Are Your Shoes The Right Size For YOUR Feet?
Can you spread your toes in your shoes?
The green dotted line is the outline of the shoe and the black line is the outline of the bare foot.
I think the picture speaks for itself here.
These shoes were sold as ‘wide’.
The widest part of the foot is actually at the toes, not the ball of the foot.
Joints like movement, soft tissues too, so wearing restrictive, inflexible footwear reduces the chance for any movement at all.
We have 33 joints in each foot and all of them need to experience movement, so what we put on our feet has an impact on whether the joints can articulate and also how much or how little the softer tissues like the muscles and connective tissue get to move.
Circulation, neural sensitivity and cellular nutrition are all impacted when there is restriction.
Underuse can mean muscles and soft tissues get stiff and sticky and less responsive, so the most readily available joints further up the chain have to do more work, e.g. knees, hips, lower back.
You can start by creating conditions for the joints and tissues within your feet to move more.
Here’s what you can do:
Spread your toes
Walk over uneven terrain
Stretch the individual toes
Massage the soles, sides, and tops of the feet
Walk over different textures
Toe Separators
Devices like Toe Spreader Socks help start to introduce and restore some spread and space between the toes, helping the intrinsic muscles and tissues of the feet have more of a chance to contract and respond to your daily movement.
Anatomical Toe Spacers
Correct Toes anatomical toe spacers are made from medical-grade silicone and help realign the toes to their anatomical position, reminding the big toe, in the case of bunions, of the ‘home position’ over time. This is a gradual process.
If you’ve been wearing narrow shoes for a long time, it will take time for your feet to transition to more space and spread.
Improve Your Balance
More spread literally means a broader base of support, so when it comes to balance, toe spreading is a great practice for improving your connection to the ground and literally your foundation.
Foot-Shaped or Shoe-Shaped?
We are not born with tapering toes.
Fashion and design of conventional shoes include toe taper which has come to be seen as ‘foot shaped’.
This is my foot next to an old pair of snazzy boots I used to wear but never loved because they were too noisy and my toes didn’t like them.
**The benefits?**
Better circulation to the toes
Improved proprioception - feeling where you are in space
Better balance - lazy toes, less dexterity
Improved nutrition to the joints within the feet and toes
Reduced pain
Less overload to knees, lower back, and hips
Improved weight-bearing
Reduced bunion progression
Try the simple test here and see how much space your current shoes actually have compared to your bare feet.
Let me know how it goes!
Foot conditioning is a huge part of the content I offer in group classes and private sessions.
Foot health is an integral part of whole body alignment for long term flexibility, mobility and stability.