Your feet are your foundation
Feet. They are a way we connect to our world. They serve to ground us and add stability. But with MS, your feet can go from friend to foe. Personally, my relationship to my feet has evolved over the years, fluctuating between annoyance to gratitude and back again.
In 2005 when I was diagnosed with MS my foundation was rocked (like, obviously lol). One of the many things that initial relapse affected was the sensation on my left foot. It felt numb, but not paralyzed. Kind of like I have 5 thick wool socks on making it difficult to feel my foot striking the ground.
Over the years that left foot didn’t really heal - I learned to work around it by relying on mirrors, muscle memory and visual or verbal cues when exercising to ensure my left foot hit the ground correctly.
Although I was more or less oblivious to this at the time, now reflecting back, I see how my numb foot increased the amount of disconnection I felt in my body and my world. Having the sensation of a thick layer of protection between the ground and my feet made it challenging to fully interact, perceive and feel my world around me. No wonder why balancing was hard.
Fast forward to almost 20 years and my left foot has become more numb. It hasn’t helped that I have not been exercising or moving the same way which has resulted in weakness in both my feet and my lower body overall. I feel even more disconnected, more floppy and heavy. I have less control over my movement. My confidence while moving has plummeted too.
On long walks I usually have at least 1 stumble, ankle roll, and/or foot drag that really takes me off balance (but I haven’t completely wiped out yet, knock on wood). The writing is on the wall that my feet, my stability, and the way I connect to my world is not as strong and I am feeling the effects of it.
A NOTE ON SENSES
To take a bit of a (relevant) detour, let’s chat senses. Our senses give us valuable information about our world, which our nervous system then responds too. What we see, smell, hear, touch and taste can all influence our thoughts, our emotions, our well being and our body. It’s powerful stuff.
When your brain registers a smell, a texture, a sound, a taste, or something visual, it is brought into your awareness - front and center. Think about smelling lavender when you are stressed out - it can provide instant calming and soothing vibes. Or smelling jasmine or other flowers can bring on joyful sensations. Listening to music can have a profound effect on your mood and energy. Touching something soft can usher in comfort. Texture provides contrast, making it easier to perceive if something is smooth or not. It’s all because of the power of your senses.
For example, if your foot is numb, you may not be able to feel minute differences in texture, but when touching a texture that is more pronounced your brain is able to tell a difference. When this happens your sensory receptors in that area are more or less ‘turned on’ which then puts that body part front and center in your mind - it brings it to your awareness which, when paired with movement can help reconnect the mind-muscle connection.
Knowing the struggles I have with walking and the power that lies in sensory stimulation, I decided to explore ways to stimulate my senses to positively affect my ability to move.
Enter Naboso Technology - created by Functional Podiatrist and Human Movement Specialist Dr. Emily Splichal.
Naboso’s products are the first small nerve proprioceptive insoles and mats designed to stimulate the nervous system and enhance movement quality. The texture on their products is a patented, two point stimulation - kind of like Braille. This specific stimuli (aka the height and spacing of the bumps) is designed to speak to your nervous system directly. The result is that you can move better, feel better, and have more confidence when moving through life.
USING YOUR SENSES + Why it works
As far as movement is concerned, sensory stimulation includes what we take in visually and what we touch or feel, but also includes information from our joints. We have proprioceptive receptors there - whenever we move, stand, or shift, our joints our stimulated. Then, they send out information to our brains about where our bodies are in space.
Our smart bodies then compile all this sensory information to control our posture and inform our awareness on where and how our body moves through that space. This all happens in the background, but with MS it can get jumbled and become even more muted.
But, there is hope!
As Dr. Emily explains in our LIVE Chat, which is 30 minutes of pure gold btw, Naboso’s products can take this background process and turn the volume up on it by stimulating our senses through texture. This brings those sensory cues to the foreground and our bodies can ‘hear’ it better, making it easier to understand where we are in space.
Essentially, they help make your foot placement more conscious so you can connect to it. Then, you can put it back in the background, and still maintain proper form, resulting in fluid and confident movement. How fucking cool is that?!?
The Review
I was skeptical at first, but knowing the power of senses and leaning on my background in fitness I decided to give it a try. I purchased a few things first, but then was SO impressed, I went all in.
To be clear this is not an ad. I purchased their products with my own money and am giving my honest review. And, in full disclosure, I love and believe in their stuff SO much I am an affiliate. This means you can receive 10% off their products with the code SAMTLC. Y’all know I am not going to promote things unless I firmly stand behind their mission and their products, and Dr. Emily Splichal and Naboso is the real deal.
Here’s what I got:
Insoles: to use in my sneakers, especially the ones that are more for ‘fashion’ which left me looking cute, but were lacking support so walking in them required more effort which would zap my energy. Plus my hips would hurt because I was clomping around in shoes instead of having proper form while walking. These I purchased so I could keep wearing my cute shoes, without feeling like an unstable mess.
Grippy socks: to use during Pilates because they not only have the grips on the outside, they have the same textured inside that is on the insoles. My hope was that these would help strengthen the mind muscle connection with my feet during Pilates classes and other workouts.
Foot Splays: to separate my toes at night and help with recovery. In addition to MS, I have neuromas on my feet, which can be extremely painful. Wearing the splays at night for 20 mins help open my feet up and recover after a long day. Honestly, I had major doubts about the splays, and those were all squashed after using them just a few times.
Kinesis Board: to use with simple exercises to practice my balance, strengthen my mind muscle connection, and help overall stability. To be frank, it really pisses me off my balance isn’t what it used to be. Balance is a skill though, and with practice it can improve, which is what I use the board for. There are simple exercises provided with the board, so it’s all really straightforward.
Neuro Ball: to use to simultaneously roll out my feet, massage and activate them. Plus, it splits in two and has an even smaller ball inside to provide more versatility and relief.
I said earlier I initially did one order and then was so pleased, I ordered a few more things. And truly, each of the items I got serve their own unique purpose. All the items did what they said they would do, the quality is great and the customer service is top notch.
Naboso also offers lots of free education and resources on their website and YouTube channel, which I love, because it shows that they are really invested in their customer’s success and movement journeys.
To be 100% honest, one of the biggest things I was not expecting was the confidence that came with the products!
By being able to feel my feet more, I naturally became more confident with my movement. I don’t think I even fully recognized how low my confidence was, nor did I see how it bled into other areas of my life. But now I hesitate less. I have less fear around doing basic activities. I feel less stuck and hopeless. I have agency back, and I believe that I can positively influence my movement journey, which is such a priceless feeling.
Learn More
If you read this and want to learn more, here’s where ya can go…
Naboso’s Website - don’t forget to use code SAMTLC for 10%!
The LIFT Collective x Naboso LIVE Chat
Thoughts? Questions? Feedback? Drop it in the comments!
Oh and btw for those of you with pins and needles/tingling or other forms of neuropathy…If you have concerns that Naboso’s products could exacerbate neuropath, Dr. Emily touched on this in the live. The products have been designed to affect different receptors and wake up different nerve endings in a way that does NOT exacerbate neuropathies. Yay!
