It’s no secret that many fashionable shoes are less healthy for your feet than Birkenstocks, Naturalizers, and plain old running shoes. But did you know that even those running shoes could be the source of your joint pain?
My Dad subscribes to a great magazine The Week that provides “the best of the U.S. and International media”. It’s a great compilation of all the best articles published each week in the worlds prestigious news publications. One particular article really hit me, and even convinced me to purchase new shoes (which are unfortunately on backorder).
Did I mention they’re eco-friendly?
I didn’t just take this one article to heart and buy a new pair of shoes. I did my research to confirm the facts. And what I found is quite astonishing. We are ruining our feet, going against our own evolution for fashion and beauty. Men aren’t excluded from this trend, either.
Researchers have concluded that indigenous populations who go shoe-less have healthier feet - the healthiest, in fact - compared to Europeans (the habitual shoe wearers) who have the least healthy feet. Just as chairs with unnatural curvatures (most chairs) condition us to develop poor posture, shoes condition us to develop a poor gait.
Def. GAIT: a manner of walking or moving on foot
If you look at the anatomy of the foot you’ll see that the foot has 26 bones, which means there are a lot of joints in the foot. The foot is very mobile, and is controlled by two sets of muscles - intrinsic foot muscles (muscles within the foot itself), and extrinsic foot muscles (muscles that travel beyond the foot and attach both in the foot and at the knee). This simple explanation of the anatomy of the foot will work for our purposes.
The multiplicity of bones in the foot allows the foot to be very mobile. When we learn to walk as babies (barefoot), we naturally “roll through the foot”. We step first on the heel, move the weight to the outside of the foot, through the arch, onto the metatarsals, and through the full length of the toes. Shoes prevent this mobility. Instead of rolling through the foot, shoes limit our movement. To compensate, the design of the toes is lifted up to provide an extra spring to help the foot “rock forward” to propel the next step.
It surprised me to learn that even running shoes support artificial walking. In fact, the more expensive the shoe the more padding and unnatural amenities, leading to an increase in injury. Wearers of cheaper harder soled running shoes are far less likely to develop injury. Very interesting indeed.
Foot care is often neglected. We take special care of our teeth, our bones, and exercise all the other muscles in the body. But what about our poor feet? Shoes have weakened the intrinsic and extrinsic muscles of the feet, caused bone deformities (bunions, for example), and have generally caused the rest of our bodies to rest in constant misalignment.
Unless you’ve sprained your ankle or broken a bone in the foot, I doubt you’ve ever learned exercises to help take care of your feet. I’m going to show you a few ways to treat your feet to the healthy care they deserve.
- Go barefoot
- Keep your toenails trimmed (prevent ingrown toenails)
- Wear socks with your running shoes (prevent fungal and bacterial growth)
- Women: invest in cute fashionable flats! Heels shorten your Achilles tendon
- When it comes to running shoes, choose all stars, not new balance
- Check out these three websites when shopping for new shoes
- http://www.vivobarefoot.com/
- http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/
- http://www.swissmasaius.com
TRY THESE EXERCISES:
Doming
Doming exercises are simple foot exercises meant to strengthen the metatarsal. One can sit on the floor or on a chair (on a chair is easier) and place the feet plat on the floor. From there one domes the metatarsal of the foot, creating almost a suction cup position with the metatarsal of the foot to the floor. The toes spread as the middle metatarsal joint is lifted up on the floor, drawing the toes closer to the heel (they are still outstretched).
Theraband Grab
This exercise can be done while sitting on a chair with the feet flat on the floor. One will place a theraband or light towel underneath the metatarsal. One will use the same muscles that are used to dome the foot to spread the toes, grab the theraband, and pull it inwards. Repeat this action until the theraband is pulled all the way in.
Ankle Stirs
Ankle stirs begin with the practitioner lying on their back with both knees bent. The hands should be placed around one knee, pulling the knee slightly towards the chest. The other knee will be bent at a greater angle with the foot relaxed. One must be careful not to tuck under in this position. From here, the ankle should move in circles clockwise and counterclockwise. During this exercise, the toes are not used. The objective is to find the full range of motion in the ankle joint and to strengthen the muscles in the ankle.
Doming and Pointing
One must assume the starting position of the ankle stirs. From here, one will dome the working foot, creating space underneath the metatarsal and curling the toes under as if curling the toes around a pencil. From here the toes will flex back. Then one will roll through the foot (heel-ball-toe) to a pointed position and roll through the foot (heel-ball-toe) to a flexed position. The entire sequence will repeat. After the appropriate number of repetitions, one should stretch the leg with the foot flexed, pointing the heel to the ceiling (making sure not to shift in the hips) and rotate to a turned out position from the hip socket. The exercise must be repeated on the other foot.
