Category: Foot Health

I wish more people understood physics better.

Sure, I say this in part because I got interested in physics at an early age. When I was 14, I was tutoring people 3-5x my age in antenna design, electronics, and other physics-related topic (I was an Extra class ham radio operator).

But the other reason is that knowing physics makes you immune to certain types of marketing spin, which can save you countless hours of time (not having to personally test something that’s patently false), and money (not buying products marketing with misleading bastardizations of principles of physics).

It also makes you an unpopular party guest, since people don’t like having their mythology bubbles burst, and when you overhear someone spouting incorrect explanations of reality, it’s impossible to walk away without tossing in a corrective comment.

At least I can’t.

What does that mean when it comes to finding comfortable shoes, sneakers, sandals, and any other type of footwear?

Two words:

ENERGY RETURN FROM RUNNING SHOES? 

Running shoe companies in particular tout the “energy return” of their foam or other types of cushioning.

The more energy return, the better.

Makes sense, right?

Well, let’s just say that if I heard you waxing eloquently about the energy return in your new, super expensive, high-tech, cushioned shoes while you sip a beverage from a Solo cup, I’d force my way into the conversation and say:

“There is no such thing as ‘energy return.’ “

Even if I didn’t have my own Solo cup’s worth of liquid (and it would probably be water; I’m not much of a drinker), I’d then blurt out:

“There are only different levels of ENERGY SUCK.”

It’s just physics.

No foam or cushioning or springs or shock absorbers or carbon plates or anything else that’s ever been added to any part of a shoe has ever RETURNED more energy than you put into it when you land on it.

Therefore, all of those components SUCK energy from you.

Think about a trampoline. Sure you can bounce really high… but only until your leg muscles get tired. The trampoline bed optimizes the combination of gravity and your musculature (but only to a point, since you don’t keep bouncing higher and higher forever).

Same thing with foam in your shoes.

The foam sucks.

And, worse, it sucks more and more with time because it begins to break down the moment you start using it.

My friend, Dr. Geoffrey Grey from Heeluxe (a footwear research firm) just wrote a great post about this: Why Energy Return is a Myth

He addresses the new Nike Vaporfly 4% and the Nike Next % as well as the VKTRY insoles, but his points apply to all shoes Here are the highlights:

Key Point 1: All foams lose energy.

We already touched on this. And, again, it’s not just foam.

All cushioning does the same thing.

Key Point 2: Carbon Fiber isn’t typically used as an energy return material.

The carbon fiber in the Nike shoes and the VKTRY insoles is held out as part of the energy return equation.

Carbon fiber is stiff.

If you think about it, having a layer of carbon fiber is just adding a non-compliant surface into the shoe… like a road or a track or a sidewalk.

There are some who claim that the carbon fiber plate in the Nike shoes “act as a lever” and that’s what creates energy return.

Again, sounds good unless you understand physics.

For a lever to function, it needs a fulcrum.

There’s nowhere in the shoe that’s a point on which the carbon plate rests or pivots.

Even more, check out where the runners in Eliud Kipchoge’s sub-2 hour marathon land on their foot (and therefore in the shoe):

Notice where they’re landing?

Midfoot and forefoot.

There’s no fulcrum under the midfoot. So, no lever. Just something solid, again, like the ground.

Next…

Key Point 3: Shoes with higher energy return on mechanical “ball drop” tests won’t work for everyone.

The “ball drop test” is how must shoe companies demonstrate their “energy return.”

They literally drop something like a 2 pound metal ball onto the sole of the shoe, or the cushioning material, and see how far it bounces back toward the original height.

Physics — NEVER higher than where it started.

Reality — YOU ARE NOT A SOLID 2 POUND METAL BALL! (I’m assuming)

The ball is only accelerating toward the sole based on gravity (accelerating a 9.8 m/s squared). You are not falling from that same height and the force that you hit the ground is not the same as a 2 pound steel ball.

If you weigh 150 pounds, you could hit the ground with 500-600 pounds of force, or more! And your muscles, ligaments and tendons allow your joints to BEND, unlike the metal ball which doesn’t compress (okay, technically it does by a TINY amount).

More Physics — foam breaks down from the moment you start using it, so the ball test results will change over time.

