Are you wearing the right shoes?

The realization of the influence of footwear on our physical health is very poor. Even medical fraternity in India neglects the influence of shoes on our well being. Podiatrists, worldwide recognize that shoes play a vitally important role in our fitness. The logic they produce is that “As human beings have changed the kind of surface on which they walk, their feet are stressed more. Walking on concrete surfaces like roads and floors causes our foot to roll inwards more and hence overstress the entire chain of structures from foot to back. This can lead to various types of foot, knee and low back pains. For resolving these problems something else also needs to be changed, and that is our shoes.

Since in modern times we walk on hard surfaces, we all must wear supportive shoes. Supportive shoes are those shoes that prevent abnormal rotations of our foot, thereby reduce tissue stress and help us maintain our physical fitness. For a shoe to be supportive it must have:

1. half an inch of heel height
2. firm heel counters
3. stiff shank area

All these features have a scientific basis for its relevance. Unfortunately hardly any shoes are manufactured on the basis of these characteristics. This problem can be resolved by wearing custom foot insoles in your shoes.

Written by: Prabhakar Pandey
Senior Orthotist, AktivHealth