It’s no secret that many fashionable shoes are less healthy for your feet than Birkenstocks, Naturalizers, and plain old running shoes. But did you know that even those running shoes could be the source of your joint pain?
My Dad subscribes to a great magazine The Week that provides “the best of the U.S. and International media”. It’s a great compilation of all the best articles published each week in the worlds prestigious news publications. One particular article really hit me, and even convinced me to purchase new shoes (which are unfortunately on backorder).
Did I mention they’re eco-friendly?
I didn’t just take this one article to heart and buy a new pair of shoes. I did my research to confirm the facts. And what I found is quite astonishing. We are ruining our feet, going against our own evolution for fashion and beauty. Men aren’t excluded from this trend, either.
Researchers have concluded that indigenous populations who go shoe-less have healthier feet - the healthiest, in fact - compared to Europeans (the habitual shoe wearers) who have the least healthy feet. Just as chairs with unnatural curvatures (most chairs) condition us to develop poor posture, shoes condition us to develop a poor gait.
Def. GAIT: a manner of walking or moving on foot
If you look at the anatomy of the foot you’ll see that the foot has 26 bones, which means there are a lot of joints in the foot. The foot is very mobile, and is controlled by two sets of muscles - intrinsic foot muscles (muscles within the foot itself), and extrinsic foot muscles (muscles that travel beyond the foot and attach both in the foot and at the knee). This simple explanation of the anatomy of the foot will work for our purposes.
The multiplicity of bones in the foot allows the foot to be very mobile. When we learn to walk as babies (barefoot), we naturally “roll through the foot”. We step first on the heel, move the weight to the outside of the foot, through the arch, onto the metatarsals, and through the full length of the toes. Shoes prevent this mobility. Instead of rolling through the foot, shoes limit our movement. To compensate, the design of the toes is lifted up to provide an extra spring to help the foot “rock forward” to propel the next step.
It surprised me to learn that even running shoes support artificial walking. In fact, the more expensive the shoe the more padding and unnatural amenities, leading to an increase in injury. Wearers of cheaper harder soled running shoes are far less likely to develop injury. Very interesting indeed.
Foot care is often neglected. We take special care of our teeth, our bones, and exercise all the other muscles in the body. But what about our poor feet? Shoes have weakened the intrinsic and extrinsic muscles of the feet, caused bone deformities (bunions, for example), and have generally caused the rest of our bodies to rest in constant misalignment.
Unless you’ve sprained your ankle or broken a bone in the foot, I doubt you’ve ever learned exercises to help take care of your feet. I’m going to show you a few ways to treat your feet to the healthy care they deserve.
TRY THESE EXERCISES:
Doming
Doming exercises are simple foot exercises meant to strengthen the metatarsal. One can sit on the floor or on a chair (on a chair is easier) and place the feet plat on the floor. From there one domes the metatarsal of the foot, creating almost a suction cup position with the metatarsal of the foot to the floor. The toes spread as the middle metatarsal joint is lifted up on the floor, drawing the toes closer to the heel (they are still outstretched).
Theraband Grab
This exercise can be done while sitting on a chair with the feet flat on the floor. One will place a theraband or light towel underneath the metatarsal. One will use the same muscles that are used to dome the foot to spread the toes, grab the theraband, and pull it inwards. Repeat this action until the theraband is pulled all the way in.
Ankle Stirs
Ankle stirs begin with the practitioner lying on their back with both knees bent. The hands should be placed around one knee, pulling the knee slightly towards the chest. The other knee will be bent at a greater angle with the foot relaxed. One must be careful not to tuck under in this position. From here, the ankle should move in circles clockwise and counterclockwise. During this exercise, the toes are not used. The objective is to find the full range of motion in the ankle joint and to strengthen the muscles in the ankle.
Doming and Pointing
One must assume the starting position of the ankle stirs. From here, one will dome the working foot, creating space underneath the metatarsal and curling the toes under as if curling the toes around a pencil. From here the toes will flex back. Then one will roll through the foot (heel-ball-toe) to a pointed position and roll through the foot (heel-ball-toe) to a flexed position. The entire sequence will repeat. After the appropriate number of repetitions, one should stretch the leg with the foot flexed, pointing the heel to the ceiling (making sure not to shift in the hips) and rotate to a turned out position from the hip socket. The exercise must be repeated on the other foot.