For good joint health, a little tip—I’ve begun to realize, some time after I’ve ceased skating and gotten a little too sedentary, that my feet aren’t maintaining the stance they had, and they’re causing lower back problems that stop if I pay attention to my foot stance. I tend to wear flipflops during the summer—but—
Your knee SHOULD, as you flex during a kneebend, have the patella (kneecap) go right over the split between big toe and second. As you walk, your ankle should NOT sink inward (particularly true if you have a high arch), but should remain stable, having your weight nicely distributed clear to the outside edge of your foot.
In short, hauling everything back where it belongs can help leg, hip and lower back. The same way a horse has to be well-shod to avoid problems, I hate to say it, people, we as a species are kinda in the same boat.
I’m ordering some flipflops that have a high arch support to the inside, which I hope will correct that. If they won’t, I’ll be looking to wear (shudder) actual shoes.
It’s on one level a silly thing to mention, but a lot of people haven’t had the bennie of a balance sport like figure skating to make you aware how important your feet are, and seeing what a little laxity in stance is doing to MY back, I think it worthwhile to make the suggestion: check the posture and check the ankles. I’m hoping a better shoe will cure some discomfort.
I have only run across one pair of shoes which had the arch placed where my arch is placed. After 40 years or so of buying my own shoes, I decided that I should just buy those with no arches at all and trim some decent inserts to fit my feet, rather than what ever the manufacturer recommends. Inserts may be able to be attached to zori by means of rubber cement or even metal clips.
There are a few brands of flip-flops that have arches (the ones I have are Cheeks by Tony Little smd I’ve been pretty happy with them. Got tennies you might give Ryka a shot – they have a good arch and narrow heels. And several years ago a friend introduced me to dancer’s shoes which have a space break in the sole under the arch which actual was very comfortable and more support then you’d think. You can find them at dance supply stores which most larger towns and cities have.
This might sound like tree-hugging hippie crap, but have you tried Birkenstocks? I used to pooh-pooh them, but tried a pair several years back and found them very nice for my prone to roll out feet, with good arch support. They come in narrow widths and flip-flops too.
I have found that taking kendo has helped my posture immensely, as well as my walk. In kendo, footwork is the most important part, and the posture must be correct, as well, or no points are scored.
A side benefit is that my kendo studies have also helped with my ballroom dance lessons. Although I’m no “SYTYCD” or “DWTS” material, I’m doing better than I thought I could.
*raises hand* Aikido, fencing, and a small amount of iaido here. Martial arts of almost any flavor will improve posture and balance, and make you more aware of where your body is. I’m not too sure of if my friends’ SCA swordsmanship isn’t more of the ‘scream and leap’ variety, however.
I tried Birkenstocks back in the 70’s, but the last seemed ‘off’ for me. Brands change. If what I ordered doesn’t work, I’ll take a look at them next.
Oh, yeah, kendo or fence or tai chi or any of those disciplines is great for posture and balance.
When you get to the point of real shoes, go to a running store and buy SPENCO insoles. I forget which style I was told to buy, but it was like walking on pillows. I think I may have bought the cross trainers. They have good arch support, too.
CJ, I stumbled onto this today and thought I’d let you know in case what you ohttps://shopping.yahoo.com/photos/best-flip-flops-and-sandals-of-2014-1405705817-slideshow/rdered just doesn’t help.
sigh. Let’s try that again. I sure didn’t expect a need to preview such a simple thing. I came across an article comparing flip-flops and thought it might be informative.
https://shopping.yahoo.com/photos/best-flip-flops-and-sandals-of-2014-1405705817-slideshow/
Well that got all messed up. here’s the link (I hope): https://shopping.yahoo.com/photos/best-flip-flops-and-sandals-of-2014-1405705817-slideshow/
I have crooked bones in the left side of my body. It affects everything from typing (I’m one key off on the left side) to walking. And running is not something I can do at all well. After 50 years of fighting shoes, I’ve gone with FiveFingers. I’ve learned to toe walk. My plantar fasciitis has gone away. My knee pain has gone away. My hips need a little pilates help. Ditto my upper back. But for the first time in 2 decades, I can walk 5 miles without pain. The transition to barefoot shoes took 6 weeks. First I had to develop muscles in my arch, then my ankles, then my knees, then my pelvis. It was worth it.
