Kaname Chiropractic Shoe Recommendations
The base of a healthy body are the feet. Literally! Before we jump into what shoes will support your alignment and healing, let’s take a holistic look at what we can do to participate in this process. There are four healthy curves in the spine and to maintain those healthy spinal curves, we need the support of strong arches in our feet, what we call, the fifth curve.
The hard surfaces of our modern world, however, work to flatten our feet. The narrow and round-toed shoes that are the standard for footwear compress the 26 bones and joints in our feet, leading to bunion growth, pronated ankles and flattened arches. If we consider our ancestors, our feet were made for running barefoot over earth, grass, rock and sand. The many joints in our feet were meant to roll, pivot and transfer our weight us across the diverse terrain. Our toes were meant to grip and hold the ground for stability, agility and balance. While shoes, concrete streets and hardwood floors make it faster for us to get around because we don’t need to think about how we walk or run, they come at the price of us constantly pounding our feet and flattening our arches. But, good news! There are ways to counteract this in our modern environment.
Spread out your toes
Most modern shoes have a narrow toe box. This leads to compression of the toes, squishing the front of the foot and toes together. Wearing narrow shoes changes the shape of the foot, leading to pain and long-term issues like bunion growth, ankle sprains, poor balance and plantar fasciitis. By wearing toe spreaders, the toes are manually spread apart, helping restore their natural alignment. Benefits of toe spreaders include: reduced pain in the toes, heels, ankles, and knees, better balance, stronger ankles, reduce bunions, and improve posture.
Throw out your Nikes and Converse and Buy wide toe-box and Barefoot shoes
Our feet are designed to be flexible, strong and stable. Natural widening and strengthening of the feet are part of the optimal healing process that our feet, ankles, knees and low back require. This means “ballet flats”, heels, Converse, Vans, Addidas, Nikes and even Hokas need to be reconsidered and left behind for full healing results.
Two concepts to learn:
Wide-Toe Box Shoes: This is different than a “wide” shoe. Wide shoes will still have a pointed or rounded toe box. A wide toe-box shoe will have a more “squared off” toe box, allowing for your toes to have space between them when you’re wearing the shoe. It is a “human shaped” toe box design!
2. Barefoot shoes: Shoes that have thin and more flexible soles to allow the shoes to contour to the surfaces you walk on. The benefit of this is to allow your feet and ankle muscles to strengthen just by walking because of their ability to feel the ground better.
Find Kaname Chiropractic’s recommended shoe brands and a video about wide toe box and barefoot shoes below!
Arch raises/Posterior Chain Activation Exercise
Stand ten toes down for your health and well-being by strengthening the arches of your feet and your posterior chain of muscles all the way up your spine. Standing with your feet flat on the ground, flex the arch of your foot up and hold it for one second. Don’t crunch or curl your toes; you are working the muscles of your arch, not your toes. You can watch a demonstration of arch raises here. Do this 100 times a day! Any time you are waiting in line or washing dishes - work on those arches. Literally any time you are standing is a chance to strengthen that arch. When that gets too easy, extend the hold of each arch raise contraction longer and longer.
Arch supports/orthotics
A good foot orthotic can support your arch while you walk, helping you maintain that vital curve. Most orthotics sold in stores focus on heel cups. I do not recommend heel cups. I recommend orthotics that focus on having an arch support. By having that strong support, it pushes back against the arch not allowing it to flatten, helping to keep the shape. With that in mind, you need something firm. A soft orthotic will not be strong enough to support that arc consistently with your foot pounding into the ground all day. Tread Labs offers good, firm general orthotics. The top cover is replaceable and they offer different levels of support for low to high arches. You don’t need to find one custom made for your foot. Just something sturdy to keep that fifth essential curve!
Kaname Chiropractic Shoe Recommendations:
Athletic wear & Everyday:
Natural Movement Footwear | Zero Drop Shoes | Notace
Vivobarefoot | Barefoot Shoes | Minimalist Footwear | Vivobarefoot | USA
Wide Toe Box, Barefoot/Zero drop Sandals
Bedrock Sandals®: Freedom Footwear for the Great Outdoors
Five finger toe shoes:
Vibram | Rubber Soles | Repair | FiveFingers
Peluva | Five-Toed Barefoot Shoes for Every Activity
Walking/Street shoes and for Everyone in the family:
Full Scene Wide Toe Shoes For Everyone丨HOBIBEAR®️ Shoes Official Site – Hobibear
