Walk Straight Serialized: The Introduction

If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. ~ Wayne Dyer

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In the memory, I’m still small, but my toddler legs have lengthened. I’m on an examination table, feet hanging off the bottom, looking up at the ceiling. Mom is on my right. It’s not our first time here. The nurse and doctor hold my right leg in their hands, doctor at the top, nurse at the bottom. They begin rotating it inward as Mom looks on. They move slowly, watching me as I watch my foot and knee turn like the hand of a backward clock towards the table and then out of sight. Intimately acquainted with the way my legs move, I’m not scared. But at some point in the turning, Mom gasps and moves away so I can’t see her anymore. While the doctor holds my leg still, the nurse uses a measuring tool and reports her findings. Then they move on to my left leg. Growing up with severe congenital anteversion, otherwise known as extreme pigeon-toedness, is where Walk Straight begins. Doctors telling me from a young age what my body wouldn’t be able to do ended up setting in motion what became a trend of proving them wrong.

It didn’t start out that way. Proving them wrong. I’m not competitive by nature. At all. I’m more the super excited for whoever wins; the pie is big enough for all of us kind of gal. I simply followed my nose, first navigating the anomaly in my hips and then, along the way, managing a string of substantive injuries. At some point, though, intuition rendezvoused with logic, and I made my way to structured education and research. What my approach lacked in convention, it made up for in success, as I repeatedly defied medical expectations. First, addressing my physical challenges, and then, for over a quarter century, successfully helping countless others of all ages, shapes, and athleticism with theirs. Some people use the metaphor that they stumbled into their line of work. I literally tripped, stumbled, and broke bones into mine. A journey born organically out of necessity, developed into a surprising passion. Studying what makes a body tick was the furthest thing from my youthful ambitions. However, a series of choices mingled with several random occurrences, and voilá, I shifted away from what I grew up wanting to do, to a career path I didn’t realize at the time I’d grown up preparing for.

In the early decades, it didn’t occur to me that the steps I was taking would ensure the longevity of my spine and joints. I was simply responding to circumstances in the moment, taking things into my own hands, literally, when the outcomes Medicine offered weren’t satisfactory for my very young and optimistic mind. There is nothing like experiencing inhibition, chronic pain, and physical limits as a young person to inspire a mindset of urgency and prevention. Which, as it turned out, offered fresh insight into a field struggling to offer effective preventative measures. Depending on the source, 40-50% of U.S. adults seek medical assistance annually for chronic or intermittent back and joint pain significant enough to impact their daily lives. And that’s not even counting the countless others who don’t seek formal medical care but manage their discomfort by spending billions of dollars using over-the-counter pain relievers, non-traditional remedies, therapies, modalities, other self-care methods, and support products.

Millions of years of human evolution did not produce a body prone to dysfunction, early onset pain, and deterioration of the spine and joints. And yet, here we are. Even people who prioritize health and fitness require regular therapeutic interventions. We live in a time overflowing with information, yet joint and spine issues continue to increase by leaps and bounds across all demographics. Clearly, something is missing in the current approach. I believe it’s the same blind spot that plagues internal medicine. Our deep dive into specialties and subspecialties has led to treating the body as isolated pieces and parts rather than interconnected, synergistic systems. There is no shortage of research, but with so many potential variables at play in movement, bias in studies is simply unavoidable. As a result, it’s not unreasonable to question whether some studies are over- or under-interpreted, leading to conclusions based on correlation rather than causation, resulting in misleading and contradictory findings. We end up experiencing discomfort even when following the guidance of experts, having accepted the myth that degenerating joints and low back pain are simply par for the course.

Just as the Medical Industrial Complex depends on a steady stream of sick patients, the Musculoskeletal Industrial Complex is sustained by our chronic pain and misalignment. There’s a whole industry built on managing discomfort and selling us temporary relief instead of empowering us with long-term change. This wasn’t the aim; it simply resulted from how knowledge was accumulated and acted on. And just like with internal medicine, we need a complete reframe. When we shift from crisis response to prevention, from isolated symptoms to systems thinking, the entire picture changes. Prevention doesn’t just tweak outcomes, it transforms them. As a poster gal for transformation, I’d like to add my two cents to the conversation.

As a teacher, I’m a fan of aging. There are perks. For instance, although there’s a massive amount of content available, much of it is created by people still test-driving their bodies, which is awesome, but important details are often overlooked or dismissed as inconsequential. The long-term consequences for the joints and spine? Still TBD. Age offers insight. I’m offering a time- and road-tested perspective from an almost 60-year-old woman in a pain-free, fully mobile body that didn’t start life that way. I’m also still rocking my original hips, which I was told wouldn’t last through my 30s, and walking with my legs held straight, even though that wasn’t supposed to be possible. Along the way, I’ve turned several other physical “you won’t” predictions into “I can” outcomes. And while we’re supposedly meant to start shrinking in our 40s, I’ve grown almost an inch. Needless to say, I’m pretty stoked with the outcome and want to empower everyone with the tools that got me here!

That said, in my experience, long-term transformative empowerment is a hell of a lot easier when what you’re doing and why you’re doing it make sense. I’ve found that a relatable story that approaches the body from a fresh perspective can foster a more nuanced understanding than explanation alone. And knowing the logic behind a concept, coupled with analogies and anecdotes, makes it stickier. In other words, this isn’t your typical body book. In Sinatra’s words, I’m taking on the subject my way. In Walk Straight I examines causation through accumulation, aiming to reshape how we think about and navigate our bodies. Using an accessible narrative style, I weave together data, relevant personal stories, and observations with new concepts and detailed strategies behind my successful physical journey and those of my clients. Each chapter builds on the next, guiding the reader back to the beginning to find straightforward answers seemingly lost in plain sight. I explore what I believe are overlooked drivers behind the premature breakdown of our joints and spine, along with techniques to identify and harness our innate movement systems, and a framework to integrate them into daily life. Walk Straight turns every day movement into an opportunity to reset and reinforce our joints and spine rather than unknowingly undermining them. Sometimes, all it takes is a shift in perspective or a nugget of information considered in a new light to spark the ah-ha moment that changes everything.

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Chapter One Drops Tomorrow!

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Rub your feet! Often! Dare I say nightly! It's one of the greatest gifts you'll ever give yourself!