Let’s Talk About Shoes
Your shoes should supply enough support to help you maintain a standing posture but by no means should they actually support you. Your muscles and bones need to do that job. As humans we have become used to standing and sitting for long periods of time. The human body, and especially the foot, were not designed for this abuse. It was designed to move.
The shoes most people put on their feet limit range of motion, constrict movement and cause discomfort and disorder. Studies being done in 1948 linked the wearing of high heel shoes with breast cancer. Other studies have shown a correspondence to tight shoes and eye/ear disorders, lung problems, and asthma. The bottom line is too small or the wrong style of shoe can distort the foot and create disharmony and dysfunction in your entire body.
It’s Cold and Wet so What Should I Wear on my Feet?
Living in Seattle I know the challenges of weather and environment on the feet, I am by no means telling people to throw out all their shoes on move to San Diego. Here is what to look for in shoes.
Make sure your shoes are the right size. You should have 3 measurements taken, heel to toe, width, and the oft one forgotten arch length. As the foot walks or runs the arch spreads out- your shoe must accommodate for this.
Flexibility: Your shoe should bend, twist and fold not only at the toes but also at the arch. Your arch is a flexible creature. By putting too much padding, support, and inflexibility in the arch you are weakening the innate strength and muscles of the foot.
Shoes must stay on feet: We wear shoe to protect our feet from glass, weather and city streets, so what good are they doing you if they don’t stay on? Shoes must create a boundary behind and around the ankle and they must fit around all the toes and attach to the arch. No mules, flip-flops, sandals without ties allowed, unless to get the mail.
No heels: Seriously, have you seen people trying to navigate city streets in heels? It should be an Olympic sport. Heels are bad for many reasons they:
- deforms your foot and that ain’t sexy, plus toe constraint leads to sinus pain and runny noses
- throws your body posture off which leads to back pain, headaches, colds, high blood pressure and breast cancer
- don’t follow any of the above or below rules
- are a corporate conspiracy to make you think you are trendy and get you to spend heaps of money (this is not based in fact and was put here to see if you are paying attention)
And the last guideline for good shoes is that it must contain a big enough toe box. That means you must be able to spread your toes while the shoe is on. The toes are a neglected part of our foot and are usually compressed and squished. The toes keep you balanced, communicate vital information about the terrain you are walking on and they push you off to take a full next step, which leads to more exercise and more energy. Wide shoes rock!
Shoes for Kids
What’s best for your child’s growing feet? You send the “piggies” to market but you may not think about the fact that your baby’s soft, adorable feet will eventually carry him or her over thousands of miles in a lifetime. To make the journey, healthy foot development is important from day one.
Doctors and other medical experts around the world agree that soft, flexible soled shoes are the next best thing to bare feet for your child’s foot development. Her are some fabulous “shoes like” options:
