In this hub we are going to look at what kind of shoes you are wearing and their effect on how you move. This is the third hub in the EasyFitness series. We have already discussed foot placement, toe, ankle and knee alignment in previous hubs. Before moving any further up the body with the pelvis, torso, spine, shoulders, neck and head, to finish the Good Mover series with a well deserved Natural Facelift, I had to write this hub on shoes.

The Urge for Writing this Hub arose from my real concern for the damage shoes can cause to adults' and children's feet. Having danced on pointe shoes as a professional ballet dancer for over two decades, it has taken me several years of intense research and practice to get my own damaged feet back to near-normal again. Like ballet pointe shoes, high heels and many other shoes can seriously deform your feet. So if you want to correct a bad posture, get rid of hammertoes and sore bunions read on...This hub is a sharp attack on high heels and bad shoes with the reservation that it's quite OK to dress up once in a while.

Why Do We Wear Shoes?

The original function of shoes is to protect the feet from harm and weather. We learned in the previous episodes that the bigger and broader your base, the stronger and more grounded your stance will be. If your toes are squashed together and not allowed to spread out as they are designed to do, to give maximum balance, then the weight of your body is being shifted backwards onto the heels alone. This means that when you are walking or standing you are prone to being very easily knocked over. It therefore stands to reason that the shoes we wear should not interfere in this endeavour. Not even for the sake of fashion. Don’t squash your feet into tight shoes or you will be more likely to lose your balance.

In the Name of Culture

In the aristocratic circles of China old women used to break little girls’ toes, fold them under and bind them to prepare them for a “privileged” life at the palace, as one of the Emperor’s wives. Crippled for life, hardly walking and certainly not being able to run away from the Emperor, these young girls were assured, by this cruel custom, a future life of wealthy slavery.

There is no room here to disclose how much self abuse is being practiced in the name of culture, fashion, image, fame and prestige. For me, shoes are as much of a nuisance as corsets, bras, garters, hairpins, earrings, ties, belts, bags, piercings and tatoos, all trying to but failing to reduce the consumer's feeling of insecurity. So OK it's fun to dress up for a special occasion but as a norm?

The Truth About High Heels

• The body weight is carried too far forwards, placing the knees, hips and spine out of alignment.
• Increases pressure on the forefoot.
• Creates unnecessary tension in the calf muscles.
• Shortens the Achilles tendons which hurt when walking without high heels.

If you find High heels sexy just bear in mind that they project an image of vulnerability. That image has got women where they are today: the weaker sex, at the mercy of a more able-bodied man who helps them wobble out of taxis, on their stilettos, clutching onto his arm and a handbag.

Side Effects of High Heels

• Morton’s neuroma – a thickening of tissue around a nerve between the 3^rd and 4^th toes which can cause pain.
• Bunions – bony growth on outside of the big toe joint.
• Hammertoes – toes are bent at the middle joint through lack of space.

Shoe Buying Tips

PS: Anyway, you can do a proper "relevé" (rising up very high on your toes) as described in a previous hub in my Good Movers Hub series, then you don't need high heels. Jus walk along normally on flats, trainers or flip-flops and then, when you know you might be observed by some interested male, just pretend you want to grow taller to see something far away and bingo, you're up there on your perfect relevé giving you the exact look high heels create without the pain or harm done to your feet. It's god practice too. I often do it, standing in queues, to rise above the crowd. Silly? So be it.

Bye for now, and please don't forget to comment. Thank you for dropping by.

When you go out to buy your next pair of shoes consider the following:

Before trying to squeeze your foot into a new shoe hold the sole of the left shoe against the sole of your right foot (or vice versa) and judge for yourself if the new shoe’s surface area would take the shape of your whole foot. A well fitting shoe has enough room for the toes to spread while sharing weight bearing in walking, jumping and running. Such a shoe is hard to find. Even most of the exorbitantly priced trainers lack a proper foot shape. A shoe salesman will tell you that a good shoe has to "support" the feet, or they will "spread". Ask yourself: Why? Your feet do not need support if they are allowed to do their job unimpaired.

And Here Is Another Myth:

Shoes will hurt until you “break them in”. Sorry, you are not “breaking in” a shoe, if a shoe hurts, it is the shoe that is slowly but surely breaking your foot with severe reprisals in the form of bunions, hammertoes and poor stability. As soon as you start wearing shoes with discretion and remember all the points discussed in the EasyFitness series of hubs, you should, within a fortnight or so, have changed the way you use your feet and have created a good foundation for considerably improving posture, balance and strength in the rest of your body.

Children's Shoes

Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway: When buying shoes for children the above considerations should be taken even more seriously.

This is the 3rd hub in the EasyFitness series where you can find all the episodes I have written so far on Physical Intelligence, Body Awareness and Weight Loss.

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