In fact, the reason most shoe companies tell you to replace their shoes every 3-500 miles is that this is when they think the foam has degraded to the point of being useless (and, often, they make sure the rubber outsole wears out at about the same time).

SHOE SECRET — most foam is barely better at 300 miles than 500… and often its just as bad at 200 miles!

Key Point 4: Foams with higher energy return feel good to some people.

Feeling good is a wonderful thing.

But that doesn’t mean it’s DOING something good for you.

Let me ask you a question:

If you were going to do pushups, would you rather do them on the floor or on a memory foam mattress?

I’m guessing you said “Floor” and the reason is that you know a foam mattress is squishy and would make you unbalanced, while the floor gives you something solid and stable as a base.

This is basic Newtonian Physics (the 3rd law) — For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

If the opposite reaction is squishy, it messes up your initial action.

The mattress FEELS good, but isn’t good for natural movement.

Same thing with foam in a shoe.

Wrapping it up…

Needless to say, we think of Xero Shoes as “physics friendly.”

We don’t use unnecessary amounts of foam. We don’t use marketing spin to take something bad (foam sucks energy) and re-label it with something that sounds positive, like “energy return.”

We believe that you’re smarter than that.

Even if you don’t know a lot about physics 😉

 

What do you think? Leave a comment, below.

 

 

By Matt Giordano, @theyogimatt

The Lower Back

Do you suffer from tight hamstrings?

Many runners, active adventurists, and even those who sit at a desk all day experience tremendous hamstring tightness. (“Hamstring” is the term usually used for the muscle group that runs along the back of your thighs.) As a result, the pelvis might get pulled downward in a tucked (posterior tilt) position causing the low back to be chronically rounded (flexed).

For most people, constantly tight hamstring muscles will result in lower back tension, discomfort or issues with your intervertebral discs – which exist between each of your vertebrae in your spine, providing cushioning for shock absorption. Preserving the natural curvature of the lower back and avoiding back pain (or nerve pain) can prove to be challenging if the hamstrings hold tension from overuse or underuse.

What most people don’t understand about the body is that it is constantly trying to correct itself. When the hamstring muscles are tight and pulling the pelvis into a posterior tilt, the lower back will hold tension because those muscles, in turn, are trying to pull the pelvis back toward neutral in order to bring the proper curvature back in the lumbar spine.

So most people feel the tension in the lower back and start stretching those muscles. Unfortunately, this perpetuates the issue and can even exacerbate pain. What might be the better solution is to strengthen those muscles and stretch the muscles that are the root of the tension – the hamstrings.

The challenge is finding the right hamstring stretch to properly loosen the hamstrings. So what is the best approach to hamstring stretching?

The “Hidden Hamstring”

Something I have noticed in most athletes is that when they stretch the hamstring muscles they do all the right stretches – like a standing hamstring stretch where they bend forward over one leg, or a chair hamstring stretch where they bring their leg up on a bench, etc.

However, it is rare that I would see them stretching the inner thighs as well. As a result, they are missing what is often referred to as the fourth hamstring or what I call the Hidden Hamstring: The adductor magnus.

The adductor magnus squeezes the legs toward each other like the other adductors, but uniquely it also extends the thigh back behind the hip (the back leg when running or walking).

Now often when we do a hamstring stretch the hamstring muscle can be tight enough that it doesn’t allow us to get into the stretch of the adductor magnus. In other words, hamstring muscle tightness holds us back from getting to the necessary depth.

Rather than straining and overstretching the hamstrings to target the adductor magnus we can simply add a slightly different stretch, one that also targets the adductors (inner thighs).

Let me explain how it’s done.

Best Hamstring Stretches: The Magic Pose

There are a couple of amazing postures in yoga that stretch the adductors and the hamstrings at the same time. One of the best ones for hamstring stretches is the “Triangle Pose.”

This pose is one of the most iconic yoga postures and there’s a great reason why! It not only stretches the hamstrings, but also the inner thighs and sides of the torso. With slight variations of the shape, you can change the intensity of stretch in each area and target your tight areas, and back off your flexible ones.

If you are new to the Triangle Pose or generally have tighter hamstrings and adductors I highly recommend having a yoga block, books, or a chair to put your bottom hand on so that you don’t risk straining any of the muscle groups in this posture. A slight stretch is all you need.

