Stopped doing ______ because your feet hurt?

“I used to have pain in the balls/arches of my feet. Then I didn't go dancing for a year and low and behold, no foot problems!”

“I used to run since I can remember. It was my way to let go of stress. But then my back started hurting so I stopped running.”

“I used to _______(fill in the blank with YOUR favorite activity).

Many people I work with share some version of this story. You stop doing something you love to avoid pain. It seems logical: Activity X makes me hurt. If I stop it, the pain stops.
And yes, on the surface, that makes total sense.

But for those of you who secretly wish you could dance, hike, play pickle ball, or return to whatever you love… I want to unpack something important.

When you stop the activity, the pattern creating the pain doesn’t disappear.
The activity is just the trigger, the last straw. It pushes your already-existing habits past their limit. It tips you over to the point of discomfort.

So yes, avoiding it keeps you “not hurting.”
But it also keeps you “not dancing”.
Not joining the urban sketchers club you’d love to draw with.
Not hauling river rocks to build a fire-pit in your vacation home.
Not doing what lights you up.
In other words… we settle.

If you’re like me, settling doesn’t sit well. You notice other people dancing for hours in high heels (or bouncing around on the pickle ball court) without a problem and think, “Is something wrong with me? Am I just too old? Are they superhuman?!”

The truth is: the pattern keeping you stuck once helped you. That’s why it developed in the first place. It served you in some past context - stress, habits, posture, confidence, family, social patterning. It’s just not serving you now.

But here’s the frustrating part:
You can’t see the pattern because it’s happening all the time, not just when you dance or run. It’s hiding in your everyday movement.

That’s why you can’t simply “fix it” on your own.

For example, in my 5 years of working with dancers, a lot of them have what I call an “extension pattern” (just to illustrate).
Even when they’re just standing in the kitchen or walking to the fridge, they’re unknowingly holding their bodies as if they’re still on the dance floor. Sometimes it comes from years of posture cues or trying to look confident.

This often leads to their weight dropping forward into the balls of their feet or chronic lower-back compression.

One of the main things I do in my practice is help people see these hidden patterns—things they can't feel yet but that are clearly visible to an experienced eye. It's a skill I’ve honed over a decade of training and hands-on work.

Sticking with the dance example, I’d help her understand this pattern while she’s barefoot, at home, without the pressure of heels or choreography. I’d teach her how to stand and push through her feet in a way that creates lift, lightness, and support. Once she learns this new way of moving, she practices it until it feels natural.

Then she puts on her heels.
And now she knows how to find support even with heels.
She can dance without foot pain or back pain.

We also work on her whole-body movement so her feet aren’t carrying strain they shouldn’t carry in the first place. Her feet stop being her “Achilles heel” 😉 and start becoming a source of power.

Most people can return to what they love within 8–10 weeks.

So the real question isn’t, “Is it possible?”
The real question is,
How much do you want to dance again? Fill in the blank with your favorite activity.

Are you okay with the “not hurting but not living fully” compromise?
Or are you craving a better way?

Here’s the bonus: the benefits go way beyond dancing (or quilting or community gardening or joining a sketching club).
When you learn a healthier way of moving, your joints age more gracefully.
You set yourself up for long-term ease and mobility.

Many people who settle because they’re “not in pain right now” don’t realize that their patterns are still quietly causing wear and tear that shows up years later.

The best time to address these things is before you’re in crisis, when your body is calm enough to learn new habits.

Unfortunately, many of us wait until the discomfort is constant or a medical test brings alarming news. Then we panic, reach for immediate fixes (meds, injections, surgeries), and often stop therewithout ever addressing the root.

If you’d like my help with this, reach out to me here. We’ll chat and see if you’re a good fit for this kind of work.

You don’t have to settle.
You don’t have to stop doing what you love.
There is a way back.