Shoes and foot orthotics.

 

From my daily observations in the physiotherapy office it appears that we rarely combine our posture and the health of the skeletal system, and thus the whole body, with shoes or insoles. We do not see at all that the foot is our foundation, the first contact with the ground, stabilization. We do not wonder when we leave the house, whether our feet will be comfortable and whether they will be well for the next long hours, day after day. I think that at this point I will face protests such as "I wear comfortable shoes!", "My shoes are good company, they are expensive, they are made of good breathable material!", "My shoes have special soft inserts!". Exactly .... at the beginning, it would be necessary to identify the factors that determine shoes as good for the body or harmful. I am thinking of such general mechanical characteristics. It often turns out that these old, cheap shoes are better supporting our body than the inventions of the 21st century! Well, let me mention these features of shoes, defined by specialists who deal with the holistic human body as crucial.

1) shoes should be wide enough at the toes (toes must not be squished)

2) the heels should never be lower than the rest of the foot (toes)

3) everyday shoes should be flexible

4) heels are good when they are higher than the rest of the foot (read below)

5) support for the longitudinal arch of the foot should only be on the side of the primary mechanical stress side of the body (breakdown)

6) the support for the longitudinal arch of the foot should not be higher than 2mm

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Dr Jesse Jutkowitz (creator of ABC therapy) observed the following during many years of research and practice:

 

1) most orthotic insoles have the foot arch raised too much by a factor of 200% or more. The foot works better when this arch is smaller.

2) all arches supporting the foot's transverse arch deteriorate body mechanics. Any footwear that raises the toes and lowers the heel relative to another part of the foot deteriorates the body mechanics.

3) a heel lift always improves the body mechanics. Above 0 to about 3.5cm. The height of the heel lift depends on the body. In people leaning forward, even 1.5 cm can cause a negative compensation effect, so the lift should be between 0.5-1 cm.

Shoes with a heel lift of about 2.5 cm position the sacrum in a more neutral position, increasing the angle of the base of the sacrum. Raising the heel by about 6.5 cm causes the whole body to lean forward

(Also, the seat wedge should not be higher than 5-6.5 cm)

4) the arch of the foot should only be on the breakdown side, i.e. on the primary biomechanical stress side of the body. For this, a small 2mm dot under the metatarsal bones in the middle of the medial longitudinal arch of the foot should be used.

 

 

The above observations are the result of fundamental biomechanical assumptions and principles:

 

1) the body is one synchronized functional unit

 

2) we distinguish between primary biomechanical pathologies and compensations in the functioning of the body

 

3) therefore when correcting one foot, the other should correct itself as it compensated only for the primary biomechanical pathology in the other foot

 

Now that we know how to be friends with our own feet, let's make a bold revolution among our shoes and check which ones are good for us and which should end up in the garbage can. Possibly, which we can modify by replacing the shoe insoles with the correct ones (flat;))

 

Best regards and keep yourself upright!