Your Feet are Your Foundation

Invest in your feet before you invest in your next pair of shoes

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for a hot pair of 4” Jimmy Choos, or my Mizuno (Wave Precision Neutral) Running Shoes, but I have already invested my time to condition my feet so they are able endure all the torment (dance classes, cycling classes, running, hiking, backpacking, and let’s not forget, wearing those 4” Heels!) that I dish out to them.

Our feet are as important to our physical well-being/functional fitness as a foundation is to a structure. Sadly, most people simply take their feet for granted, ignore them, wrap them in a pretty package, and hope for the best.

A good contractor doesn’t fix the instability of a failing structure with some nice paint and a picket fence; the contractor will first address the foundation, check its integrity and go from there.

It is my opinion that the majority of the time, buying new shoes to alleviate foot pain is as helpful as slapping nice paint and a picket fence on a crumbling building…no matter how pretty you try to package it, it’s going to collapse sooner or later.

It is all too common that when people begin to experience discomfort in their feet, they just ignore it. They keep taking their workout classes, running, going about their daily activities, trying to “walk it off”. Then, when the pain persists, they usually blame it on their shoes.

By the time a client comes to me they have repeated this process many, many times (Ignore pain, go about their business, get frustrated with pain, buy another pair of shoes, over and over and over again) until an injury sets in.

These injuries can range anywhere from Sesamoiditis, Achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, and Shin splints, all the way up the body to contribute to/exacerbate knee, hip, and lower back issues.

The sad thing is that 99% of the time, their injury could have been avoided had they only taken the time to conditioning their feet.

More to come…