A very similar pose is called Side Angle, and this is triangle pose but with one knee bent. With the knee bent you will reduce tension in the hamstrings and actually be able to stretch the adductor magnus a bit more easily, so I recommend starting here and then moving to Triangle Pose. If your hamstring stretches are too aggressive you risk injuring your muscles.

Now for the practical part. How do you actually get into Triangle Pose and begin to loosen your tight hamstrings?

How to get into Triangle Pose

1. Start by placing your feet wide apart from each other.
2. Turn your right foot and thigh outward until it is perpendicular to the left foot.
3. Bend your right knee.
4. Place your right hand on a block, book, or chair on the outside of your right thigh. (You can also place your hand and prop on the inside as well, which will change the stretch and potentially offer a more accessible experience for those with less hamstring flexibility.) You should feel a slight pulling sensation.

5. Stay in this posture – Side Angle Pose -to target the adductor magnus for 5-8 breaths.

   Pro Tip: Pull your two feet toward each other to warm up the inner thighs and hamstrings.

7. After your 5-8 breaths, your body will likely desire to straighten the front leg. If so, proceed to Triangle Pose by straightening the front leg slowly, and stopping when the stretching sensation in your hamstring is a 7 out of 10. Stay in Triangle Pose for 5-8 breaths.
8. To come out of Triangle, re-bend the front knee, press down into your feet and rise up. Repeat this same procedure for the left side.

The Results

The result may or may not be immediate back pain relief. Remember, hamstring tightness is only one part of the problem. (And, besides, it will take time for your tight hamstrings to improve as you add hamstring stretching to your daily routine.) You will also need to work on strengthening the muscles that extend your lumbar spine to help bring your back into its natural curve and out of the rounding position.

Be sure that if you are doing “core” workouts your core routine includes just as many lower back strengtheners as front abdominal strengtheners. Your core isn’t just the front of your belly.

Triangle Pose and Side Angle Pose will help you to stretch the muscles that might be tugging your tail bone down and flattening your lower back. As a result, your lower back has a chance to come back to a place of better shock absorption and away from the stacked compressive position that is so prominent in many long-distance runners.

If you are used to other kinds of stretches for your tight hamstrings, like a wall hamstring stretch, try adding Side Angle and Triangle Pose hamstring stretching into your post-run/hike/climb routine while you are warm and observe the results!

Until next time,

Matt Giordano

Matt Giordano is an international Yoga instructor and founder of Chromatic Yoga.

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.

A note from Xero Shoes

I hope you enjoyed this helpful post from Matt. Correct stretching is an important part not just of avoiding hamstring tightness and finding back pain relief, but of avoiding injuries in general.

I just wanted to add a note about something else that’s super important that people often overlook: form. What I mean is the way we run or even walk.

Why does this matter? The way we move affects the kinds of stresses we put on our muscles, bones, ligaments, and tendons (just like how our posture can contribute to low back pain). This is true of our hamstrings along with the other muscles of our legs and feet.

I mention this because people sometimes ask me, “What are the best running shoes for hamstring injury prevention or for getting over a hamstring injury?” I’m not a doctor or physical therapist, and can’t give medical advice. I can say, though, that most “typical” footwear interferes with what your body is built to do. For example, elevated heels impact posture, stiff soles and excessive support reduce foot strength, pointed toe boxes restrict natural movement, and cushioning eliminates your foot’s ability to feel the ground.

If you can see that it’s probably a good thing to let your body move the way it’s made to, then you’ll want to consider a “barefoot” shoe.

Our barefoot shoes are designed to do just that: allow your feet to move as they should and give your body the feedback it needs to adopt a better form. Find your pair of Xero Shoes here.

You can read more about form, why it matters, and even how it relates to lower back pain here.

I always want to make sure I’m clear about this: if you have a running injury, talk to a medical professional. They may recommend physical therapy or other kinds of treatment. I’m not a doctor and nothing I am saying here is intended to be medical advice or to take the place of professional guidance.

It’s happening again, I think.

In the Thomas Industry, David Mantey reports on a new device designed to help Parkinson’s patients “walk with greater ease.”

What does it do?

It applies vibration your feet.

A few years ago, I reported on a similar device.

So…

Q: What is vibration doing?

A: Stimulating your nervous system, feet first.

