Dangerous and proper footwear for our feet. What is proper footwear?
A good day begins with the perfect shoes
So what is proper footwear? Could it be footwear with the right fit? Or footwear with the perfect heel height? Or, conversely, the style, design, and color?
This question is directly connected to our emotions, and our answers will also vary depending on our age, culture, and the event for which we are dressing. Recall the positive emotions you feel when you first go out in public wearing new sneakers or boots. But your mood can be overshadowed by physical pain caused by uncomfortable footwear.
Why does this happen? Footwear serves two main functions. First, it is a fashion statement. Second, it provides protection and comfort. Unfortunately, these two factors have recently become mutually exclusive. It is difficult to find footwear that matches the shape of the foot, but because of fashion pressure, it is quite easy to find a foot that has adapted to the shape of the footwear (Fig. 1, J. Earl, “The Foot: The Most Comprehensive Guide to Orthopedics,” 2023).
Footwear often requires a compromise from our feet. We are willing to deform our feet to fit into shoes we like instead of walking away and find shoes with the best fit. We abuse the adaptability of our feet and jeopardize their function by choosing footwear based on its shape.
Things are much better with children's shoes. Parents focus on comfort and health, so they carefully choose which shoes to buy for their child.
If the shoes don't fit, does that mean we need to change our feet?
— Gloria Steinem
Tips for choosing the right shoes
- Shoes should not be tight. To avoid this, buy shoes in the afternoon, as your feet increase in volume by 3–8% during the day.
- For most of us, one foot is slightly longer than the other, so buy shoes based on the larger foot. You can always easily add insoles or heel cushions to reduce the space in the shoe for the smaller foot. Alternatively, you can add an extra insole.
- When buying shoes, make sure you are wearing the same type of socks you plan to wear with the shoes you are trying on—don't try shoes on with thin nylon socks if you plan to wear the new shoes with thick wool socks later.
- The flexion line of the metatarsophalangeal joint should be located at the widest part of the shoe. This line should also be free of seams or design elements that interfere with natural flexion.
- The toe box should be as wide as the foot or wider. The shoe material should also be flexible and soft. Avoid rigid shoes with narrow toe boxes.
- Pay attention to the comfort of the shoe heel counter. If the heel counter is too loose, uncontrolled tilting of the heel bone can cause the skin to rub against the heel-counter material, resulting in irritation.
- Make sure the ball of the foot aligns with the shoe's ball area. Also make sure the shoe is not too short and does not compress the toes against the rigid toe cap (Fig. 2, J. Earl, "The Foot: The Most Comprehensive Guide to Orthopedics," 2023)
The overall moral of this story is that our feet and our shoes can be the best of friends if we make the right choice when it comes to footwear. At present, Vivobarefoot, Lems, and Merrell have made the most progress in producing high-quality, anatomically correct footwear. These manufacturers take the shape of the foot and its natural functions into account when designing and producing their shoes.
Harmful and Dangerous Footwear
Our feet were originally designed for walking barefoot. Obviously, these days this is only practical at home. And we face one important problem: it is quite difficult to find footwear that will not harm the foot or alter its anatomy.
If, when you come home and take off your shoes, you feel relief, rub your toes, and wiggle them, and if you constantly have blisters, then you are wearing unsuitable and harmful footwear.
If we spend all day in the wrong footwear—and have been wearing dangerous footwear for many years—training two or three times a week will not change the situation. After training, you will feel a “wow” effect and lightness in your feet, but then you will put them back into harmful footwear. Let’s examine which types of footwear are harmful and dangerous for our feet.
1: Narrow-Toed Footwear
The human foot has a “triangular shape,” with its base around the toes and its apex around the heel. In addition to this shape, the foot has excellent mobility, which helps us walk and perform many other movements in everyday life. When we confine the foot in a narrow toe box, we compress the nerves and lymphatic vessels and restrict muscle function. The big toe and little toe are squeezed toward the center and do not properly participate in the walking pattern.
Ultimately, this leads to the development of a bunion, varicose veins, knee pain, and swelling.
By giving up narrow-toed shoes and exercising daily, you can restore functionality to your feet.
2: Flip-flops
Flip-flops and slippers have no heel counter, which is the source of all these problems. First, the toes have to curl downward to keep the flip-flop on the foot; second, during the walking phase when the slipper’s sole separates from the foot, the brain activates an entire chain of muscles in the hips and lower back, trying to keep the slipper from an imaginary fall.
Spending a long time in flip-flops causes hypertonicity of the hip flexors, leading to pain and fatigue.
3: Thick-soled shoes
The thicker the sole of the shoe, the less the plantar fascia works. With a thick sole, our brain does not receive adequate and complete information about the surface on which we are standing and walking.
When wearing shoes with thick soles, there is no contact between the foot and the surface, which disrupts the gait, because the footwear does not correspond to the physiology of the foot and its movements. We suppress the muscles throughout the body, obtaining a distorted picture of reality; the body has to adapt, which leads to lower back pain.
4: High heels
When a person puts on footwear with an elevated heel or high heels, the angle of the body relative to the horizontal floor surface is disrupted, as is the so-called balance against forward falling. The body has to compensate for this with the pelvis, thoracic region, and head position.
Regularly wearing high-heeled footwear leads to overloading of the hip adductor muscles, while the gluteus maximus muscles weaken. Ultimately, the problem will not be limited to the feet but will affect the entire body.
https://t-rexstudio.by
