How do you treat your feet?
One of the remarkable feats of our human existence is the fact that we walk upright on such a teeny surface area – our feet! Most creatures can walk within minutes of being born but we take at least a year or so before we have remotely got the hang of our two foot carriage. All the more reason to take care of them.
Why haven’t we learnt yet how to look after our feet?
Watching young women totter around town in impossible shoes fills me with uncomfortable nostalgia. It reminds me how our young people seem destined to repeat our mistakes.
I find it incredible that we are still fooled into standing on even teenier surfaces for the sake of fashion. High heels alter the natural tread and stance of our feet, such that our entire skeleton has to be re-positioned to accommodate the change in pressure and balance.
In addition to heels, pointy toed shoes are really harmful and are associated with bunions and corns. These keep the Orthopaedic surgeons happy but certainly do not make for happy feet! As an intern in Orthopaedics in the 90’s, I saw more than my fair share of deformed feet and mangled toes…
Are high heels really a sign of sophistication? Or are they a sign of ignorance?
Working in a corporate environment, where heels seem to be endorsed, doesn’t help. It is common to see professional women dressed for work wearing trainers for commuting, in preparation to suffer the rest of the day in heels, which they carry in a tote bag. I feel sorry for the poor air hostesses too, for whom high heels in many airlines still appears to be a requirement of the job.
What are sensible shoes?
In my twenties, my work in hospitals involved long shifts so I had no choice really but to wear ‘sensible shoes’. My feet are quite broad and it has often been difficult to find shoes that are both flat and that accommodate my toes with some wiggle room. Ladies pumps and other flat ladies shoes often have a built-in toe squeeze factor. As a result, I have worn my fair share of men’s hiking boots and trainers.
Earlier this year, I took advantage of a 15% discount code to try out the Vivo Barefoot brand of shoes. Frankly, I found them a bit pricy and may not have tried them if it weren’t for the code.
I now have three pairs! Two out of the three pairs can be slipped on without laces, one is the grounded boot. My man has a pair of the grounded boots too - well-worn as you can see in the photo below.
We are very happy with them and I seldom choose to wear any of my other shoes these days - apart from slippers. They are super-comfortable and light weight so are good for wearing on airplanes and packing in a bag for international travel. Just back from a wet visit to Wales, the grounded boots seemed pretty durable in the puddles and mud and I preferred wearing them to my wellies. Though they fit snugly, my toes have plenty of wiggle room and I’m especially enjoying feeling the ground beneath my feet! I usually take a UK size 6 or 6.5 and with this brand the UK 6 is just fine.
My sister says she heard that you either love them or you hate them. I fit firmly into the former category. I can’t recommend these shoes highly enough. Therefore, I asked VIVO Barefoot for a WCH discount code, in case you wish to try them too.
With the WCH20 code you should earn 20% off. Please let us all know if the code works for you! It would also be good to hear about your experience with these shoes in the comments below. This code may only be available for those in the UK unfortunately.
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Thanks , struggling even more with pain on the top of the foot around the ankle , used to be once in a couple months , now once a week. Got new orthopedic inner soles , modern ones are very comfotable , wear hiking shoes and trying out DMSO for pain - recommended by the " midwestern doctor substack , tried Kensi tape - helps somewhat
Charming article in both subject and writing style. A fun Saturday morning read from the USA! I did not learn until age 64 the value of a wide enough toe box to allow the mechanics of my feet to work properly and without pain. I thought I was in appropriately wide shoes. Several foot doctors and physical therapists had discussed my footware choices and walking problems (with neuro sarcoidosis, no less). For years I had already figured out that a good pair of "wide" shoes with supportive, relatively flat styles were best even if not quite as stylish and more expensive. I finally broke down and looked at clunky diabetic shoes that had wider toe areas. Then one day I watched a longer advertisement for Xero Shoes by the owner / developer of the product. He convinced me to get a shoe with a wide enough toe box so my toes could actually spread all the way out - and why that matters to the muscles and bones in the feet and legs. They were a bit pricey and not enough padding on the bottoms to address my very sensitive and puffy feet, but he taught me well. I found if I switched from my ladies W Brooks walking shoes to their guys widest Brooks Beasts, that were also a comparable size longer, then my deep heal cup, hard plastic orthotics were accomodated along with my happier foot. The orthotics were made from a wrapped foot cast by a well trained foot specialist to accomodate my high arches. (But None of those foot specialists knew enough to tell me my Wide shoe styles were Not Wide Enough!) I eventually got a sale pair of the mens Xero Shoes that were even roomier than the mens Beasts (!) and then magic started with my walking comfort. God bless that curly haired Xero Shoes designer! God bless Dr. Tess Lawrie and the other brave souls fed up with our world "health" status quo and awake and smart and strong enough to band together to selflessly push to build a workable healthcare system designed to finally truly heal all God's children and to teach us how to play our own self-advocating part.
May God grant us all continued progress toward world healthcare system reform, and insurance reform, hopefully, tool. May He also bless us to Make America and the Whole World Healthy Again.