Your feet set the tone for how you hold yourself up and how you move. They are the first point of contact when you stand. They ground you.
They are also instrumental in determining how the rest of your body moves. Poorly functioning feet have a rippling impact, toe to head. And yet, feet are often forgotten when it comes to strength and wellness. No more.
The Influence of Your Feet
Consider that, every time you stand up and move around, your body organizes itself based on information coming from your feet. The instant your feet hit the ground, the rest of you needs to know how to react so you don’t fall over. Is the ground flat? Hard? Variable? Your feet sense the circumstances and your neuromuscular system reacts to meet the moment. Your feet are incredibly sensitive because they are so critical in this process of staying upright.
Healthy feet provide a steady, solid base. And, they set the stage for the rest of your body to organize itself in a healthy way, which helps lead to healthy movement.
Over time, however, there are two major factors that contribute to us losing the great power of our feet: we wear shoes that disfigure and weaken our feet. And, we dull the sensitivity of our feet to feel in their full capacity.
Both of these habits can deliver some poor outcomes for our wellness, especially as we age.
The First Impact of Shoes: Altering the Shape of Your Foot
Undeniably, we do have to wear shoes. While it’s true that we probably would all benefit from going barefoot, that’s not reality. And a word of caution here, too: going directly from wearing conventional running, walking, or hiking shoes to a barefoot style is recipe for injury and pain. More on that in a moment.
So while you likely aren’t going to toss all your shoes today, you do have control over the types of shoes you wear. You can also make a point to go shoeless when possible, like when you’re at home.
A major impact of many types of shoes is that they don’t allow your feet to splay completely. They squish or rub or otherwise restrict full, free, painless movement. That all has an impact on how the rest of your body moves, and it can contribute to stress and tension and compensations throughout your body.
Over time, restricting your feet from their full ability to move causes them to be weak and less mobile. Weak, inflexible feet are prone to pain and injury, and they contribute to poor balance.
Another consideration when it comes to shoes: they often have a rise, or a heel. This is true of women’s shoes as well as men’s shoes, and athletic shoes. While having some amount of a rise isn’t bad, it’s a feature to consider.
A rise in your shoes restricts full elongation of your calf muscles, which has an impact on your Achilles tendon. This leads all the way up the chain, too: hamstrings, glutes, lower back, and so on. Reality is, however, that most of us are so conditioned to elevate our heels slightly that having no rise can become your problem.
So, for instance, any idea of going totally barefoot for your next 10k should be put on hold. If you suddenly embrace no heel, also known as zero drop, or even test out barefoot running or walking, you’re now stretching your calf and Achilles in a way you maybe haven’t done in your entire adult life. This is highly inadvisable. If this is an interest, ease into the process slowly.
The Second Impact of Shoes: Altering the Ability of Your Feet to Feel
As mentioned, your feet are very sensitive. They have a big job, and sensing is a critical part of that. The problem, however, is that putting feet in shoes dull their sensitivity.
Encased in the monotone world of smooth, cushy insoles, their rich sensory ability begins to fade. We literally have less contact and feedback about the environment we’re moving through.
When you combine the fact that most of us don’t give a lot of attention to foot wellness with this muted information we typically get from our feet, the result is losing out on a valuable source of knowledge about how you move: knowledge that is both conscious and subconscious.
Here’s the good news: there’s no need for extreme action. This isn’t an all or nothing scenario. This is, however, a call to be more mindful of your feet and how you treat them. On to that.
Shapeshift: Find Variety In Your Shoe Choices
When it comes to shoe choices, just be mindful and switch out the types of shoes you wear. You love high heels, fine. Just make sure you regularly swap them out for something less extreme. Find shoes that fit well and don't restrict or squish your feet or toes.
Make a point of walking in your backyard or local park barefoot. If you know you’ll be walking or on your feet a lot, be thoughtful of the shoes you’re going to wear.
Remember, your feet have adapted to the shoes you put them in the most. If you’re going to change to shoes that are healthier for your feet, or you’re going to go barefoot more, do it slowly. But by all means, do it. Because the cool thing about your body, including your feet, is that it is ever changing. You can have healthy, sensitive feet. It just takes some effort over time.
Another key part to healthier feet is strength and flexibility.
Your Foot Strength and Flexibility: A Key to Balance and Moving Well
One very cool way to reestablish a good relationship with your feet is to focus on strength and flexibility exercises. You may be surprised at first at how challenging these can be. Take it slow.
One area where you will likely notice improvements pretty quickly is balance. A month of some foot strength and conditioning done two to three times a week is enough to make a difference. A quick search will deliver loads of great movement and strength building exercises, like these from Medical News Today.
The great side benefit of giving your feet more healthy attention is that it’s an opportunity to reestablish a good relationship with them. As you move through the world, give some conscious attention to what your feet are doing. You may be amazed by what you notice.
Take the First Step
Healthy feet will serve you well for a lifetime, and it’s never too late to improve foot wellness. For older adults especially, balance can become a big concern. Establishing and maintaining healthy feet is a great step toward addressing this concern.
Healthy feet are a solid foundation for the rest of your body. Discover how much benefit there is to showing them some love.
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