Hello again. I hope this entry finds you and your loved ones well and thriving.
One of any age group’s best defense from disease is a healthy immune system. It has been shown during this time that outside exercise, well distanced, aids in increasing our odds to stay healthy.
After consulting with your physician to construct a physical training regime, this should be your first step:
A proper foundation for standing and movement
Reduce Pain
Better Balance
Impact Sports Performance
Sports Orthotics can be designed for people with Plantar Fasciitis, Morton’s Neuroma, Over-pronation, Supination, Flat Feet, Back Pain, Hallux Rigidness, Hallux Limitus, and other Foot Pains.
It is theorized that many of the foot problems we have resulted from our adaptation to flat-soled shoes, mobilizing on flat surfaces. One can imagine our ancestors having to do daily chores like fetching water, hunting and gathering their meals, all either with bare feet or wrapped coverings of various collected materials.
The musculature of their toes must have been well developed as well as the pads of their heels and balls of feet, much more like we see in animals. The great variance of terrain , sand, rock, stream, all must have lent to the foot being important as a gripping, sensing, and locomotive part of our body.
Fast forward to modern shoes that we wear and it is easy to see how our feet could change. Flat inner surfaces walking on flat hard surfaces. Toes no longer can grip individually to resist the forces required to walk, pivot, change directions, the foot must essentially act as a single unit, attempting to find traction inside a smooth box unit, a shoe. It is no wonder calluses and bunions form as toes are pressed to the outside of the shoe wall trying to find some resistance. We have almost no forward leverage as the arch of our foot is hollow in most shoes, compared to previously having firm soil or ground to push off against.
We do have technical innovation, especially in sporting footwear with modern materials to help with grip and traction. More of our specialty sports have specifically designed footbeds to help performance.
I want to start here because a good footbed is a foundation to aid in performance, balance and to help prevent injuries. Just how great does it feel when you go to the beach, take your shoes off by the shoreline and step onto warm moist sand? You can feel every square millimeter underfoot, it feels so natural! This may be an oversimplification but a good footbed can give you that same comfortable feeling when positioned inside a well-fit shoe.
Fitting people for Alpine ski boots was an important part of our sports shop. In training to fit for comfort and performance, we took many clinics and studied under experts. Knowing how a foot operates in a wide range of motion and activities was critical in determining what a good fit was for our customers. There was also much knowledge acquired from trial, error and customer feedback.
Back then ski racing and technical skiing was a large part of anyone’s ambition to be an accomplished skier. The analogy of two balls stacked on top of each other for balance or the alignment of one’s knuckles, wrist and forearm to hit a punching bag was used to teach us how a “skithotic” would improve one’s performance, giving balance and strength to our turns. These footbeds for ski boots were made of heat moldable cork, using a vacuum to conform the footbed to each individuals own foot in neutral position. We in fact had doctors write prescriptions for their patients to have these made to alleviate different problems.
We learned how a correct foundation or footbed could help minimize not only foot pain but many things up the body line, ankles, knee, hip, back and neck. For example a common occurrence of different leg lengths between right and left or different flexibilities between foot and leg, are often compensated for naturally by a footbed adapting to these differences.
The company that supplied the training, product and fitting tools then has actively expanded their line of foot products for much broader use. I have personally used their products in the majority of all footwear I have, especially for hiking, walking, tennis, cycling, skating, work and even casual. There are now many companies who offer footwear inserts and many shoe manufacturers who make OEM upgraded footbeds.
https://www.superfeet.com/en-us/
https://www.orthoticshop.com/vionic-slippers
Shop for replacement insoles and custom orthotics.
Both of these companies’ websites have useful information to help with choosing what is right for you. So do investigate and upgrade from what you use now and see how much more efficient your endeavors become.