What You Need to Know About Shoes and Spinal Health
What You Need to Know About Shoes and Spinal Health
Back pain is a common complaint among Americans, and the causes are nearly as varied as the people dealing with them. Sometimes it’s a one-off circumstance, like sleeping weird, lifting something heavy, or tweaking it with an abrupt movement. But when back pain persists and at-home remedies don’t work to minimize discomfort, you may need to take a look at some lifestyle habits and daily choices. One important factor that many overlook is footwear choices. Here are three things you need to know about your shoe selection.
Your Shoes Might Be Causing Your Back Pain
Your feet are the foundation of your body’s support, so when they aren’t supported, it impacts the entire body. Your spine counts on your feet being balanced and taken care of to maintain its own structural integrity. When the feet have issues with arch support, unnecessary strain, or other problems, it can affect your spine. Any shoes that offer poor support, make you tense your toes or heels to hold them in place, don’t fit well, or affect the way you walk are problematic for your spinal health. And we know that spinal health impacts the health of every function in the body, so this is a big problem.
Many Shoes Have a Negative Impact on Your Natural Gait
It may not seem like a big deal for shoes to impact your natural gait, but it can truly wreak havoc on your spine. Here are some of the main issues caused by less than ideal shoe choices:
· High heels offer no arch support, force the weight of your body onto the ball of your feet, and shorten your calf muscles. This includes any shoe with a heel, such as cowboy boots, wedges, heeled sandals, pumps, and so on.
· Flats have no support in the arch and have thin soles that don’t take any of the impact from the ground. They also tend to rarely fit well. If they are too small, your toes are squished into the front, and if they are too large, your feet slide and shift inside them.
· Flip flops and sandals require you to squeeze your toes when you walk, which puts undue stress on your arch and affects how you walk.
Support Your Spine from the Ground Up
In a perfect world, you would either be barefoot or have perfectly supportive shoes on all the time. While you don’t have to get rid of all your favorite fashionable shoes, it is a good idea to take a look at which ones are serving your spine best. You want to support your spinal from the ground up and provide your body the best chance at staying healthy, so make wise footwear choices whenever you can. Additionally, make an appointment with Dr. Brendan Shanahan and Dr. Thomas Madigan at Vitality Precision Chiropractic in Rochester Hills. They will do a full assessment of your spinal health and provide adjustments to further your overall health and wellness.