We reached the foot of Ah Pek Hill at 7.10 am and started trekking until 8.35 am. It was quite an experience as a certain stretch of the track is as steep as about 30 degrees. We didn't make it to the hill top (too tiring for first-timers) but reached Station 2 only. There were many trekkers, young and old, uncles and aunties. Very impressed with all these health-conscious people.
Although the trekking made me pant quite heavily, besides the inevitable sweating, especially on the uphill journey, I felt fresh and happy after the exercise. I will definitely go again!It was found that the slideshow was originally posted in the blog of Taiwanese Dr Chang Chung-gwo back in December 30, 2008 (see http://chang-chung-gwo.blogspot.com/2008/12/5.html).
The gist of the slide is about the “Benefit of Walking to Improve Health and Fitness”. Two famous quotations were referred to as follows:
1. “Walking is man's best medicine” by Hippocrates, Greek physician and Western “Father of Medicine” (460 BC - 377 BC); and
2. “Human foot is the second heart” by Dr Paul Dudley White (1886 – 1973), American cardiologist and physician to former President Dwight D. EisenhowerIt was stressed that the leg is an indicator of the quality of life and human aging begins from the legs. A question was posed that much emphasis has been placed on the importance of cardiopulmonary exercise, but what good does it have if the legs are rendered immobile in spite of one having the strongest heart and lung functions? Also, what kind of sports can match walking which has no burden, burns calories and can be carried out anytime anywhere in our daily life?
It is recommended to carry out a simple “Toe Movement Exercise” as follows:
Step 1: Relax your feetStep 2: Toes curl down, exercise the digitorum tendon
Step 3: Force the toes upward and sideways
One should also practice a daily 5-minute “Foot Protection Exercise” by moving the sole of the foot on the ground or trying to grip a towel with the toes.An interesting point made by the guy who prepared the slide (not from the original blog content) is: “To be able to grab things is God’s fundamental design purpose for the feet”.
腳趾的運動步驟:
第一步:放鬆雙腳
第二步:腳趾向下捲曲，鍛鍊曲趾肌腱;可避免蹠骨露出產生”蹠痛”
第三步:將腳趾用力向上，並往旁邊伸展鍛鍊外展及伸趾肌腱，可避免拇指外翻。
很多人都強調鍛鍊心肺功能的重要，卻沒有想過缺少了雙腳的移動能力，就算有再強的心肺功能，又能怎樣？
腳是生活品質的一項指標，而人的老化也是由雙腿開始，所以，我們是否也可以更積極地為腳做些什麼？
根據一項加拿大的研究發現一個有趣的現象--都市發展程度較高都會中居住的人和相較之下發展較低的鄉鎮居民身體比起來，都市人反而更加健康--這是不是跟我們一般人理解恰好相反呢？
該篇論文解釋這是由於高度發展都會中的大眾運輸工具發達，人們習慣搭乘大眾運輸工具上下班，無形當中走路的機會反而比自己開車的人增多，身體自然也就更加健康。
一個社會對「腳」的重視，可以看作一個社會對生活品質的重視。
很多人都強調鍛鍊心肺功能的重要，卻沒有想過缺少了雙腳的移動能力，就算有再強的心肺功能，你又能到哪去體驗這個豐富的世界呢？
5 分鐘護「腳」運動
總而言之，我們應該要常常訓練自己的腳掌跟腳趾頭，每天至少花五分鐘讓腳踏在土地上（或是踏在地板上也行）動一動，或是試著用腳趾夾毛巾，以維持腳的機能健康。因為腳趾頭連結著許多肌腱，如果缺乏使用，很可能造成許多後天的毛病，如開張足、後天性扁平足等。這就好像你有一部四輪傳動的車子，你卻總是只使用兩輪傳動，久而久之，缺乏使用的四輪傳動系統就會不靈光了。動動你的腳丫子，試試看你的腳趾頭能不能往下捲曲？能不能張開所有的腳趾頭？如果你沒辦法輕易做到以上這些動作，可能因為長期疏於照護，已經有腳部內外肌肉不平衡的問題了！沒關係，從現在開始也不遲，每天花 5分鐘讓腳趾做做健康操，善用「他」原始精緻的功能設計。
走路是人類最好的醫藥
再者，若能養成「健走」的運動習慣就更好了，因為走路在幾千年前就被醫學之父希波克拉提斯稱為「人類最好的醫藥」，已有許多研究證實，有規律的健走計劃，可增進身體所有部位的健康。因為跑步與走路二者之間是完全不同的步態，仔細觀察你會發現，跑步有時候會兩腳同時離地，而走路不會，兩者之間的壓力負擔相差了三倍。
美國總統艾森豪的心臟外科主治醫生保羅‧懷特博士，也提出了「腳是第二心臟」的說法；所謂人的老化是由雙腿開始，鍛練雙腿可以預防衰老。想想看，還有哪一種運動能比得上走路，既無負擔又耗能 ( 人體有六百條肌肉，大部分集中在下半身 )，還能分散開在生活當中隨時運動呢？
動物與植物最大的區別就在於行動能力，身體的設計就是用來走動的，活著就應該像一句威士忌廣告詞一樣 ── KEEP WALKING，就讓我們站起身來邁開腳步，開始以走路、做腳趾運動擁抱美好人生吧。
(Courtesy of a forwarded mail from David Chen)