Footwear - neccessity or nonsense?

Hi again, following my last comments you may be wondering what I was leading to. I spent quite a bit of time researching footwear and orthotics and what we were being sold as medical / podiatric common wisdom. My story began as a runner running the streets in a certain brand of footwear. Shin soreness developed and orthotics were prescribed and the situation stabilised. The shoes were firm but the advertising suggested they were protecting me from shock when I ran. Some time later I went to buy new shoes and was advised by 'experts' to swap brands to a commonly used alternative. Lovely, well cushioned shoes, heaven to run on. 6 weeks later I had bone stress in my heels and had to stop running for a few weeks. When I returned I used the hardest sole shoe the running magazines suggested (rotten shoes by their account) and I never looked back.

Many years later I realised that cushioning absolutely dampened the information flow from the ground strike to the plantar nerve receptors, disorganising the muscle and joint response to the shock and making the shock absorbing foot lazy and weak.

The message, and this is endorsed by many people, shoes are BAD for most people's feet and orthotics are a waste of time, they are a crutch and we don't leave people on crutches if they do not need them. They are at best a temporary training tool.

Moral - accepted wisdom, passed on as science is narrow minded and commercially controlled. There is no money in a barefoot population with good health!

Want to know more - book a 'Footwear - Neccessity or nonsence' lecture and workshop (for Massage Therapists, Personal trainers and those with open minds).

Contact Michael on 02 60246724 for details

Look down

A long time has passed since my last post but I'm back. The thought for today is - no matter where the complaint is in the pelvis or spine, look at the client's feet and ankles. I do not know how many clients I treated this past week for sacroiliac, spinal, groin or neck pain that had tried loads of other therapists and therapies, and no one had picked up asymmetrical sub talar pronation or arch heights that caused the problem further up. How frustrating.

A medial rotation and tilt of the talus or a collapse of the longitudinal arch will create a leg length imbalance. From there the rest is all down hill. Rub the sore back, adjust the spine or whatever and short term relief is all your clients will get.

I am no genius, and I got sick of this problem and so I referred clients out for orthotics and the problems seemed to resolve with a post fitting massage treatment......until two or so years later, when despite wearing the orthotics (which looked ok), the same complaints returned.

O dear - now what? The human being is highly adaptive to stimulus and will adapt negatively to a lack of it. The clients had become reliant on the orthotic so they were bored with the orthotic stimulus and they didn't wear them when it was hot weather. Now it was my problem as their therapist.

What to make of all of this? See the next post or contact me about running a 'Footwear - Neccessity or Nonsense' lecture and workshop in your area (Massage therapists only). More about this next post.