Q: Why might you need extra stimulation?

A: Because you aren’t letting your feet do one their primary jobs: FEELING (there’s a reason you have so many nerve endings in the soles of your feet)
Take a look at this screen grab from the video about the “VibeForward” device:

That’s over an inch of padding between you and the ground. And a sole that’s stiff enough to prevent your foot from moving naturally.

This is like putting your foot in a cast.

Now here’s the fun question:

Q: What else could stimulate the nerves in your feet?

A: USING THEM.

Taking off your shoes so you don’t have an an inch of padding between you and the ground. And then, for extra credit, walk on surfaces that, well, stimulate your feet — grass, sidewalks, trails, gravel, river rocks… you get the idea.

At the very least, put LESS between you and the ground (that’s how we design Xero Shoes — to give you feedback and ground-feel, but still have some protection).

Is this exactly the same as the VibeForward? No, walking barefoot doesn’t require batteries, or an app, or use “artificial intelligence.”

Q: Will kicking off your kicks and using your feet naturally have the same effect for Parkinson’s patients who suffer from freezing gait?

I don’t know. But, then again, the data isn’t in about the VibeForward yet either.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation gave the University of Delaware $440,000 to study the VibeForward.

Here’s my big question:

Q: How can we get the Michael J. Fox Foundation to fund a study on natural movement — something that’s available to everyone NOW?

Got an answer?

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.

Want to improve your health AND have fun? Take a hike!

Hiking has significant health benefits. Here are just 5:

1. Hiking on rugged trail surfaces is a natural way to engage your core muscles,
2. Burn calories — Hiking on uneven terrain increases the amount of energy used by your body by 28 percent compared to walking on flat ground,
3. Get strong — Hiking helps to strengthen often neglected muscles in your hips, knees, ankles, and feet to improve balance and stability,
4. Hiking is good for your brain: research shows that time spent in natural environments engages all five senses and calms brain activity,
5. Instant meditation — just being out in mother nature reduces your mind’s tendency to get stuck on negative, self-focused thought patterns – resulting in a happier, healthier you!

So, go on a hike! Your body and mind will thank you.

Your new favorite shoes for hiking and trail running:

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.

This just in from the “Tell me something I didn’t know” department. 😉

The UK’s Daily Mail reports, “Comfy trainers RAISE the risk of injury.” You would think that a major publication telling readers why “maximalist shoes” are bad for you would make me happy, but read on and you’ll see why my glee is tempered with frustration.

(Click on the image, above, to see the article or find it on the Daily Mail site: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6483593/Comfy-trainers-RAISE-risk-injury.html)

In short the article comments on research from Dr. Juha-Pekka Kulmala, and says:

[Between] 37 and 56 per cent of joggers experience injuries every year worldwide.

These injuries are thought to largely occur due to the vertical force that is created when a runner’s foot hits the ground.

To reduce this, many trainer manufacturers have added cushioning to their shoes’ soles, however, there is no evidence that this actually prevents injuries.

…Runners’ feet hit the ground harder when they were wearing cushioned trainers.

A video analysis showed the runners bent their knees and ankles less when they wore the cushioned shoes, which caused their bodies to slow down quicker and placed extra stress on their legs.

Now, this shouldn’t be news to people familiar with Xero Shoes, or this site, or the myriad studies done showing the problems with cushioned footwear and the benefits of truly minimalist shoes (not shoes sold with “minimalist” in the name, but without the same design principles.

So, on the one hand, I’m thrilled to see the truth in print.

On the other hand, this article does the same thing that others of this type have done, namely:

1. Makes it seem like the bad control “the Brooks Ghost 6” is good for you, since it’s better than the Hoka Conquest.
2. Paints the picture that there’s actually a debate, or a value for what we affectionately call “foot coffins” (any shoe that doesn’t let your foot bend, flex, move, feel).

In the article, Dr. Kade Paterson, a podiatrist at the University of Melbourne, says:

‘As a sports podiatrist, I’ve seen patients who’ve reported improvements with maximalist running shoes and others who’ve got injured in them so there probably isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach.’

Dr. Paterson added the results do not suggest runners should ditch cushioned shoes entirely and said ‘like many health-related things, we should be somewhere in the middle’.

