Keep Your Feet With Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) or Diabetes

So I explored ways to improve blood flow to, through, and back from, my feet, using the basic anatomy and physiology of the human foot. My background in veterinary medicine, pathology, and body-movement training sure helped with the development of my approach.

I considered what might resist the flow of blood to my feet, such as impact shock waves as I run. I then moved on to testing ways to improve venous return by flexing my feet. This causes contraction of muscles in my calves, which squeezes veins that carry blood back from my feet. Having valves, compression of veins, by muscle contraction, pumps blood back toward the heart.

Then I thought of ways to improve blood flow through feet, based on the anatomy of the human foot.

Notice the way arteries (red) lie between the long bones (metatarsals) of the foot. I thought separating these bones by separating my toes could well improve flow along these vessels. For that I used my old friends, my Yoga Toes. If you want to know more about them, follow this link to our YouTube Video.

I noted a marked improvement in foot numbness as I ran after a few weeks of Yoga Toe toe separation. There are twelve basic approaches to this problem, described in detail in my book, at this link. In spite of my work, running is still tough, but my toes are still on the ends of my feet, and they have pretty good Oxygen levels, as shown in this O2sats meter, purchased for the Covid19 pandemic.

This work, after eight years fighting peripheral artery disease, permitted me to qualify for the 2023 World Half Ironman Championships, held in Finland a few months ago. As you can see, it hurt a lot, but I finished third in my age group, 80-84.

It pays to fight back, stay fit, cross-train, and never give up.

-kev aka FitOldDog