Its Got to Be The Shoes

Leonardo Da Vinci described the foot as “… a work of art and a masterpiece of engineering.”

Our feet might be the most cared for part of our body.  We buy special shoes, or inserts to protect them.  We give them pedicures, and massages.  Yet foot and ankle pain is more prevalent today than ever before.  Why is that?  Well, first let’s learn about our feet.

The foot and ankle is comprised of 26 bones, which represents one-quarter of all the bones in our body.  It has 33 joints, over 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments, and a vast network of blood vessels, nerves, skin, and other soft tissue.  The design of the foot allows it to feel and adjust to changes in surfaces.  Without this perfect design we would have a lot more trouble keeping our balance.

The foot is supported by two arches, the medial arch which runs from the heel to the big toe, and the transverse arch, which runs across the midsection or ball of the foot.  These arches help to support the structure of the foot as well as the entire weight of your body.  However it needs and requires help from the knees, hips, and shoulders to stay healthy and pain free.

“Any pattern of foot strike that deviates from heel-ball-toe is a symptom of dysfunction in the load-bearing joints.  The structures of the foot are not designed to handle alternatives.  Special shoes or inserts may make the feet seem more comfortable, but they do nothing about the continued stress in the ankles, knees, and hips”

- Pain Free (pps. 50)

That above excerpt from the book Pain Free gives us the answer to the true cause of foot and ankle pain. The two photos below show a pair of feet that have never worn shoes, compared to a pair that has.  Can you see the differences?  Notice the difference in surface area, and the separation between the toes.  The feet in the bottom photo have practically taken the shape of the shoes they wear.  The top photo shows a pair of feet from someone who needs to move to survive.  Which foot do you think is more likely to be in pain?

So is the ansawer to eliminating your foot pain going barefoot?  Maybe, but that may not be to practical, and that is only half of the solution.

Dr. Lewis G. Maharam medical director for the New York Road Runners, the group that organizes the New York City Marathon had this to say about running barefoot “In 95 percent of the population or higher, running barefoot will land you in my office,” he continued by saying A very small number of people are biomechanically perfect,”  so most need some sort of supportive or corrective footwear.

-NYTimes (August 29th, 2009)

Biomechanically perfect? We all have the capability of getting to that point.  Our bodies were designed perfectly, but lack of motion, and/or injuries causes us to lose our functional biomechanical design.  (see below)

However, that doesn’t mean we can’t get it back.  Remember that muscles move the bones, and if our body deviates from the design posture it will put stress on our body and it’s structures.  So the real cure to eliminating foot and ankle pain starts by treating the body as a unit and giving it exercises that will help return the body to its  “biomechanically perfect” design position.  As for your shoes, the less the better.  And when possible go barefoot, your feet will thank you for it.