The only way you can come to that conclusion is if you do something else that most articles of this type do:

1. Don’t reference the research on true minimalist footwear, like that done by Dr. Irene Davis or Sarah Ridge or Isabel Sacco and others. This research paints a compelling picture for why natural movement, well, is better than shoving your foot into something that’s not foot-shaped, not flexible, has elevated heels with flared soles, and too much padding. You know, like the Brooks Ghost 6.

Even more absurd is the warning given at the end of the article:

Dr. Kulmala has previously warned about the trend of barefoot running, which he only recommends if you land at the front of your feet. Most people land on their heels, which creates a larger force and therefore needs more cushioning, he added.

ARGH!

Talk about missing the point. Or putting the cart before the horse. Or confusing cause and effect. Or some better metaphor or analogy than I can think of now.

Harvard’s Dr. Daniel Lieberman and others have shown that putting padding under your heel is what encourages heel striking to begin with, and that running barefoot tends to naturally shift you to a forefoot landing, which reduces those stressful forces on your bones and joints because you use your muscles, ligaments and tendons as the natural springs and shock absorbers they’re meant to be.

So, put it all together…

Look, I’m glad that the “myth of maximalism” is being dismantled, but I hope that the “truth of natural movement” gets more attention in the process.

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.

From the “We told you so” file comes this new bit of running shoe research:

The study concluded that runners experienced a higher impact peak and increased loading rate with the “maximal” shoes. Increases in both factors are associated with a greater likelihood of injury, such as plantar fasciitis and tibial stress fractures.

Actually, this isn’t “new.” Harvard’s Dr. Irene Davis discovered the same thing.

In short: cushioning doesn’t cushion.

Why not?

Think about your foot — 1/4 of the bones and joints in your entire body are in your feet and ankles. And you have more nerve endings in your soles than anywhere but your fingertips and lips.

Given all that, it seems pretty clear that your feet are made to bend, move, flex, and FEEL the world.

That means your brain is designed to KNOW what’s going on down there… so it can help you control your whole body, head to toe, more effectively and efficiently.

If you attenuate the information your brain wants to receive (probably NEEDS to receive) with a bunch of cushioning, one adaptation is to land harder so that it can feel something.

If you want to reduce impact forces, what you ultimately need is some form of shock absorber that can adjust almost instantly to changing loads, changing speed, and changing angles. Ideally, something that doesn’t break down and need replacing every 3-500 miles. And even better if it can return energy — or generate additional energy.

Oh, wait, you already have that!

It’s called the muscles, ligaments, and tendons in your feet, ankles, legs, knees, and back.

And if you use them naturally, they can keep you happy well into your old age.

That’s what Xero Shoes are all about. Letting your body do what’s natural with just enough protection — and some style — for your active life.

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.

On Friday, at their national conference, the American College of Sports Medicine hosted a panel discussion about the Science and Biomechanics of Footwear featuring representatives from Adidas, Brooks, Topo Athletic and then, me, Steven, from Xero Shoes.

The room was PACKED — the highest turnout of any event at the conference.

I don’t want to say too much about the discussion — watch it below. But you’ll notice that the Brooks and Adidas presentations never say that their footwear reduces injury or improves performance, despite that being one of their goals.

Big Shoe companies have had almost 50 years to improve over the simple footwear humans have worn for thousands of years, but it doesn’t seem the have.

On the other hand, research is showing the value and benefits of natural movement in truly minimalist footwear (which isn’t the same as footwear that calls itself minimalist, but isn’t really).

Here are a few points I wanted to make, but didn’t get to:

I wanted to show how your arch is strong when you let it work, but gets weaker when it’s supported, like I did here.

I wanted to say that you don’t need a transition shoe, you just get in something truly minimalist and then build up slowly. If you go to the gym, you don’t get stronger by doing bicep curls and only lifting the weight 1″… you go through the whole range of motion, first with a light weight, and then with more and more weight and more and more sets and reps. Same thing with getting used to natural running and walking.

I wanted to say that we know speed is a function of “mass specific force.” If you have identical twins who run with the same form, the one who applies more force into the ground will be faster. We don’t know someone can apply MORE force, but we know how they can apply LESS: spread the force over more surface area, or apply the force more slowly. The one thing that ALWAYS spreads force and slows it down is cushioning.

