What do a foot fetish and pain have in common?

Can you feel your feet right now? 

I’m serious-check. 

Keep them still, and don’t look down.  

What do they feel like? 

Tingling? 

Heat?

Cold?  

Pulsing? 

Pressure?

Pain?  

…or nothing at all? 

If you feel very little, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there. But if it’s hard for you to feel your feet, keep reading.

We have a map of the body in the brain. It’s called the homunculus, which is latin for “little man.” Our inner human looks really weird. They  have very large hands, a massive face. Genitalia? Let’s just say… disproportionate.  Every part of our body has a place on this map. When we move our arm, the arm in the brain sparks first up. Stub your toe? As you swear and rub your foot, fireworks go off in your brain. The coolest part is this map isn’t fixed. It shifts and changes in response to life. Parts grow larger, smaller, or even disappear alltogether! (don’t worry, you can get it back!)  If we have pain for a long time that part in the brain can grow!. This creates a feedback loop that leads to more pain. When this happens it’s time to trick the brain. 

A story about a sensitive bladder: A few years ago a client came to see me with an overactive bladder.  She was going pee 5 times in an hour juts before bed, and would wake up every hour.  Imagine every other rest stop on the highway. Planning outings around the next bathroom break.  Because of a history of sexual trauma, she could not do the usual physical therapy. How do you help the pelvis without touching the pelvis? Look at the pelvis’s next door neighbor- the feet!  I asked her the same question I asked you- could she feel her feet? This became her homework. She felt the feet in bed when she needed to urinate. She did walking meditation during the day. “Feel the way your foot touches the floor, feel the way the heel lifts as you roll onto your toes.” By lighting up the feet in the brain, the sensations spilled over to the neighboring pelvis, helping her overactive bladder calm down. 

The coolest part about this? It can also can work when we are having fun in the bedroom. Think about a foot fetish!  The proximity of the foot and pelvis in the brain is probably why some folks are very into feet. Here’s a practical takeaway: if you have pelvic pain with intimacy, having a foot massage as a warmup might help.