Is poor footwear affecting you?

The hot weather has hit us, we all kick off our hot, usual shoes and start to wander around barefoot or with much less supportive but much more breathable footwear on. The result? Pain. This could be foot pain, but could occur in any of the lower limb joints from the foot to the pelvis, and possibly up to your low back.

Is it wrong to go barefoot or wear these summer shoes? No, not at all.  But sudden change from good supportive shoes to this less supportive option can be a problem.  The body needs time to adapt to change and differences in things we do to it.  Often better shoes provide more support; the small intrinsic foot muscles can become lazy as they are no longer needed. If you strengthen these foot muscles it stands to reason that you can then support the foot, and the body above, naturally and not requiring orthotic support. But if these foot muscles are not strong enough then things start to struggle.  They are put under unusual stresses and strains, and rightfully or wrongfully start to complain, that is, THEY HURT.

At Physiologix we have worked for years training clients on how to activate and strengthen the small muscles in the feet. Last year we were involved with the FEET Trial, a research trial run by the University of Queensland looking at specifically retraining these foot muscles in the treatment of plantar fasciitis. We work with elite athletes, in particular tennis, where players are required to bounce through their toes and forefoot repetatively for hours, often sustaining injury.  So feet and foot injuries, or injuries related to poor foot muscles control is something we, at Physiologix, love to work with.

Got pain? Think it might be related to shoe or lack of shoe wear.  Our Physiologix physios will assess what is going on, why it has occurred and help get you going in the right direction with a combination of advice and education, exercise, hands on treatment, and review of your shoe-wear if its needed!!!