I wanted to point out that it won’t matter if you make custom-made, 3D printed shoes, if you’re using the same fundamental design — high heels, flared soles, stiff soles, and pointy toe boxes. In the last 50 years, there have been hundreds of “new technologies” in footwear… where are they now? Custom-made and 3D printed soles are just the latest in the same ideas that, again, have never been shown to be helpful.

I wanted to tell the story I was told (by someone who worked with Bill Bowerman) about why Nike started making high-heeled excessively padded shoes.

I wanted to explain how just putting a higher-heeled shoe on your foot MAKES you overstride and heel strike, and that landing on your heel is unstable, which is why you then need to correct this with motion control, and that overstriding leads to landing with your arch flattened out and weak, which is why you then need to add arch support (which just weakens your feet more). In other words, most of the technology in shoes is there to correct for a problem that the original shoe design seems to have caused.

Needless to say, I could have said a lot more, had we the time. Rumor has it we may have Round 2 of this conversation at another sports medicine event. I can’t wait.

Our local newspaper, the Denver Post included an insert, The Harvard Health Guide to Healthy Living.

Lots of great info in there, but my favorite is the section, Keeping Your Feet Healthy.

What does it recommend?

Check out this video for a few highlights and my commentary. And if you want to read the transcript instead of watching, it’s below the video.

 What do you think? Are you doing what Harvard recommends?

Add your comments, below.

Download the article here

Transcript

Hi, Steven Sashen here from xeroshoes.com to talk about something that I got in the newspaper as an insert the other week. It is the Harvard Health Guide to Healthy Living. There’s a lot of great information in here but there’s one section that I really want to talk about, and let’s take a look at that, shall we?

It’s the “Guide to Keeping Your Feet Healthy.” Now, in this guide to keeping your feet healthy, there are a couple of highlights that I really want to point out and here’s the first one.

Read down here under Foot Fitness, “Exercising your feet on a regular basis not only improves overall foot health but may reduce your risk for injury,” and here’s the highlighted part, “Walking is the best overall foot exercise. When you walk, you put your foot through its full range of motion from the time your heel hits the ground until you lift off with your toes.”

Okay, first of all, love the idea of putting your foot through its full range of motion, love the idea of walking, have a big issue with that phrase “heel hits the ground.” You don’t want your heel to hit the ground. You want your heel to contact the ground. You want to use your foot. You want your heel to touch the ground but you don’t want it slamming down.

So what you end up wanting to do, what you actually want to do, is have your foot land kind of underneath your body rather than way out in front of your body. If you reach way out with your foot, you’ll slam your heel into the ground and that’ll cause what’s called an impact transient force spike through all of your joints.

What you want to do instead is let your foot land underneath you. You may be a little flatfooted, you may land on your midfoot, you might even land on your forefoot – suffice it to say, you don’t want to slam your heel. You don’t want to hit your heel. You want your heel to contact the ground naturally.

Now, the next part, “letting your foot go through its full range of motion.”

In order for your foot to go through its full range of motion, you need a shoe that lets your foot go through its full range of motion. If you have a stiff shoe with a really high heel, it can’t go through its full range of motion.

With a high heel, your heel’s already way up and you don’t get that plantar flexion. You don’t get that toe coming towards your knee that is part of the full range of motion in your ankle. And if the shoe itself is stiff, your foot can’t move properly.

You have one-quarter of the bones and joints of your entire body in your foot and ankle and you want to have a shoe flexible enough to take advantage of that.

So for example, our Xero Shoes. This is our Xero Shoes Prio. It is a running fitness shoe. People use this for road-running, trail-running, CrossFit, yoga, gym-going, pretty much anything you can think of. Of course, casual wear as well.

And when it comes to not elevating your heel so that you can get that full range of motion and the plantar flexion—you can see the heel is not elevated—when it comes to letting your foot bend, move and flex naturally, well, let’s just do this. Yeah, that’ll do it.

And that amount of flexibility is not unique to our Prio. All Xero Shoes do that. This is our Z-Trail sandal. Think Chaco, Teva, Keen, but this thing weighs one-quarter as much and is much, much thinner and, as you can see, does that same crazy flexible rolling thing that lets your foot move through its full range of motion.

Even our casual shoes—this is our Hana men’s casual canvas shoe—same thing, just as flexible as all Xero Shoes because natural foot motion is so important to us.

