THIS is What Your Shoes Are Doing to Your Knees and Back!

Americans have questionable taste in shoes. We choose some pretty stylish designs, don’t get me wrong. But when it comes to something that protects an area of your body as vital as your feet, style should be the least concern.

Most fashion footwear on the market is not designed with foot and postural alignment in mind. Case and point:

Many fashionable shoes have a raised heel, which causes your back and knees to be off-center. Over time, this leads to wear and tear and pain.

In other words, if you’re currently experiencing back or knee pain, there’s a good chance the shoes you’re wearing have something to do with it.

Your knees take a tremendous amount of stress during day-to-day walking and running. They bear the brunt of your body weight.

And while your knees are designed to carry this sort of weight, they can only do so effectively if your body is properly aligned. Wearing shoes with a raised heel throws this alignment out the window.

To make matters worse, if you have a BMI of 25 or more, each extra pound equates to three added pounds of pressure on your knee joints when walking, and 10 when running. So, in that case, if you’re wearing improper shoes, you’re doing some serious damage to your knees.

So how do you tell if your shoes are good or not?

Podiatrist Jenny Kitchen says pain should be the first indication that something is wrong.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard my female friends complain about their feet being blistered and sore after a night out in heels. Same goes for some of my male friends who wear fancy dress shoes.

With the science of foot reflexology in mind, is it any wonder so many of us are strung out and facing all sorts of ailments considering that we put fashion and style ahead of practicality in footwear?

Jenny Kitchen says:

If you have issues in the biomechanical department, you really need to spend a little bit of money, not huge amounts (maybe $60 to $80) on a satisfactory shock-absorbing shoe with a good solid firm heel, and a deep toe box with plenty of breadth to accommodate the feet. That will almost satisfy most people’s needs unless you are planning to start running marathons, in which case, you really do have to look at spending a bit of money.