You are living in the wrong shoes!

Many people take the foot for granted, and what most people don't know is that the foot is the part of our body that bears all our weight. This makes the foot one of the most important parts in our body, where most of our care is needed. Unfortunately, people are not aware of how they are harming their foot structure by wearing the wrong shoes. You may ask yourself: 

How can the type of the shoes harm this strong part? Well, It's not affecting your foot only but your ENTIRE body.

The picture below shows the three types of foot arch. Depending on which shoes you wear, the arch will be formed.

Now you should know how the type of the arch will lead to major problems in your body such as, Back pain, heel pain, abnormal structure of the knee...e.t.c

High Heels &high Arch:

Stand on your toes for Five minutes, can you feel the contraction of the muscles at the back of your leg? This is exactly what's happening when you're wearing a high heel. The Muscles will be in  a constant state of contraction and they will get shortened  at the end of the day and When you take off your heels, you're actually asking the muscles to lengthen out but this will not work. The muscles are no longer malleable and they became tight and this will lead to an interruption  in the relationship between the skeletal system and the muscles resulting in the following:

1-Calf muscle shrinkage: Excessive straightening of the foot will occur due to the tightness of these muscles,  As a result, The curvature of the medial longitudinal arch will be increased (aka High-arch foot).

2-Unequal weight distribution: God designed the structure of the sole of the foot in a way that the weight of the whole body will be distributed equally but because of High heels, the weight will be only on the heel and the front of the foot. 

3-Loss of Balance: The sensory system in the foot plays an essential role in maintaining the body balance. Normally, the foot is absorbing shocks from the uneven surfaces and sends messages to the brain to alert it, but with the high arch there will be a lack in the protective sensation.

4-Rigidity of the foot: Wearing high heels in daily basis on the long term will make the foot less flexible. A rigid foot is more prone to stress fractures, toe deformities, Achilles tendon disorders and Plantar fasciitis.

5-Achilles tendon stiffness: Achilles tendon is able to withhold a stress of 3.9 times a person’s body weight when walking. When there’s tightness in the calf muscles the tendon will be stiff as well and it will lose its ability to tolerate the weight and ruptures and injuries will happen.

 According to Professor Narici who did a study on 11 women who wear 5 cms high heels for two years "We found that the high-heel wearers' tendons were much thicker and stiffer than in those who stuck to flat shoes.This causes discomfort when walking on flat feet because the tendon cannot stretch sufficiently."

6-lower back lordosis:

The tight muscles in the back of your legs pull down on the back of your pelvis. Your upper body has to move forward to balance your center of gravity, causing the curve in your low back to flatten out. We have these curves for strength and support and, when they are lost, our muscles act on the spine in a disorganized fashion to keep us erect so we end up with pain. 

Treatment

If you wear high heels daily then you have to follow These tips which will counteract the changes that happen to the muscles and may prevent injury. 

1-Calf stretch: The picture below describes the exercises and how you will stretch each muscle individually.
*Note: Calf Muscle consist of two muscles: Gastrocnemius and Soleus.

2-Handrail exercise:

Stand on tip toes on a step, and using a handrail for balance to lower their heels as far as they can before raising them up again.

3-Proprioception training:

Proprioception is the ability of the brain to recognize or sense joint positions. If something went wrong with this system the joint will be more prone to injuries that’s why high heels wearers should do the exercise daily. 

Here's the link of the proprioception training exercises

4-Achillis Tendon Stretch:

5-Reducing lordosis:

 The exaggerated curvature of the lower back is due imbalance between the back muscles and abdominal muscles. To reduce this curvature there are many interventions that you should follow.

A-Strenthening the Abs: 

Exercises that strengthen the Abs despite of it's type will help in reducing this curve. I'll mention the most common ones and you can add to them if you want.

*Bridiging exercise
Description

*Superman Exercise 
1-Start by raising one leg alone with your stomach tucked in for 15-20 secs then relax. Then switch

2-Raise one hand alone with your stomach tucked in for 15-20 secs then relax. Then switch.

3-Raise left hand with right leg with your stomach tucked in for 15-20 secs then relax. Then switch.

*Do the three positions first if you can control yourself and balance then start from the third upgrade and do it for 10 times/ 2 sets. If you don't have control on the third position then you can start from the position you are comfortable with then upgrade in the next weeks. 

*Knee to chest exercise
Description

*Pelvis tucking

*Gluteus Maximus strengthening:

1. Using the floor, table, or firm bed, lay on your stomach, with a pillow under your stomach.

2. Squeeze your gluts"buttock"  together as hard as you can.

3. Keeping your knee straight, lift one leg up off the table, only high enough for your thigh to be off the surface.  DO NOT lift so high that you extend through your spine.  Slowly and smoothly lower your leg back to the start position.

4. Maintain the glut squeeze as you repeat step 3 with the opposite leg.

5. Re-squeeze the gluts again, and repeat steps 3-4; do 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps, daily, or 3-4x/wk.

Read more: http://www.motionworkspt.com/content/build-better-body-part-1-hips-laying-foundation#ixzz3CRm5QQ7P

B-Tips:

There are some tips that will help reducing the curve with the exercises:-

-Avoid sleeping prone" on your stomach".

-Everyday when you wake up and before you sleep, lay on your stomach and put a pillow under your stomach for 15mins.

-Wherever you are and whatever you're doing, always remember to tuck your stomach in and tilt your pelvis posteriorly "backwards".

All the previous exercises and tips will help in reducing the harm caused by high heels, but if you have the choice to minimize the hours or the days that you wear high heels during them it will be even better. And it's healthier if you mix up your footwear. 

Flip-flops are not the best choice!

This poster summarize all the side effects of flip-flops and how they are killing your foot.

Flip-Flop Fixes:
-Stretch it out: Stretching your calf muscles will help in avoiding the side effects of the flip-flips.
-Short foot exericse
-Downward dog stretch

-Arch support: A piece of pad that's available in big Pharamcies and Medical instruments shops. You put it inside your shoes so it can help in forming an arch.

If you have feet and you want to follow a program to increase your foot arch, Here's a link for a blog of physiotherapist who already have flat feet. He followed the program and he got a result after 6 months.

What's the best shoes to wear?

I know it's quiet difficult to completely stop wearing high heels or flip-flops but you can modify the shoes that you wear daily. 
Forefoot "Rocker" shoes is considered as one of the best footwears.

The following modifications in this shoes helped in lowering the pressure impacts on the foot and distrubiting the weight all over the foot :
1-Rounded sole: The rounded sole provides a better grip for the wearer so there won't be overuse on the muscles as in flip-flops.
2-Thick padding: Shoes with thin pads harm the foot pad which works as a shock absrober  and they cause major problems such as plantar fasciitis. Rocker shoes has an extra padding to minimize the friction with the ground which harm the foot pad.

3-Weight distribution: weight is equally distributed along the whole foot with this design.

4-Accommodation: It can accommodate all sorts of  positions while running or walking. As you use them, your lower body muscles become stronger

To read more about them click here

Note that this is not the only good shoes that we should wear there are many types that are safe for the foot contour such as the sneakers that we use while running or walking.

I tried through this topic to highlight the major problems that we will have because of not choosing the right footwear. Many people don't actually know that the cause of their lumbar disc could  be from their shoes. Our body is connected, a problem in the foot may cause a condition in the neck and so on. So when you have a problem don't think just about the place where your pain is.