Shoes

With an upcoming class centered on foot pain, that I am co-teaching, I shall dive head first into shoes.

First off feet aren't supposed to look like shoes. If you look at a babies foot you will see that feet are big at the toes, not pointed. If you look at an adult who hasn't worn shoes most of their lives you will see that feet are huge. Feet are the size of your forearm as Julia Roberts points out in Pretty Woman. (See my post on triangles)

Ideally toes should spread apart 1/4inch between each toe. Practice toes spreading, my boss once said that this allows for miracles to enter your life. Who couldn't use more miracles? And if you can get them by spreading your toes hey! I'll take some.

So I digress, shoes... There are 4 important factors to choosing a good shoe.

1. Toe box room, the shoe should be wide enough in the toes area that the sides of the shoe do not push on your toes at all. To get this measurement right the best thing to do is trace your foot at the end of the day and cut it out and put it in shoes. If the paper folds the toe box is too small.

2. Flexibility, the shoe should bend. Not just at the toes but in the arch area as well. It doesn't have to bend a great deal, it just needs to move. If this area of your foot is not allowed to bend, that is all your digestive reflexes being held hostage. Most shoes today have a metal shank in them which is one of the reasons we have to remove our shoes at airports now. Metal is bad! The foot needs to flex while walking. Metal is only good if you are a construction worker and are liable to have heavy things fall on your feet and smash them.

3. Heels. Where do I start? Do I start with the appalling fact that heels have been linked to breast cancer since 1948? Or how about the fact that it throws your neck forward, your low back collapses and your spine is whacked out of alignment from top to bottom. Maybe I'll start with the fact that you can't freaking walk in the bloody things without over using all your muscles so you're more tired at the end of the day. Or how about the lovely toe distortion they provide, causing millions of people bunions and ugly deformed feet. Heels for partied a big yes, heels for daily use... Well I've said my piece.

4. Strap on or tie on. Your shoes must attach to your feet, if they don't you will walk around all day long with tension in your toes caused by gripping the shoe so you don't kick it off. If you are amazing you can learn to relax your toes while wearing flip flops, but it takes practice and concentration. People who wear backless shoes or flip flops often don't do all three stages of walking which causes tension in the spine and and over/under stimulation of certain reflexes. My suggestion buy the strappy sandals instead of the flip flops. And make sure the slip on shoes are firmly attached to your feet or buy a style with a strap.

Proper shoe measurement is a lost art form: there are 3 measurements. Heel to toe, width measured in A,B,C,D,E,EE and arch length which is measured from your heel to the first metatarsal-phalangeal joint. Measure your feet at the end of the day, when they are spread out. Make sure your shoe salemans does all three or see if your local reflexologist has a measuring device.

Never "break in" a shoe, if it doesn't fit now it never will, you are in effect breaking down your feet not breaking in the shoe. Your feet will shift before the shoe does, causing bones to move out of alignment and eventually pain in the body.

To end I would liket to sahre my favorite brand of shoes Keen

Triangles

I just recently finished teaching a class on the structure of the foot. It is fascinating to me how much abuse the feet can take. We daily demand that they carry us through our lives and rarely do we thank them with a reflexology session, a foot rub, or even a good soaking.

After class I realized I had left out some vital information. Education on the triangles of the feet.

If you place your foot down on the ground you will notice a peculiar thing. Your foot should be shaped like a triangle with the heel (calcaneus) being the peak and the toes the base. Now put any standard pair of woman's or men's dress shoes near by and notice. Hum the triangle goes in the opposite direction with the peak being at the front. Who designed this? And what were they thinking? Now we can go into all sorts of theories with the predominate one being sex but I'm not going to open that can of worms in this post.

There are three bones that all students of yoga, tai chi, and qi gong are familiar with. These bones form your triangle of support and balance. They are the calcaneus (heel), the base of the 5th metatarsal (ball of foot under pinky toe), and the base of the 1st metatarsal (ball of the foot under great toe). When you are standing still you should be giving equal weight to all these bones with compensations for balance being made between the 1st and 5th. If this triangle is compromised due to foot deformities caused by shoes or injuries a person will most likely feel unbalanced while standing and walking at all times. This, in my opinion, will further lead them to feel unbalance in their whole life.

To strengthen both the feet and to correct issues that are forming here is a great exercise:
Stand with feet as close together as possible (ideally medial arches almost touching) If this is not possible due to feelings of instability place the feet in alignment with the hips or the shoulders and move them in as strength is gained. Now when you have found your balance in this pose (called mountain in yoga) lift all your toes off the ground. This will show you where that triangle of support is as you will be forced to stand only on it. Hold toes up for at least 30seconds. When you place your toes back down try to place them one at a time, focusing on creating space between the toes. If two toes are sticking together gently reach down and separate them. Rest in mountain pose to feel this new balanced place. Eventually try doing this exercise one foot at a time.