Sole Connection
By MaryAnn Chirichella, LMT and Certified Reflexologist
April 2019
Are Your Shoes Causing Health Problems?
The number one overall cause, or at least contributing factor to foot problems is poorly designed or ill-fitting shoes. Improper footwear can lead to conditions such as corns, toenail fungus, athlete’s foot, ingrown toenails, bunions, or more serious long-term problems such as collapsed arches. However, it’s not just the feet that are affected. Even low-impact walking can place a force of as much as five times your body weight on each foot. If your feet cannot properly absorb and redistribute this force, you will most likely develop problems elsewhere in your body.
High heels are among the worst offenders. To compensate for your height change, to maintain balance, you need to lower your center of gravity. This causes changes to the natural S curvature of your spine, as your lower back is pushed forward while your upper back moves backwards. This misalignment affects your ankles, hips, knees and entire spine. In addition, the exaggerated arch decreases shock absorption which can send shockwaves up through your body.
On the opposite end of the spectrum we have flip-flops, which in addition to providing absolutely no arch support, require a repetitive gripping of the toes, often leading to inflammation of the tendons in the foot. Over-wearing flip flops can also lead to hammer toes and encourage bunion formation. Plus a pair of flip flops can be home to more than 18,000 bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus and bacteria from fecal matter!
It is easy to see that when support is not adequate, over time changes will occur not only in your feet, but in other parts of your body as well. Since your feet provide your foundation, even the slightest change can result in a ripple effect, contributing to foot, ankle, knee, hip and/or back pain. Although there is no substitute for proper, supportive footwear, reflexology can help to some degree by reducing foot pain (lessening the severity of compensation injuries), relaxing tendons, ligaments and muscles and increasing range of movement in the 33 joints found in each foot. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of taking care of your feet. By helping to offset some of the problems caused by a lack of proper support, reflexology assists in creating a more relaxed, pliable and pain-free foundation for your body. This gives you greater opportunity to be more active, which is a necessary component for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
MaryAnn Chirichella, LMT is a nationally Certified Reflexologist, one of only 33 Nationally Accredited Reflexology Educators, a Board-Certified Continuing Education Provider, Reiki Master and a Tai Qi/Qi Gong Instructor. She currently practices at Massage Therapy Connections. A first time one-hour Reflexology session is only $65.
