duration.
The context in which it appears.
The evolution over the days.
All of this is part of the body's language.
And, like any language, it needs time to be learned.
Adaptation leaves clues.
When an adaptation process evolves well, something interesting usually happens.
Sensations change.
At first, some fatigue appears.
Then the movement becomes more natural.
The recovery is faster.
The confidence increases.
The activity stops requiring so much attention.
Not just a discomfort disappears.
The whole body starts to behave differently.
The adaptation is not measured only by what hurts less.
Also by everything the body becomes capable of doing again.
The fear also changes the interpretation.
Two people can feel exactly the same discomfort.
One thinks:
"My body is learning."
The other concludes:
"I am injuring myself again."
The initial sensation can be very similar.
The interpretation, completely different.
And that interpretation influences the way we move, the muscle tension, in the confidence and in the decisions we make.
It does not mean we should ignore the pain.
It means we should avoid turning every new sensation into an automatic threat.
Understanding reduces fear.
And reducing fear allows for clearer observation.
What does this have to do with barefoot?
A lot.
During a transition to barefoot footwear, it is common to notice that structures that previously participated less start to work in a different way.
The muscles of the sole of the foot.
The calves.
The Achilles tendon.
The toes.
That can generate new sensations.
No it doesn't automatically mean that the process is going wrong.
But it doesn't mean we should ignore any signals either.
The key is to observe the evolution.
Is the body adapting little by little?
Are the sensations decreasing over the days?
Is the ability to walk or run improving?
Is the recovery adequate?
Barefoot doesn't require heroes.
It requires people who can listen with discernment.
What I see every day in consultation
The patients who evolve best are not usually those who never feel any discomfort.
Nor those who continue at any cost.
They are those who learn to observe.
They adjust the load when necessary.
They maintain the activity as long as it is reasonable.
They understand that adapting doesn't mean doing everything perfectly.
It means maintaining a constant conversation with the body.
That conversation changes over time.
And the better we learn to listen to it, the better decisions we tend to make.
What you can do from today
The next time discomfort appears, avoid asking yourself just one question.
"Does it hurt?"
Ask yourself several.
When does it appear?
Does it disappear when resting?
Is it the same as yesterday or is it changing?
Can I continue moving normally?
Those answers usually provide much more information than the intensity of the discomfort alone.
Because the body speaks in complete sentences.
Not with a single word.
🔬 In a sentence
An isolated sensation says little. Its evolution over time usually says much more.
The most important idea
The organism uses sensations to inform us of how it is responding to the demands it receives.
Not all discomfort indicates a problem.
And not all discomfort should be ignored.
The difference is rarely in the isolated sensation.
It is in the context, in the evolution, and in the body's ability to continue adapting.
Listening to the organism does not mean stopping at any signal.
It means learning to distinguish between those that are part of the learning and those that invite a review of the path.
Because the goal has never been to move without feeling anything.
The goal has always been to move understanding what the body is trying to tell us.
A question to reflect on
Think about the last time you felt discomfort while exercising or changing a habit.
Did you make a decision based only on the intensity of that sensation… or did you also observe how it evolved in the hours and days that followed?
In the next article…
We already know what barefoot is, how to start a transition, and how to interpret the signals that appear during the process.
But there is still one question that I hear frequently.
Should everyone use barefoot footwear?
The answer, once again, is not a yes or a no.
It is an invitation to understand that biomechanics does not work with universal recipes, but with specific people.
In the next chapter we will discover why the best tool is not the one that works for everyone, but the one that meets the needs of that organism at that moment in its life.