Thank you, Harvard, for telling everyone else that it’s important for them as well.

Alright, let’s go into the next point: “Basic steps to help prevent many foot problems – buy shoes that fit well with low heels and plenty of room for your toes.”

Well, I already talked about the low heel part. Not only are Xero Shoes a non-elevated zero-drop heel, but they’re also non-elevated. This is a low-to-the-ground sole for balance and agility.

You might hear about some shoes that are zero-drop—means they don’t elevate your heel, which messes with your posture—but they’re still an inch, two inches off the ground. You don’t want that. You want something low to the ground for balance and agility.

And when it comes to plenty of room for your toes, think about most of the shoes that you have that are pointy and squeeze your toes together – Xero Shoes, on the other hand, have a nice wide toe box so your toes can spread and relax and splay and move naturally.

And again, true on our sandals, true on our casual shoes. It’s one of the core principles we believe in, is natural fit, letting your toes bend, relax, flex, and splay naturally.

Let’s take a look at the last point: “Make sure your shoes provide enough support but allow your feet to breathe.”

Okay, let’s talk about support. Many people think they need arch support. “You must have arch support.” You go to a doctor and he’ll tell you, that if you have any problem, you need arch support.

Well, what does support actually do? It actually stops your foot from moving. Go back to that putting your foot through its full range of motion. When you have something supporting your arch, it can’t actually move through the full range of motion.

More, think about the idea of support in general. You’re keeping the foot from moving. You’re basically putting it in a cast.

Imagine putting your arm in a cast. When it comes out of the cast, it’s not stronger, it’s not healthy, it’s not flexible. It’s weak. It’s atrophied.

In fact, there is a company that had a trade show booth next to us. They made insoles for your shoes and they had a drawing of a bare foot and then a drawing of a bare foot with their insole thing, and it said “37% less stress, instantly!”

And I said, “By stress, are you measuring muscle activation with an EMG, an electromyograph?” And they said, “Well, yes,” very proudly.

And I said, “So what you’re saying is, the moment I step on that insole of yours my muscles are working 40% less, so I’m getting almost 40% weaker just by standing on that insole. Wouldn’t it be better if I had 100% less stress by putting my foot in a cast or a foot coffin and never moving it at all?” and they did not have a good answer for that.

An arch — think about it — architecturally, it is the strongest structure there is. You can put enormous amounts of pressure on it from the top and it’s totally stable. What makes an arch fall apart? Supporting it, pushing it up from the bottom, the whole thing falls apart.

You don’t need arch support, 99.9% of people. You don’t need arch support. You need strong arches. Whether you have flat feet or high arches, strength is the important thing, not support.

And the way you get strength? Let’s go back to where it says walking is one of those best forms of exercises. Move your foot through the full range of motion.

Running, too, as long as you can move your foot through its full range of motion. So that’s my little rant about support.

And let’s talk about breathing. Breathing isn’t just about having a breathable upper so that you can get air in there, which these have. It’s just about letting your foot have the space to move.

That’s why “breathe” is in quotes.

And again, nice wide toe box, nice and wide across the midstep as well, or the instep as well. So Xero Shoes are designed so that you get a great comfortable fit that lets your feet move naturally.

So that’s the basic thing I wanted to share with you. I want to thank Harvard for putting out the Harvard Guide to Health Living and for having people who are wonderfully smart and talk about actually using your feet naturally instead of binding them up in foot coffins and having them get weaker and weaker over time.

If you have any questions, drop us a line or check out Xero Shoes at xeroshoes.com.

And as we always love to say, Live Life Feet First”

 

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.

I’m a fan of debunking “common wisdom” and uncovering surprising truths.

That’s what led me to take off my expensive running shoes in 2009 and see what happened if I let my feet move, bend, flex, and feel… naturally.

For me, the rest is history.

But for many, the idea that your feet can actually do the job they were made for is still revolutionary and somewhere out in the future.

Happily, my favorite podcast, which emerged from one of my favorite books, is helping more people entertain the idea that those things at the ends of your legs can support you without “support.”

Check out the recent Freakonomics podcast, “These shoes are killing me!”, below, then go to the Podcast Page and chime in with your thoughts about how they may as well have been advertising Xero Shoes! 😉

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.