The Way You Move Tells a Story: What the Feet Can Tell Us About the Body & Nervous System with Dr. Jen Perez

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What if the way you walk, stand, load your feet—or even grip the ground—is telling a story about far more than your feet? This is not simply an episode about foot pain. In fact, you don’t need to have foot pain at all to get something from this conversation.

Today I’m joined by Dr. Jen Perez of Gait Happens, a chiropractor whose work centers around functional movement, biomechanics, gait and lower-extremity assessment, for a fascinating conversation about what the feet can reveal when we stop looking at them in isolation. We talk mechanics, gait, loading, recoil, footwear, and orthotics—but we also go somewhere conversations about the feet rarely go: the nervous system.

How might fear change the way we move? What does compensation tell us about what the body has adapted to? Can our mental and emotional experiences influence the way the body moves, protects, and holds on? And what happens when a diagnosis stops being something we have and slowly becomes part of who we believe we are?

Gait Happens has spent the last decade helping change the conversation around foot health, filling a much-needed gap in education and challenging us to think beyond the conventional, isolated approach to pain and dysfunction.

In this episode:

  • Why foot pain isn’t always simply a foot problem
  • The two-way relationship between the feet and the rest of the body
  • The fascinating connection between the feet, gait, and nervous system
  • What the way someone walks and carries themselves can tell us
  • Surprising signs of fight-or-flight that may show up through the feet
  • Fear of movement and how pain can change the way we move
  • Adaptation, compensation, and the body’s ability to protect
  • The mental and emotional components of pain
  • Why language matters when talking about pain and the body
  • Gait, loading, recoil, and healthy foot mechanics
  • Footwear as a tool (not a universal prescription)
  • The nuance around orthotics and individual needs
  • What Dr. Jen looks for in footwear
  • Building capacity and resilience rather than simply chasing symptoms

Connect with Dr. Jen & Gait Happens:

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This episode is for informational purposes only. Please consult a trusted health practitioner for individual concerns.

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