The health crisis developing beneath our feet

Published via Gript

The health crisis developing beneath our feet

There is a health crisis developing under our very feet, which is likely to cause substantial health issues for a large cohort of the population in the future. However, before you start socially distancing from your grandmother once again, or cursing some sinister cabal in the World Health Organisation, allow me to explain.

Unknown to most people, today's footwear fashion trends and designs are seriously undermining our bodies health, skeletal alignment and joint efficiency and are ultimately encouraging the progressive degeneration of our bodies bio-mechanical structure on a daily basis.

How so?

Your feet are the very foundations of the bio-structural masterpiece that is your body. The two key words in that sentence are ‘’foundations’’ and ‘’structural’’. I highlight these two words as they allow us to consider the body in a structural or mechanical sense, and by doing so, the need of solid and secure foundations for an efficient structure becomes starkly evident.

You wouldn’t live in a house with unsound foundations and you wouldn’t drive a car with a misaligned chassis. How we consider our feet in relationship to the health of our body should be no different.

So, ideally with your agreement regarding the vital and foundational nature of the human foot, I can now explain how today’s current footwear is steadily damaging our bodies.

1. High Heeled Shoes

This point is surprisingly not aimed at the female readership of this publication exclusively, but at the male readership also (or in particular!). Over the past number of years, casual day-to-day footwear designs have naturally gone through many changes and styles. However, one thing that has remained consistent in design, almost regardless of brand, is the increasingly large and cushioned heels on the soles of shoes. Nike AirMax and Balenciaga moonboots are undoubtedly the most prominent examples of this new fashion design.

By thickening the heel of the sole exclusively, you are elevating one part of the body’s foundations which in turn, undermines your body’s structural efficiency.

Speaking of shoes and structures; imagine sticking two inches under one side of the Spire in O’Connell Street. I wouldn’t trust the Stiletto in the Ghetto to remain vertical efficiently and without undue strain for too long. Your body and your high heeled runners follow the very same principle.

Additionally, by elevating the heel of the foot alone, the weight distribution of your body becomes instantly misaligned, thereby causing excessive strain on the lower bodies joints, who haven’t quite had the chance to evolve and adapt to Balenciaga’s latest fashion whims.

Moreover, with every centimetre increased in the heel at the expense of the remainder of the foot, the shorter the stride of the individual becomes almost in direct unison. Basically, a 6 foot tall man in his bare feet will take approximately 1348 steps to walk one kilometre, whereas the very same 6 foot tall man may take up to 1383 steps to achieve the same distance if he is wearing high heeled Nike AirMax. And yes, I will insist on calling them high heels, much to the possible discomfort of the male readership. Basically, the higher the heel on a daily basis, the less athletic your day to day performance will be.

2. Stiff Foot Soles

Another fashion feature which is leading to the degeneration of the body’s health is the increasingly stiff soles that feature on many common footwear brands today. Doc Martin’s and their hard plastic soles are a prime example of this feature. Given that the feet contain 25% of the body’s total number of bones, we ought not to underestimate the large number of muscles, tendons and ligaments that go hand in hand with these very bones. The issue with excessively stiff foot soles is that they prevent the foot from fully performing the correct amount of dorsiflexion and plantar flexion necessary in each stride. This in turn causes the muscles, tendons and ligaments of the foot to become weak, limp and ineffective in their intended role as they are not being sufficiently utilised.

As the muscles degenerate in the feet, the Windlass Mechanism, which is the basis of human propulsion and locomotion (walking) becomes drastically undermined. Over time this leads to incorrect walking gaits and what is often (incorrectly) referred to as ‘flat feet’.

3. Thick Foot Soles

In conjunction with this issue of stiff foot soles is the issue of overly thick foot soles. Asics and Brooks ‘running shoes’, spring to mind here, along with many others brands. The issue with overly thick foot soles is that the soles of our feet contain a vast amount of sensory receptors which are designed to provide our brains with sensory feedback regarding our surroundings below us and around us. However, by placing a barrier between our body and the world below us, we upset this neuromuscular connection and further undermine the foundations of our body.

As a result of these new and overly common fashion features in footwear, a large cohort of the population is walking blindly in future health issues, with each step only further reinforcing poor movement patterns and compounding the likelihood of joint related health issues in later life.

The short term solution?

Get out of the high heeled trainers, get rid of the ‘’running shoes’’ (whatever they are), throw the Doc’s and other such brands in the bin and get into a pair of something flat, minimal and malleable.

And the long term solution?

Learn how to retrain the musculature, stability and mobility of the feet and ankles. But how to do that is a secret that I will keep for another day.