#shoe problems

You might think your shoe is doing more to control motion of your foot than it is actually doing.

"The measurement of rearfoot kinematics by placing reflective markers on the shoe heel assumes its motion is identical to the foot’s motion." The results of this study revealed that "calcaneal frontal plane ROM was significantly greater than neutral and support shoe heel ROM. Calcaneus ROM was also significantly greater than shoe heel ROM in the transverse and sagittal planes. No change in tibial transverse plane ROM was observed."

It is easy to underestimate the calcaneal ROM across all planes of motion. Motion is going to occur somewhere, hopefully you can help your client control the excessive ROMs that are occurring and causing their symptoms. But just do not think that a shoe is going to markedly help, it might, but let your interventions and your client's feedback on pain lead you.

Awareness is key. Does this person know they are doing this ?  Do they have pain? If they do not have pain or awareness is it a problem and does it need addressed ? These shoes did not make this person load like this, the person broke the shoes into this pattern.  There is something going on, the question is what drove this ?  Most likely, this is not a footwear problem, this is a person problem in the footwear.

What we see is not the problem most of the time. We are seeing their strategies , coping mechanics and their ultimate failure to load more cleanly most of the time.

There are people out in the fields that are saying posture doesn't matter, that your next posture is your best posture. This is a bit curious to us.  Sure, if you are not in pain then is a given posture a problem? One could argue that, but not with a strong argument, we believe.  Take this foot-shoe posturing for example, is this a problem if it is not painful ?  Do we leave it alone if it is not painful? Or do we "head this one off at the pass" before possible pathology or pain presents itself? There are certainly no guarantees, however, one can use some educated and calculated logic and make some reasonable decisions that things are going to go off the rails at some point (or in this case, the heel is going to actually go off the shoe!).  Same for the anti-posture nazi's out there who say posture is not a factor in people's lives.  We are not going to call out people on there personal beliefs, but for us, that is just too extreme thinking. The concept gets some great social media attention, but if you are slouched 90% of your day in a chair or standing at a job, those postures might carry over into other activities and thus matter in time, carrying into aberrant tissue loading.  In our minds, posture does matter, because movement on postures that foster challenging mechanics, lead to challenging loading responses on tissues, and over time, that means change.  Change can be good or bad, sometimes it is how you drive the bus.  Posture can matter in many cases, dismissing if fully is foolish.

the shoe will fit fine

pinch my toes

pinch my arches

pinch across the ball of my feet

only clamp my toes but leave my heel loose

pinch somewhere else

only come in a narrow width but the shoes that come in wides are my mortal enemies that pinch my arches and the sides of my feet

I can’t fit my foot in the shoe if I have my inserts in because the arch does not expand and neither do the toes

I can fit my foot in but it’s like walking around in a leathery bag

I need hiking boots but I’d rather wear the ones I’ve been wearing (one size too big, nasty wrinkle in the uppers that bruises my feet and that doesn’t come out unless I really pull on the leather) than wear any of the ones that act as toe clamps or hurt my feet. Unfortunately, Merrells and Keens are the worst pinchers but almost every single store stocks a lot of them.