I rebuilt my body from the feet up.

I grew up an athlete. Then came a hip injury in high school, a hamstring pull, and the compensations that followed. My hips and core shifted to one side and stayed there. It was bad shoes, but also early-life injuries that just kept stacking and stacking until I became glass.

Athlete to desk. Out of bed, the lower back ached, the knee said good morning and the hips click-clacked through the first steps. The Tin Man, each morning. Every answer I got looked at the part that hurt.

When I finally looked down, my feet turned out, my big toes pointed in toward the second toe and my arches were flat. Everything above was organising itself around that.

So I stood in front of a mirror, pointed my feet straight, pressed the big toes down, lifted the arches, closed my eyes and felt. What pulled was tight: my right outer quad and right glute. What couldn’t hold was weak: my left inner thigh and my side glutes. One-sided, which in my experience is common. That map is the self-test on every guide on this site.

Toe spacers, wide shoes and daily foot work got my big toe moving away from the others and pressing down again. It felt almost like relearning how to walk.

From finding the method to feeling fixed took me two to three years. I hit plateaus. I got worse before I got better: when I opened up my posture, back muscles that had been bracing for years got angry, and as my feet turned in, my inner knees ached until my inner thighs got strong enough to take the load.

It paid off. I feel fixed, and my calves are finally getting bigger, because the big toe pressing down switches the inner calf on. I would have killed for this knowledge in high school.

It took me years to find what to fix first. A few photos can show the pattern in minutes: feet turned out, a tipped pelvis, a head forward of the shoulders. The app reads six photos, scores five areas from the feet up and gives you the first fix. It’s free for now, and your photos are never kept on our servers.

It’s for weekend warriors, former athletes and Sunday-league players who want to keep playing, and who are tired of mixed messages about their knees, hips and backs. Start with the three leaks, or a guide like how to fix duck feet.

Get it first

I’m not a doctor or a physiotherapist. I’m a former athlete who rebuilt his own body and spent years learning why it worked. From the Feet Up is movement coaching, not medical advice. If something is sharp, severe, numb or getting worse, see a professional.

From the Feet Up is run by Janissaries LLC, Arizona.

Not affiliated with From The Feet Up podiatry in Perth, Australia.