Walk This Way

𝘋𝘐𝘚𝘊𝘓𝘈𝘐𝘔𝘌𝘙: 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘋𝘰𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵.

There’s no better feeling than your bare feet against the soft ground, your toes squishing in the mud and the great connection you feel with the earth. No matter how you feel about walking barefoot, the evidence shows that we were not meant to wear the types of footwear that are commonplace today.

In the grand scheme of things, footwear is a relatively recent invention. Modern footwear is almost certainly hurting your feet! Modern shoes are certainly worse for your feet than the shoes your ancestors used to wear. Your shoes are likely forcing you to walk with an unnatural gait, deforming your feet – Chinese foot binding anyone? The majority of people wearing shoes will experience knee and foot pain often related to the shoes they are wearing, never knowing that they could often alleviate this pain through using appropriate footwear.

Most foot related issues and many issues with the knees and hips can be traced back to standard footwear in some way. Whether you know it or not, many adults have feet that aren’t anything like what nature intended. Most people purchase shoes out of convenience, comfort or the way they look. The problem with that is most shoes will, over time, change the actual shape of your foot.

So what foot related issues may we be introducing? Well a few to consider would be Shortened Heel Chords and Achilles Tendinitis which moves the centre of your mass forward over your toes instead of over the heels where it is supposed to be.

Plantar Fasciitis and Arch Issues caused by inflammation, tearing and stretching of the plantar fascia. Just let you know, you don’t need arch support in your shoes, you were born with arch support. The problem is that the first time you put on shoes that do the supporting for you your foot is being weakened.

Bunions, which are when your big toe no longer lines up in a straight line with your first metatarsal. Bunions occur when your footwear pushes your big toe towards the second toe, which takes part of the big toe off of where it should be bending on the first metatarsal.

The first thing you should do to try and correct and reduce your chances of problems down the road is to start spending as much time as possible barefoot and the easiest place to start is in your home. Besides being barefoot as much as possible, transitioning to barefoot or minimalist type shoes is one of the best things you can do to start fixing these issues.

Now I am not simply going to reproduce lots of technical and medical information here but if you’re interested in the how and why your shoes could be causing you problems, one of my favourite resources would be the manufacturer VIVOBAREFOOT and they have some interesting reading at https://www.vivobarefoot.com/…/follow-feet-not-fashion