Early spring is a great time to clean out the closet and get some new kicks, but let’s not be too hasty. Before you head out to the store for new gym shoes, it is important to understand how your feet were meant to work.
Pain or discomfort in the feet may have more to do with your footwear than you may imagine. It may be that your shoes are not be allowing your feet to work in a natural way.
We all know that the foot was designed to be the contact point with the ground. But did you know that a healthy foot will expand up to one third of its size when body weight flexes it? Your toes are meant to flair outward and expand when your foot makes contact with the ground. You can see this when you step on a hard surface in your bare feet. Stand on one foot and then the other, and watch your foot expand under that load. (If you can’t see your feet, well, that’s another issue.) Shoes affect how and where the foot expands, and that’s what can cause problems.
When you wear the same shoes constantly you train your feet to interact with the ground through the shoes. Anyone who has ever broken a pair of shoes, knows that you need to do it for short periods of time because it hurts. It’s not that you’re breaking in the shoes, even though there will be some give, it’s more that you are training your feet to the shoe.
The answer is to keep your feet fresh by changing your shoes often. When you wear the same shoes all day long, your foot is always in the same position and not all of the muscles are getting used. This doesn’t mean switching from the white to the black pair of New Balance runners, it means changing brands and type of shoe so the muscles of the feet have a chance to expand and contract in different ways. This will allow the whole foot to be utilized over the course of the day.
If you choose not to wear shoes, change the surfaces you walk on. Carpet vs. tile or hardwood, grass vs. sand, etc. Of course, we need to list the usual disclaimers: Make sure when you walk outside barefoot, you aren’t on concrete or asphalt (they get too hot) and watch out for sharp or dangerous objects.
Next, you need to pay attention to pitch of your shoes. Put them on a table. Do they sit level or are they sloping from side to side or from font to back? If your shoes show a wear pattern, it’s time for new shoes. Differences in walking styles create wear patterns on your shoes that can throw the rest of the body out of alignment. And as we learned last week, perfect posture is important for a proper workout and to help alleviate the risk of injury. So you need to make sure that the base is solid before you begin walking or running. Repetitive use at the wrong pitch or position of the foot leads to injury.
In addition to changing your shoes often, we suggest a simple exercise you can do to keep your feet fresh -- if you are able to stand unassisted for two minutes. Take a couple of thick bath towels, and fold them until they are about an inch and a half to two inches thick, making a rectangular pad. Stand on the pad without shoes, keeping your feet flat and hip width apart. Your knees should be straight but not locked and also hip width apart. Keep your rib cage up, abs back, shoulders relaxed and your head centered over your spine. With your knees straight but not locked and looking ahead not down, rock from side to side, lifting each foot one inch off the pad. Do this for 30 seconds in the morning and 30 seconds at the end of the day. This mini-workout will exercise all of the muscles in your feet, not just the ones you use when you are in your shoes.
Even if you have two left feet, these simple tricks will keep you on your toes.
Originally published in Grosse Pointe Today.