Good topic! I don’t have issues with back pain but I have had plantar fasciatis. But I solved that with morning exercises and ditching the cheap shoes. This thread reminded me to check in on Birkenstocks….I’ve had trouble finding size 34 in my favorite style (Arizone taupe suede) and found a pair! My old ones are falling apart and resoling costs almost as much as a new pair so….ordered them without pausing! Most local stores start at size 36 which is just too roomy for me. I wear a LOT of Keen shoes as well. I have extremely high arches so shoe fit can be problematic.
I have often found Birkenstocks less expensively on ebay, especially if you wear unusual sizes or have narrow feet; that’s good for varieties that are hard to find. Stay away from Birkis, however; they are licensed by Birkenstock, but I’ve found the sizes aren’t exact. My 39 Meds were too short by a quarter inch. Amazon also has them, but again, unless you have narrow feet, wear offbeat sizes, or prefer less popular styles, the prices are not overly discounted.
Betula is another ‘licensed but not identical’ Birkenstock affiliate.
I’m always grateful my mum bought us good quality school shoes and properly fitted, and wouldn’t let us wear the cheap ‘fashionable’ ones. Far fewer problems that people I know who wore fripperies. 🙂 And thongs (flip-flops) just have never suited me – too squishy.
What I got is a flipflop from Vionic, which has sufficient arch support to put my foot back on level. If you have high arches, and I have really high arches, weakening muscles can let your foot ‘tip over’ so that your ankles knock if you stand with your feet together. The ‘tip’ is solved if you put a support under the arch so that the foot resumes its normal stance.
This can help ankles, feet, stride, knees, hip, sciatic pain, probably piriformis syndrome, and certainly lower back, not to mention general posture, which really gets important as your frame ages. It’s like running a machine with some of the parts too loose or not in line. Wear happens. And pretty soon you’re taking multiple Advil or Aleve, which is not optimum, either.
So realizing I have feet out of true, I’m off the regular flipflops and onto the better shaped ones.
When I got skating boots, I found that I have a super narrow heel and a fairly broad front of foot, all the way to medium. And my arch for a long time was an expensive one—meaning a very few spendy shoes, mostly handmade Italian fancy heels, were hitting it right. Now either my arch has gotten less problematic, or they’re making a greater variety of shoes where the arch comes in the right place. I’ve never but once in my life (the skating boots) had custom, which in this case meant taking the heel of one last and the toe of another size last and making the boots, but there was a time I seriously considered going to a regular western bootmaker—there was a real good one in the stockyards district in OKC. But I’m pretty sure that chap has gone to that great rodeo in the sky, and I just have no real place to wear cowboy boots. [I do have me pirate boots, real buccaneer swagger, but they’re hardly supportive.]
“Supportive” is not a word I’d expect in a sentence about pirates! 🙁
Thought I’d mention this: http://www.aurorashoeco.com/
You remember those water buffalo leather sandals from the late 1960’s early 1970’s? When you got a new pair, you were supposed to run the bathtub ankle deep in hot water and stand for 10-15 minutes in it wearing the sandals, shifting your weight from foot to foot, making sure the leather got good and soaked. Then you were supposed to walk around in the sandals until they dried out. That insured a perfect fit. Worked for me. You just had to make sure to get some with nice thick soles is all.
I pronate inward, and I tend to walk my heels over in that direction. I can remember walking home from grade school determined to teach myself to walk with my feet precisely parallel. I wore saddle oxfords with thick white socks with cuffs that rolled down during elementary school which did not allow my feet to turn inward. I have fairly high arches, but I also have really short toes. I go barefoot around the house in summer and sock-footed in the winter — don’t need shoes inside. Inside’s got floors. Outside’s where you need shoes. No floors outside. That’s why you have to take them with you when you go. Portable floors. What a concept!
Ooops! can you spot the misplaced prepositional phrase?
It has been decades, but the Kalso Earth Shoe is still available. Working on a military installation I see so many splayed, knock-kneed or pigeon-toed gaits. It gets me to check my gait, which happily is fairly straight. Then I’ll straighten my posture and move out smartly.
Flip flops are good for anyplace warm where you expect to get very grubby, like gardening or at the beach, or when you need something fast between your feet and the ground. At their simplest, they are a sole held onto your feet with a couple of straps; everything else is ornamental.