at my first physical therapy appointment i had to stand on my bad foot with my eyes closed. i flunked. the therapist then asked me to do it on my good foot. i still flunked. then she tested me for flexibility. i flunked.

when i go to the gym i usually do a weight routine and sometimes hit the bike for awhile (skipping the treadmill and the eliptical because of my foot and skipping the stretching because i prefer to look dorky in private rather than at the gym.)

so what did my physical therapist prescribe to help my foot problem? mostly balance and stretching exercises (as well as some things to strengthen some weak parts of my foot/ankle).

with a big smile on her face my physical therapist asked me when i'd last walked along a wall or played hopscotch. maybe i need to eat some of those kalonji (from yesterday's first blog) because i'm totally amnesiac on when i last played hopscotch. she explained that there are mind/body connections involved in balance that we all need to be developing and there are tiny muscles that are used in balance that we need to be strengthening.

now when my coffee is brewing or i'm talking on the phone i practice balance by standing on one foot for 30 seconds (eyes open) and then switch (3 sets each foot) or i stretch.

and wherever i go these days i pull out a little soapbox and stand on it (on both feet) and proclaim to the world that balance and flexibility are important. (this last exercise isn't to help my bad foot. rather it's my way of passing on this important stuff i learned in pt.)

hmmm, if i really had a soapbox what kind of soapbox would i have? if i actually stood on said soapbox i'd be advertising/endorsing the soap while standing on the box. i think that's a blog for another day.

what's your current soapbox topic? and how did it get to be your soapbox topic? and what kind of soapbox would you use?

it's supposed to go up to the upper 80's today and i've got to go clean off the last piece of my deck furniture from the winter grunge before it gets to hot. so i'm outta here.